According to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian, Trailblazers unrestricted free agent Ime Udoka will finally become a Spur.
Udoka has been talked about by Spurs fans for some time now, especially after Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett talked about Udoka receiving a 3-year offer from the Spurs on his blog.
Barrett posted that exactly a month ago, and at the time, it seemed the only competition the Spurs had to sign Udoka was coming from the Memphis Grizzlies.
Erin Cowan, Udoka’s agent, said Boston, Miami, Memphis, Cleveland and Dallas all expressed interest, but when financial terms could not be met, they went back to their initial offer with the Spurs.
“San Antonio was the first team to contact us and we’ve been in communication with each other ever since,” Cowan said. “They were very respectful to us during the process and allowed us to go out and seek more money. But the well dried up. Ime’s excited for this opportunity.”
For those not familiar with Udoka, he ended up making onto the Trailblazers roster only after another player failed his physical. He made the most of his opportunity and became a starter for the Blazers averaging 8.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in just over 28 minutes last season.
The three-year veteran is a hard-working guard/forward who seems like a Popovich-type player. He has a good three-point shot (40.6% last season), excels on defense and has an excellent work ethic. I’ve added a youtube video at the end of this post showing Udoka grabbing two key offensive rebounds that led to a Blazers comeback win over the Sonics.
While he may be young in NBA years, he just turned 30 last week. Even at 30, he seems like he has the right skill set to be trained as Bruce Bowen’s protegé. If he indeed does succeed Bowen, it couldn’t come to a more similar player. Udoka spent time in Europe, three years in the D-League and played a total of 12 NBA games with the Lakers and Knicks before he got his lucky break with the Blazers.
His deal is rumored to be for two years for $2 million with the second year being a player option.
“He’s excited to start the next phase of his career. He wants to be a Spur for a long time,” Cowan said. “Portland will always be in his heart, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. He’s going to play around three all-stars and a Hall of Famer, and he gets the opportunity to play for a champion right now.”
