Evan Turner

Casey Holdahl

Greetings podcast enthusiasts. Between CJ McCollum getting an extension and Moe Harkless signing a new deal, Portland's roster for the start of the 2016-17 regular season is all but finalized. So it seemed like a good time to hit the studio with Joe Freeman of The Oregonian/OregonLive.com to record yet another edition of the Rip City Report podcast, which you can listen to below...

On this edition, we discuss the near-max extension for McCollum and the four-year, roughly $40 million contract for Harkless, which directions Terry Stotts might go in terms of starting lineups and minutes allocations, the news that both Al-Farouq Aminu and Festus Ezeli will forego playing for Nigeria at the 2016 Summer Olympics, give a quick rundown of the preseason schedule and answer your Twitter-submitted questions.

You can find the Rip City Report on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher. Thanks as always for listening.

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Podcast: The Rip City Report, Finalized Roster Edition

With Portland's foray into free agency now complete, Joe Freeman, he of The Oregonian/OregonLive.com, and I, Casey Holdahl of ForwardCenter.net/TrailBlazers.com, hit the Moda Center studio to record another edition of the Rip City Report podcast, which you can listen to below...

In this almost all Twitter-submitted questions edition, we discuss the signings of Evan Turner, Festus Ezeli and Meyers Leonard, the decision to match the offer the Brooklyn Nets extended to Allen Crabbe, how the additions and returns could change lineups going forward and the notion that the Trail Blazers need to make a trade. There's also some hot Pokemon Go and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" talk to start the show, so you might want prepare yourself to fast-forward through the first few minutes.

You can find the Rip City Report on Soundcloud, iTunes and Stitcher. And a reminder that the offseason is a great time to leave a review on iTunes!

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Podcast: Rip City Report, Post Free Agency Edition

Evan Turner, who the Trail Blazer signed as a free agent almost immediately after the expiration of the NBA's July moratorium, hasn't been in Oregon for long, but he already shares at least one concern familiar to many residing in the area.

"I know the real estate market is booming," said Turner during his introductory press conference at the team's practice facility in Tualatin. "I can afford it for sure but I don’t want to get duped, you know what I’m saying? If they don’t negotiate right, I just can’t move in."

If the luck he's had recently with negotiations holds up, Turner is going to be just fine when it comes to buying a house in his new home. But unlike Portland's housing market, which could only be described as heavily favoring sellers, it sounds like the hammering out of a new four-year deal reportedly worth $70 million between Turner, his agent Kevin Bradbury and Trail Blazers President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey was much more collaborative. In the Trail Blazers, Turner found a young team on the rise where his skills and personality seem to be almost ideal fits.

"I think my skill set, I can play with the ball in my hands and off the ball, a lot of attention can be towards (Lillard and McCollum), as it should be, in regards to the defense and everything," said Turner who has averaged 10.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists since being drafted with the second overall pick of the 2010 Draft. "I seen Chief (Aminu), he got freed up a lot. I like the bigs, how you have alley-oop options to them. I just thought the way they played is tough. They play with a lot of energy, a lot of toughness. They’re a top team and not only are they talented but they have a blue collar type identity."

And as for the Trail Blazers, they get a versatile, multi-positional player who can shore up their perimeter defense while unlocking the smaller lineups that Terry Stotts found success with during Portland's 44-win season, which culminated with a trip to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.

"Watching video — it’s different during the process when you’re singling in on a guy and watching him versus preparing for the Celtics — he’s a really good facilitator, he’s a very good passer, a willing passer, I think his size helps him see things," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "One of the things that we wanted to do this year was to add another playmaker on the court. CJ and Dame had a lot of responsibility as far as being our playmakers, so we’re really counting on Evan to be a facilitator and playmaker for us, putting him in ball screens. He’s a very good, alert defender both on the ball and off the ball. He’s been a good teammate wherever he’s been, I think he fits into our culture and how we want to play, both on the ball and off the ball. He’s a very good rebounder for his position. Everything that we were looking for in that position, Evan fills it."

What's more, Turner fits the description of a player who wanted to come to Portland rather than simply settling for Portland, something that has been an important factor for Olshey in terms of player acquisition, which made for an easy negotiation.

"It’s been very important to us — in the last couple of years, we’ve talked about this — to have players that want to be here," said Olshey. "They believe in what we’re doing, they believe in this organization, they’re going to embrace the city of Portland, the fans and they’re willing to play the style of basketball we play. You can see just by sitting here what a high character guy Evan is. He’s an unselfish player, he’s versatile, he’s about making his teammates better and I think that’s going to be huge for us. I won’t go through where different guys were in the free agent process in terms of ranking, but the fact that we had a deal with Evan at 10 in the morning on July 1st probably tells you how highly coveted he was by us. We were aggressive in going after him, I didn’t want to get off the phone with his agent until we had a deal, it happened very quickly because we knew we had mutual interest."

While Turner fits well in terms of skills and age, one area of his game which is a bit incongruent with Portland's style of play is three-point shooting. Turner is just a 31 percent career three-point shooter and has failed to shoot better than 28 percent from deep in his last two season with the Boston Celtics, but he's hoping, as was the case with Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, that playing in Portland will help improve his accuracy through both practice and osmosis.

"The coach told me everybody shoot the three better when he get here, so I’m going to have to trust him on that," said a half-joking Turner. "And once again, just keep working each day on it. Most importantly, taking good shots and making the right plays and making the right read. That’s what I’m going to try my best to do and attempt to do."

As is the case with any free agent negotiation, money and years obviously played an important role in luring Turner to Portland, but the opportunity to have a more prominent role than he's had on any of his previous teams on a roster coming off consecutive playoff appearances and one of the most surprising seasons in recent history was, as the kids say these days, a major key.

"The money is great obviously, but the situation, I’m really excited about the situation," said Turner. "I’ve found a great fit to play with great players and a good coach and a great organization that has a great culture."

Now he just needs to find a great place to live at a reasonable price.

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Trail Blazers Find The Right Fit In Evan Turner, And Vice Versa

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