TUALATIN — When Meyers Leonard sat down for breakfast Sunday morning at the Portland Trail Blazers practice facility, he overheard CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard having a serious conversation.
“I asked what they were talking about,” Leonard said.
The answer was a stunner: Mason Plumlee had been traded.
If you were caught off guard by news the Blazers had traded their starting center to the Denver Nuggets for Jusuf Nurkic and a first-round draft pick, you were not alone. Plumlee’s teammates were just as shocked to see such an integral part of the team shipped away in the midst of a playoff chase.
“It’s a tough one, man,” Lillard said. “Mase was one of our guys; like a brother to me. I have a great bond with Mase, on and off the floor. It’s sucked to see him go … and we’re definitely going to miss him. I was very surprised. I figured if it was going to happen with anybody, it wouldn’t be Mase, just because he meant that much to our team and did so many things for our team on the floor.”
The trade will not become official until Monday because the NBA league offices are closed on weekends. But a little red tape didn’t stop reality from hitting the Blazers, and as they practiced Sunday in Tualatin, the mood was heavy and the emotion fresh. McCollum described the vibe as “different.” Coach Terry Stotts said things were “more solemn” than normal.
When Lillard showed up for work Sunday, he darted straight toward the locker room, hoping he might catch Plumlee before he left. Sure enough, Plumlee was cleaning out his locker.
Lillard and Plumlee had developed a tight bond the last two seasons, sharing a common passion for winning, working hard and playing the game the right way. Lillard is the Blazers’ captain and undisputed leader, but he said Plumlee — like him — was never shy about speaking up in the locker room or during a game when he felt like the team needed a reality check. Lillard said he always respected how hard Plumlee worked and how unselfish he was as a player.
“I just told him how much I appreciate him as a teammate and he was one of my favorite teammates that I ever played with,” Lillard said. “Not just in the NBA, but in my life period. I’ll miss him for sure.”
Plumlee, who arrived in Portland as part of a draft-night trade in June 2015, had blossomed from a niche player in Brooklyn into a versatile starter in Portland. His game expanded and flourished under Stotts, who allowed Plumlee to showcase his playmaking and ball-handling in ways he was never allowed in Brooklyn. Plumlee is in the middle of a career season, averaging career-highs in scoring (11.0 points per game), rebounds (8.1), assists (4.0), blocks (1.2) and steals (0.9). Athletic and versatile, Plumlee is a player capable of recording double digits in assists one night and double digits in rebounds the next.
All the while, teammates say, he is uniquely unselfish.
“You don’t find people that committed to being a better player and as committed to our team as he was,” Lillard said. Plumlee is “always trying to figure out what he can do better to help us. Always in the game, he would come to me with a play call where he could literally help me get an easier look, a play where he’s handling the ball and he can look for me. He would bring his iPad to me and say, ‘Dame, look at this play. Right here, we should look at this more often in the game. You could (go) backdoor right here or be on the weak side.’ It was just a lot of communication where he was trying to make the game easier for me.”
Added McCollum: “He’s just a glue guy that you want on your team. He’s a guy who does things the right way, never complains and he was getting better. He put together a nice string of 20-25 games where he was getting double-doubles, making his free throws, finishing in the lane. He’s a good guy. That’s what matters the most. He’s a good guy.”
As for Plumlee’s replacement, the Blazers players said Sunday they don’t know much about their new teammate beyond what they’ve seen in games against Denver over the years. Nurkic, at 7-feet, 280-pounds, brings size, defensive potential and a different offensive dimension to Portland. The No. 16 overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, Nurkic, who is averaging 8.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 17.9 minutes per game, can score on the block with both hands, has a nice midrange jumper and, more than anything, features plenty of bulk.
“I know he’s strong,” Leonard said. “Obviously, I’ve played against him a few times now. Strong in the paint. Post player. Left hand, right hand. Pretty decent touch from what I’ve seen in the midrange. Good offensive rebounder. But we’ll see when he gets here.”
As part of the trade, the Blazers reportedly will receive a 2017 first-round pick in addition to Nurkic, so they will have three picks in the upcoming NBA draft.
The Blazers (23-31) entered the season with aims at a deep playoff run, but have been one of the NBA’s biggest disappointments. And now, with Evan Turner’s lengthy absence because of a fracture in his right hand and the trade of Plumlee, who was such a vital cog in the player rotation, it would seem the Blazers are gearing up for a late-season swoon. But the players didn’t want to talk Sunday about their stockpile of 2017 draft picks or their diminished playoff chances.
They remain in the thick of the playoff chase, one-game behind the Nuggets (24-30) for the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference, and they haven’t given up hope just yet.
“We’re still in the mix,” Lillard said. “What are we, a game out of eighth? So we’re still in the mix. We have good players. Obviously losing Mason is a blow. But we have good players, we believe in ourselves. We’ve got to keep fighting … and stay with it, because you just never know what can happen. We’re definitely not in a state of, ‘Oh, the season’s over.’ We’re going to fight, we still believe we’re going to be a playoff team and that’s what we’re going to work toward.”
Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman
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