Portland Trail Blazers can have their cake and eat it too
Our Rob Ryan lays out his detailed plan for the Portland Trail Blazers to strengthen their team without sacrificing the third overall pick.
Rob Ryan
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Our Rob Ryan lays out his detailed plan for the Portland Trail Blazers to strengthen their team without sacrificing the third overall pick.
In my last article, I pointed out my thoughts on the value Anfernee Simons should have on the open market and his potential pairings with the third-pick possibilities, Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller. Now I’ll throw out what I think the Portland Trail Blazers should do with the pick, Simons, Jusuf Nurkic, and everything else.
#1 Unlock all future picks by moving the #23 pick to Chicago
The Portland Trail Blazers still owe Chicago A lottery-protected first round pick. By rule, until this matter is settled, Portland can’t trade future firsts.
GM Joe Cronin needs to get something done with his Bulls counterpart ASAP to get out of this trade handcuff.
#2 Make a 3-team trade
It starts with Rip City sending Jusuf Nurkic Phoenix Suns. Then, Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little head to Brooklyn.
Phoenix sends Deandre Ayton to the Portland Trail Blazers (probably with an escort from his soon-to-be ex-organization). Portland also gets Dorian Finney-Smith from the Nets. In addition to Nurk, the Suns also get Spencer Dinwiddie.
This trade also needs draft capital to complete it, but all three teams benefit.
- Brooklyn gets Simons to be their long-term PG, along with Nassir Little.
- Nurk replaces Ayton as Phoenix’s starting center, and the Suns add a solid point guard in Dinwiddie.
- The Portland Trail Blazers take a flyer on Ayton’s potential while gaining a solid 3-and-D small forward, Finney-Smith. They essentially upgrade at the center and small forward positions while still keeping the third pick, Sharpe, and their future first-rounders.
At that point, it doesn’t matter if Scoot or Miller is left on the board. Portland keeps the pick and uses them as the sixth man off the bench, until they are good enough to start.
#3 Resign the RFAs
After the draft, Portland re-signs Matisse Thybulle and Cam Reddish as the other guard/forward with whoever is drafted.
Reddish is offered a similar contract to the one Rodney Hood got a few years ago, where it’s a decent salary, but the second year is a team option. That type of deal makes Reddish’s salary a movable asset this year or next.
Finney-Smith and Ayton both have three years remaining on their contracts. If this whole project fails, they become expiring movable contracts right before Shaedon Sharpe potentially signs a bigger deal.
#4 Fill out the roster
Portland can use its Mid Level Exception and their Gary Payton II trade exception to fill in the rest of the bench with veterans. Who that could be is a bigger question.
Honestly, I’d like to see what the cost would be to pry Zach Collins back from the San Antonio Spurs using the Payton II exception to match the salary and whatever draft capital necessary to get it done so the Portland Trail Blazers backup center spot is filled.
Using the MLE requires a little more patience. The Blazers will need to “offset” their draft pick. If it’s Scoot, they bring in a defensive-minded veteran backup forward. On the other hand, if it’s Brandon Miller, maybe they offer that MLE to someone like Seth Curry.
Regardless. the Portland Trail Blazers stack their bench with enough talent to support the starters. This isn’t a knock on Drew Eubanks, Keon Johnson, Trendon Watford, and Jabari Walker.
At this point, the younger players are best used as a third tier and “only break glass if needed players,” who are still developing. I’d also like to see Portland sign Skylar Mays as the third-string point guard to round out the 15-man roster.
The idea is to test how close the team is to being a contender. The Portland Trail Blazers have a slightly better center with untapped potential and an upgrade at small forward to go along with Damian Lillard, Jerami Grant, and Sharpe. They give the bench a big-time upgrade while providing the front office a more in-depth opportunity to gauge this team’s future.
Cronin has all the team’s future first-round picks available for trades, along with more movable salary pieces at his disposal. Portland would be in a good position to make a necessary final move to push the team to contender status by next year’s trade deadline. This approach is a good selling point for Dame to ride it out and see what happens.
Final Thoughts
On paper, this team looks solid and might be enough reallocation of talent to fire up Lillard.
PG – Lillard/Scoot or Curry/Mays
SG – Sharpe/Thybulle/Johnson
SF – Finney-Smith/Miller or Reddish/Watford
PF – Grant/Reddish or Veteran/Walker
C – Ayton/Collins/Eubanks
The key to this plan is upgrading the roster and rolling the dice while adding both veterans and keeping young talent and future draft assets. If the Portland Trail Blazers want to make one last move to become contenders or blow it up and rebuild, they are in a solid position to do so in either scenario.
What do you think about this revamped Portland Trail Blazers roster?