Portland Trail Blazers: Going for Myles
The Portland Trail Blazers have a few needs on their roster. One of them is an upgrade at the center position.
The Portland Trail Blazers’ roster has a few holes to fill. One of them is the starting center. Jusuf Nurkic, their center for the last few seasons, is an unrestricted free agent.
There’s a genuine possibility the Bosnian Beast doesn’t suit up for the Blazers next season. After the team’s first-round exit last season, Nurkic did say he wasn’t sure if he’d be back. Now that team is flirting with a rebuild and Nurkic is a UFA, does he decide to take his talents elsewhere?
Current Options
If the Portland Trail Blazers have to replace Nurk, their in-house options are local boy Drew Eubanks and undrafted rookie Trendon Watford. In my opinion, Watford has the higher ceiling of the two. However, as of right now, he’s a rotational big man and should not be viewed as a starter. Eubanks had his best season in 2021-22, but he should up good numbers when he’s getting close to 30 minutes a game. Even though Eubanks improved this year, he’s a career fourth-string, big man.
Other Options
What other options are available to the Portland Trail Blazers in filling this spot?
Among pending Free agents, the center position doesn’t offer many good candidates. Nurkic would probably be the best one to hit the market. Another route is the draft. Portland has the seventh overall pick, and there are options for them. It would have been if C.J. McCollum didn’t lead New Orleans into the playoff so Portland could have the Pelicans lottery pick, number 8.
General Manager Joe Cronin could stay at seven and draft the best overall player. Or he could look to trade back and pick up some more assets. Unfortunately for the Portland Trail Blazers, this draft class isn’t brimming with centers. There might be a couple of good options available for them in Jalen Duren (Memphis) and Frank Williams (Duke).
Here is the order from the 2022 #NBADraftLottery 👀 pic.twitter.com/9uh67thF3D
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 18, 2022