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Freeman: Blazers Want To Bring Over Joel Freeland, Victor Claver

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Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports that Portland Trail Blazers Acting GM Chad Buchanan remains interested in bringing 2006 Draft pick Joel Freeland, and possibly 2009 Draft pick Victor Claver, to the NBA for the 2012-2013 season. --------------------------------- "We'd really like to bring them both over," Blazers interim general manager Chad Buchanan said. "We're going to be aggressive to get them signed and get them in a Blazers uniform next season. Any deal will have to make sense for Joel, for Victor and for the Blazers and our offseason plans. But if we had a choice, we'd like to get them both signed." ... And even though Portland holds the rights to both players, it has been three draft classes since the Blazers acquired them, so they essentially will be treated as free agents, meaning the Blazers will have to use cap space or part of their midlevel exception to sign them. Buchanan said the team will reach out to both players before free agency starts on July 1, but negotiations could drag out well into the free agent signing period. --------------------------------- text edited, bumped to front page