Portland Trail Blazers Trade Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez

On the night of the NBA Draft, the Portland Trail Blazers traded guards Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez in separate deals. In an attempt to try to improve the team for the future, the Blazers front office made two moves that might appear to be head scratchers on the surface.

According to ESPN, two deals were made by the Blazers, with the first sending Fernandez to the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 26 and No. 57 picks in the draft. With the No. 26 pick, Dallas selected Jordan Hamilton out of Texas and with the No. 57 pick it selected Targuy Ngombo. The Blazers also sent back the No. 30 pick of the 2007 NBA Draft, Petteri Koponen, who has been playing in Europe.

Portland wasn't done dealing at that point, and turned around to make a secondary deal with the Denver Nuggets. In that deal, the Blazers sent Hamilton and Miller for point guard Raymond Felton. When the smoke had cleared, Portland had ended up with Ngombo and Felton for their troubles. It certainly seemed like they gave up more assets than what came back though, and that could trouble any fans that liked Fernandez.

Heading into the 2011-12 season, the Blazers are at salaries of just more than $66 million with Felton on board. That includes $15 million for Brandon Roy, $11.8 million to LaMarcus Aldridge, $10.7 million to Gerald Wallace and $9.3 million to Marcus Camby. The team is also expected to send a qualifying offer to Greg Oden, which would likely be for around $8.8 million for next year.

With only 10 players under contract for next year, the Blazers still have to re-sign or bring in at least five more players to fill out the roster. That could include free agents like Patrick Mills and Chris Johnson that have not been extended offers just yet. It also includes Luke Babbitt, Armon Johnson, and Elliott Williams already being under contract for 2011-12.

With these trades taking place, it appears pretty clear that Felton will be the starting point guard for the Blazers now. He is in the last year of his deal though, so it's possible that he will be there to groom someone to take over the following year. That could possibly be the first round pick of the Blazers, which was Duke point guard Nolan Smith. Smith appears quite mature at the position, but only time will tell if he is ready to take over the reins.

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