David Aldridge says Utah is going to match, and the Jazz-Bulls-Blazers three-way trade was never a possibility:
What is not going to happen is a three-way deal between Utah, Chicago and Portland that was out in the trade winds last week…Two of the three teams mentioned in that potential deal have told me, flat out, that there was never one minute’s discussion about that reported deal in their offices…
The spreading of that rumor has led more than one team to repeat the charge, often heard around the NBA, that potential “deals” that involve the Blazers — and, pointedly, always seem to favor the Blazers — are conveniently leaked at optimum times.
“Those guys spend an awful lot of time making sure everyone knows how smart they are,” sniffed a rival GM, and how much of that sentiment is jealousy from teams that don’t have the wherewithal to buy draft picks at will and stash prospects overseas, the largesse of a billionaire owner at their backs, I leave to your good minds to discern.
