Enes Kanter, Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Frenchieinportland, via Wikimedia)
Neil Olshey, Portland Trail Blazers General Manager.
Wow! the Portland Trail Blazers draft and free-agent signing period went much better than any Rip City fan could hope for. I’d say Christmas came early for Blazers fans. There could still be some more moves made by the organization before the season starts, but they’re probably done for now. Portland head into the new season in a prime position to contend for the Northwest Division title.
The Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz are the only teams to really pose a threat to the Blazers’ division title hopes. Oklahoma City is starting their rebuild, and Minnesota is still in their rebuild from when Kevin Garnett was traded to Boston. Denver may be the favorite, but the smart money is on the Blazers to win the Northwest.
The Blazers re-signed forwards Carmelo Anthony and Rodney Hood while also trading for center Enes Kanter from Boston. None of these deals are difference-makers, but they are high-quality depth moves. The signings and trade should allow the Blazers to play their style of basketball longer in games with much less of a drop off in productivity.
I’ve been advocating that the Blazers bring Melo back, and I’m glad they did. Last season he was a helpful teammate and a clutch player. The future Hall of Famer heads Portland’s second unit.
Kanter is a close replica of Hassan Whiteside. Enes the Menace brings low post scoring and rebounding prowess to a team that was lacking in both areas. He is a very good offensive rebounder, which means extra possessions for Damian Lillard and company. That’s always good. Much like Whiteside, Kanter is not a steady three-point shooter, so he probably won’t play alongside Jusuf Nurkic much.
Portland also returns Hood and his streaky offensive production. It would be great if he can be more consistent. At 28-years-old, it’s unlikely. The bigger hope is that Hood’s Achilles tear hasn’t absorbed too much of his athletic and explosive ability. All signs point to the six-year veteran making successful progress in his recovery. He should be able to contribute to this team. Maybe not right off the bad as Hood gets back into game shape, but by the end of the season, he’ll be a big part of coach Terry Stotts’ rotation.
Derrick Jones Jr., Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers.
Robert Covington, Harry Giles III, and Derrick Jones Jr. are the newest Blazers. I’ve written about RoCo before. He’s a younger and better version of Trevor Ariza. For instance, an underrated part of RoCo’s game is his strong ability for the weakside block. Covington will bring his standard 3-and-D style. He will help space the floor for bigger driving lanes.
Jones is a less-heralded player known for winning the 2020 Dunk Competition (poor Aaron Gordon has been robbed twice now). He’s mostly a defensive specialist. Last year in Miami, DJJ showed great improvement to his game. For example, he loves to guard the opponent’s best wing player. It will be a heck of a battle this season to see which one is the team’s best defender.
DJJ rebounds well for a small forward and produces a good number of steals. He’s only 23-years-old and has four years of NBA experience. Over the last three seasons, the numbers show a marked improvement to his offensive game. In 2020–21, DJJ will be entering his prime. The Blazers may have just nabbed their “Golden Ticket.” I don’t think it will happen in his first season in the Rose City as Jones will have to fight for all the minutes he gets. The following year, I’d expect him to have a much bigger role.
Giles doesn’t fall in the category of familiar faces even though the Blazers drafted him 20th, then traded him on draft night 2017 for Zach Collins. The 6-11 big was a dominant high school player. At one point, scouts compared him to Chris Webber. Unfortunately, Giles had two major knee operations since then. He’s only 20 years old, so there is time for him to get back on track.
Signed to a one-year deal for the league minimum, there is still big-time upside in Giles. In the same vein as DJJ, he could be another “Golden Ticket.” the Blazers just signed. However, Giles will also be in a heated battle for playing time.
Carmelo Anthony, Portland Trail Blazers.
With this group, the Portland Trail Blazers have so many possibilities. If they want to go small, they can. Remember when Golden State had their “Death Lineup”? It was Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and Kevin Durant. Here’s a possible version of that for Rip City. Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Rodney Hood, Carmelo Anthony, and Robert Covington.
Yeah, that lineup is scary. Scary good and scary bad. They’d be giving up a lot of size, but on the flip side, they would be demanding one-on-one defense with little help. For example, everyone is a legit threat to make a three. One of the keys to the death lineup was that it invited the opponent to take the easier two-point basket in exchange for the trifecta on the other end. Consequently, this would be the same thing for the Blazers. Additionally, when Houston played small-ball last season, Covington effectively handled playing the five on the back end.
If the Blazers need to go big, they can play Collins with Nurkic or Kanter while having Covington at the small forward spot. They could even play all three big men with Nurk or Kantner in the middle and Collins playing at the three.
The biggest area of concern is the backup guard spots. Concern gives the wrong notion. It’s more the one area of proven NBA depth. Gary Trent Jr. improved greatly from his first to second NBA seasons. Hopefully, the trend continues. Consequently, it’s time for Anfernee Simons to be the big-time player the Blazers spent a 2019 first-round draft pick on.
Expecting Simmons to be a 20-point per game scorer this year. More realistically, the Blazers need him to average close to double-digit points, shoot 40 percent from the field (with 35 percent from behind the arc), and mix in some assists and rebounds. That would be a huge help to the second unit and a great sign that he’s developing.
Overall, the Portland Trail Blazers player transactions from this week make them a top-four team in the Western Conference and a threat to make the finals. They now have the depth to make a long playoff run.
What do you think about the Portland Trail Blazers’ recent additions? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.