Portland Trail Blazers May Be Interested in Taj Gibson

Sean Deveney of Sporting News has come out with a list of NBA players on the trading block as the February 19th trade deadline approaches. Among them is Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson. The Portland Trail Blazers are listed among possible destinations.

Gibson's name has been connected to much of the league over the last few months, from Los Angeles to Toronto to Phoenix to Detroit to Portland.

In recent weeks, he has not played with the type of energy for which he has been known, and there has been speculation that he is frustrated with the addition of Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol (though his playing time has not changed much). Gibson still has two years and $17.4 million on his deal, which is a problem in moving.

The mechanics of the deal would be relatively simple for Portland; Thomas Robinson and cap filler would get the deal done salary-wise. (Talent equity may be another matter.) That would be contingent on the Blazers' willingness to absorb the second year of Gibson's contract, of course.

The 29-year-old power forward has played 6 seasons with the Bulls, the majority of the time off the bench. He's averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game this year. Nearly 3 of those rebounds are of the highly-coveted offensive variety. Gibson is an inside-only player on offense, with 75% of his attempts coming from 10 feet and in. He has 44 games of playoff experience and famously averaged 18 ppg in Chicago's first-round series last year versus the Washington Wizards.

Deveney lists several other players of interest, among them Boston Celtics forward Brandon Bass, also linked marginally to the Blazers. Other players rumored to be on the block that could tantalize: Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert, Goran Dragic, Greg Monroe, and Reggie Jackson.

Thanks to Blazerfan72 for getting the link up in the Fanshots!

--Dave blazersub@gmail.com / @DaveDeckard / @Blazersedge