Feb
21
Meet Eric Maynor, Portland’s Newest Trail Blazer
By sarahhecht Posted in: ericmaynor
On Thursday, the Portland Trail Blazers added point guard Eric Mayor to the roster from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"Eric is a player we have valued and pursued for some time,” said General Manager Neil Olshey. “His skill level and character will be excellent additions to our culture on and off the floor.”
Drafted in 2009 by the Utah Jazz with the 20th pick overall, Maynor spent his first months in the NBA backing up Deron Williams. Later that year he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder to serve as backup to Russell Westbrook, which he did until January of 2012 when he tore his right ACL in a game against the Houston Rockets.
Since his return to the floor after a full and successful rehabilitation, Maynor’s played in 37 games with the Thunder, averaging 2.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 10.6 minutes per game. His career averages stand at 4.2 points per game, 1.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 14.3 minutes through 209 career games with Oklahoma City and Utah.
Rip City’s search to find the elusive point guard of the future ended when Damian Lillard was drafted last summer, could it be that this addition of Maynor will shore up the position going forward? Only time will tell and the next 28 games will be a valuable evaluation period of Maynor, who could be a restricted free agent should the Trail Blazers decide to tender him a qualifying offer.
How much of Maynor have you seen? What do you think of the acquisition?
Until we get to see him in action this video of Maynor knocking down a 3/4-court shot after his return from injury is pretty sweet. Nothing but net.
Damian Lillard praised Maynor after learning of his addition to the squad, here’s what he had to say:
“I was a fan of his when he was at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University.) I played in Utah his first season in Utah before he got traded and even in Oklahoma City, he had a couple good seasons there, so it’ll be fun to play with him. To have a point guard like him change the pace, he can really play the game. I think he’ll really help our team.
“It gives me more of an opportunity to play off the ball with him being, I think, a guy capable of being a starter, but I can play off the ball, he can come in the game and really get the team going if I don’t start the game. He’s been in the playoffs, been in the finals with OKC and I think he’s a good addition to our team.”
Olshey’s comments on Maynor:
“Eric is a guy we tracked during the draft, both myself at the Clippers and Portland, Bill Branch had him in Oklahoma City, so did David Vanterpool and at one point he was probably considered the premier backup point guard in the NBA. He had a little bit of a setback with the injury, but he plays the kid of style we like to play, he’s a great guy to run our second unit while still being able to play with the starters. He plays with good pace, good tempo, he takes care of the basketball, he makes good decisions and we also think we can experiment a little bit with he and Damian on the floor at the same time.”
For a full transcript and video of Olshey’s media availability,
head here.