August 12, 2002
Blazers President and General Manager Bob Whitsitt announced today
the signing of free agent guard
Jeff McInnis to a three-year contract. Terms of the
agreement were not disclosed. McInnis played the past three seasons with the Los Angeles
Clippers.
“We are very pleased to announce the signing of Jeff McInnis,” said Whitsitt. “Since
the beginning of the off season, we have said we wanted to address our size and depth in the
backcourt. Jeff and Antonio Daniels, who we acquired last week, give us two players
who fulfill that need. We believe Damon Stoudamire, Jeff and Antonio give us great
stability, depth and experience in the backcourt. We believe we have definitely upgraded this
area for next season.”
The 6-4, 180-pound McInnis played in 81 games (80 starts) last season for the Clippers and
averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists per game. The 27-year-old averaged 37.4
minutes per game for Los Angeles and ranked seventh in the NBA in assists per turnover
ratio (3.4).
“I'm very excited to have Jeff join our team,” said Blazers Head Coach Maurice Cheeks.
“Jeff and Antonio give us two big bodies in our backcourt that make us that much tougher
in this area. Jeff is a big guard who can defend and run a basketball team and regardless of
who plays, we feel very comfortable with the players we will have on the court.”
McInnis played three seasons for current Blazers assistant coach Dan Panaggio at Quad
Cities in the CBA. During his time in the CBA, McInnis earned the League’s Newcomer
of the Year in 1997-98 and the League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1999-2000. He
averaged 17.7 points, 6.4 assists and 3.3. rebounds during his three-year CBA career.
McInnis has played in a total of 235 career NBA games (177 starts) and 187 of those games
were with the Clippers. He also played in 35 games with the Washington Wizards in 1998-99
and 13 games with the Denver Nuggets in 1996-97. For his career, McInnis has averaged
11.1 points and 4.8 assists per contest.
Read what Jeff had to say about coming to Portland
