Portland Trail Blazers 2023 Mock Draft Compilation 1.0
Ed Stein
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Team Needs
Power Forward
This has been a position of need for many years. When was the last time Portland had someone physically dominant inside who could defend AND get rebounds? It’s been quite a while. Nassir Little could be that guy, but he’s still developing.
Center
How pressing the Portland Trail Blazers’ need for a center depends on whether management finally realized that for two years, they had no size. Jusuf Nurkic is the only Blazer over 6-9. Trendon Watford and Drew Eubanks do solid work, but they are overmatched.
Nurk needs a solid backup. And with his injury history, that backup will get plenty of playing time.
Scoring Forward
The Portland Trail Blazers’ offense revolves around Damian Lillard. For years he had CJ McCollum as his backcourt mate and scoring partner. McCollum is gone, but his replacement Anfernee Simons can also light it up.
Being so backcourt-centric hasn’t led to an NBA Championship appearance yet. That’s why Cronin traded for Jerami Grant. Opinions are mixed on Grant, and he is a free agent.
In the Dame era, the offense worked best when there was a third option to shoot from mid-to-three-point range. It would be nice if they could spread out the scoring a little bit next season.