Portland Trail Blazers: Looking at Possible Free Agents
Chris Phillips
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The Portland Trail Blazers will be active this offseason. They have some cap space and some open starting spots to entice free agents. Here’s a list of free agents that are logical fits for the Blazers.
The Portland Trail Blazers offseason is well underway. Head Coach Chauncy Billups is working with interim General Manager Joe Cronin and the Blazers’ scouting department to analyze the young players in the NBA draft. Cronin and Billups are also looking at pending free agents too. Working in Portland’s favor are both available starting spots open and the available cap space to fill them.
Unfortunately, this year’s free-agent class is not very good. Many of the top players potentially available most likely won’t be or if they are, don’t fit with the Portland Trail Blazers roster. Another that may be problematic is the amount of money Anfernee Simons receives in his next contract. The going speculation is that he will cost a lot of money. However, the reality is he’s only had one season of high-end NBA performance. So, is this past season a fluke or the norm for Simons?
Top free agents, the John Wall, Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook types aren’t likely options for the Portland Trail Blazers. Plus they all have player options in their current deals that they are most likely going to exercise. So, that leaves a mixture of mid-level players or guys with some possible untapped potential.
Before getting into the available players let’s finalize two points to note. The Portland Trail Blazers have openings at their power forward and center positions. They also are projected to have around $64 million available. Again, keep in mind a portion of that cap space will go towards Simons’s extension. Before anyone gets upset we’re not going to look at any player that was on this past Blazer season’s roster. We the fans and the Blazers all know about them.