On draft day, former Trail Blazer GM Kevin Pritchard traded Martell Webster to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for forward Ryan Gomes and the rights to Luke Babbitt, the 16th overall pick in the draft.
Gomes, however, will never don a Blazer uniform.
On Tuesday, with just a couple of hours to spare before his contract became guaranteed, the Trail Blazers released Ryan Gomes.
His contract runs through 2012-13, but a team option had to be exercised to make those remaining years on his contract guaranteed. He would have been paid around $4 million per season over the next 3 seasons. Instead, Portland will only pay him $1 million this season and $2 million the next 2 years.
Because of this, Portland's cap space significantly improves as they attempt to shave payroll.
Many fans were ecstatic when the Blazers were able to acquire both Gomes and Babbitt in a draft day trade, as the team seemingly became much improved at the small forward position for both the short and long term future.
Instead, it appears that the Blazers front office is content at the moment to have a tandem of Batum and Babbitt at the small forward spot, possibly with a sprinkling of Rudy Fernandez if they don't trade him before the season begins.
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