Earlier we noted a HoopsHype report that said guard Dwayne Mitchell will be attending training camp with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Our good friend Scott Schroeder of SB Nation's Ridiculous Upside is now reporting that forward Raymond Sykes and guard Dwight Lewis will also be attending camp with the Blazers.
Sykes is 6'9" and 220 and averaged 10.5 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the D-League last season. He attended Clemson University.
Lewis is 6'5" and 215 and went undrafted after playing four years for the University of Southern California. Last season he averaged 13.8 points and 2.9 rebounds for the Trojans.
Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports on Twitter that the Blazers will invite a total of four players to training camp and the final name is Seth Tarver.
One is Portland native and Oregon State graduate Seth Tarver, who was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Tarver is 6'5" and 220, a wing who went undrafted after playing four years at Oregon State.
With a roster that is literally overflowing (16 players for 15 spots: Miller, Bayless, Johnson, Mills, Roy, Matthews, Fernandez, Williams, Batum, Babbitt, Aldridge, Cunningham, Pendergraph, Camby, Oden, Przybilla) it goes without saying that these invitees are the longest of long shots to stick with the team.
However, roughly two weeks ago I wrote that I hoped Rich Cho's hire might mean that the Blazers would make better use of their D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede. These invites are potentially a first step in that direction.
The Development League's new allocation system allows for each D-League team to acquire the rights to 3 players cut from their affiliate's training camp. With the Blazers bringing these guys into camp, assuming that they are cut and interested in playing in the D-League, they will be automatically be assigned to the Idaho Stampede instead of going through the draft/waiver process and potentially ending up on another D-League team.
Inviting extra players is a no-lose proposition for the Blazers. The worst case scenario is that Portland becomes more familiar with guys who could stock their D-League affiliate while protecting, to a degree, players that their Idaho staff has targeted.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter