Trail Blazers make a flurry of moves at the trade deadline

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) The Portland Trail Blazers were active at the NBA trade deadline Thursday, acquiring guard Brian Roberts and a future second-round pick from Miami, as well as a future first-round pick and forward Anderson Varejao in a deal with Cleveland.

The Blazers waived guard Tim Frazier to make room for Varejao.

Portland obtained Roberts for cash considerations. The 30-year-old was traded to Miami from Charlotte on Tuesday and never played for the Heat.

A four-year veteran, Roberts has played for both the Bobcats and New Orleans, averaging 7.4 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists over 252 games, including 57 starts.

Portland sent a second-round pick to Cleveland in the trade for Varejao, who averaged 2.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 10 minutes this season for the Cavaliers. In 12 seasons with Cleveland, Varejao averaged 7.6 points, 7.5 rebound and 1.2 assists.

Frazier, who was particularly close with Portland guard Damian Lillard, averaged 1.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 7.8 minutes in 35 games this season.

The Blazers have been one of the league's surprises of the season, exceeding expectations after losing four starters from last's year's playoff team, including All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge.

With Lillard surrounded by a group of young players, the Blazers have gone 27-27 and sit in seventh place in the tough Western Conference.

''We went into the trade deadline trying to be opportunistic. We wanted to gather assets,'' Blazers President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey said. ''Clearly the group is really overachieving. There's a lot of young guys that have a future. We wanted to make sure we were giving them a chance to win. We didn't want to touch that core group of guys that have exceeded expectations.''

The moves also made shrewd financial sense, Olshey said, maximizing cap space while building to the future without giving up talent.

''We were able to get a future first round pick without giving up anything but cap space,'' he said.

The Blazers have won three straight and eight of their last nine, but host the defending NBA champion Warriors on Friday night in the team's first game back since the All-Star break. Golden State has lost just four games this season.