Rather than focus on need, the Blazers went for “the best player available.”
The NBA’s most untalked about offseason has to be the Portland Trail Blazers. They’ve made questionable move after questionable move and the sports media has been surprisingly quiet about it. What makes it questionable?
It’s consensus opinion among NBA fans, both casual and serious, that the Trail Blazers are in a “win-now” mode. After all, just last season the team placed third in the powerhouse western conference. But, unfortunately, that regular season success didn’t translate to the playoffs. New Orleans swept the Blazers in the first round.
The prevailing explanation was the team’s lack of supporting cast. Point guard Damian Lillard averaged 18.5 points and 4.8 assists per game while being guarded by Jrue Holiday, arguably the best defensive point guard in the NBA. Shooting guard CJ Mccollum averaged an impressive 25.3 points and 3.5 assists, shooting over 40% from three. However, the rest of the team didn’t pick up the load and Portland crumbled game after game.
With that experience, you’d think that the team would draft players to complement Lillard and McCollum. But what did the Blazers do? They did just the opposite.
Anfernee Simons (photo, Oregonlive.com)
NBA Draft: The Blazers had only one draft selection–at 24th overall. With that selection, the team picked 19-year-old Anfernee Simons, who missed college to train himself for the NBA. It was a very questionable move. Simons needs more time (probably a couple of years) to develop. And he’s a shooting guard, a position that isn’t a need for the team currently.
Well, if the team had just stopped there, then maybe the Simons selection wouldn’t have been all that bad. Instead, the Blazers doubled-down.
Free Agency: Instead of acquiring a forward who could develop into the team’s third or fourth option on offense, the Blazers again went after guard depth–three times, even! They signed Gary Trent Jr, Seth Curry, and Nik Stauskas. All three are shooting guards. Worse yet, Portland didn’t sign veteran help on the wings/in the frontcourt.
The big question is WHY?
Why did this team acquire four players at the same position–a position that has an all-star currently in the starting slot? In the draft, why didn’t Portland go after a two-way, established wing like Melvin Frazier or Chandler Hutchinson, somebody who could help the team right now?
One possible answer: CJ Mccollum may be on the trade block now that the team is loaded up at his position.
Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: the Portland Trail Blazers have had a very interesting, if not mystifying, 2018 offseason.
