Portland is always going to be in the mix with the backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, but the smaller additions will need to improve to get them over the hump. Gary Trent surprised many last years by showing up as a lethal shooter and gives the Blazers some bench scoring. Adding Derrick Jones and making a trade for Robert Covington is going to improve the wings, which was a big weak spot for Portland last season. With Hassan Whiteside moving on, Enes Kanter returned to Portland and will backup Jusuf Nurkic.
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PG |
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0 |
98
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#1 PG | 1 | 6' 2" | 195 | 30 | 7/15/90 | 8th season | Weber State |
PG |
![]() ![]() |
21 |
70
|
#114 PG | 3 | 6' 6" | 200 | 25 | 11/24/95 | Rookie | Montana State |
SG |
![]() ![]() |
3 |
84
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#10 SG | 1 | 6' 3" | 190 | 29 | 9/19/91 | 7th season | Lehigh |
SG |
![]() ![]() |
1 |
71
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#65 SG | 2 | 6' 3" | 181 | 21 | 6/8/99 | 2nd season | |
SG |
![]() ![]() |
16 |
68
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#77 SG | 3 | 6' 6" | 200 | 20 | 6/16/00 | Rookie | Washington State |
SF |
![]() ![]() |
55 |
77
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#37 SF | 1 | 6' 6" | 210 | 23 | 2/15/97 | 5th season | UNLV |
SF |
![]() ![]() |
23 |
76
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#41 SF | 1 | 6' 7" | 209 | 30 | 12/14/90 | 8th season | Tennessee State |
SF |
![]() ![]() |
80
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#21 SF | 2 | 6' 3" | 215 | 27 | 5/25/93 | 6th season | UCLA | |
SF |
![]() ![]() |
9 |
70
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#71 SF | 2 | 6' 5" | 220 | 20 | 2/11/00 | Rookie | North Carolina |
PF |
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0 |
80
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#21 PF | 2 | 6' 7" | 238 | 36 | 5/29/84 | 17th season | Syracuse |
PF |
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4 |
75
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#44 PF | 3 | 6' 11" | 240 | 22 | 4/22/98 | 3rd season | Duke |
C |
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11 |
78
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#32 C | 1 | 6' 10" | 250 | 28 | 5/20/92 | 9th season | Kentucky |
C |
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27 |
81
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#16 C | 2 | 7' 0" | 290 | 26 | 8/23/94 | 6th season | |
C |
![]() ![]() |
33 |
75
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#36 C | 3 | 6' 11" | 250 | 23 | 11/19/97 | 3rd season | Gonzaga |
In a trade made with the Hawks, the Blazers acquired Kent Bazemore in exchange for Turner. This doesn't save a ton of money, but Bazemore does fit into Portland
The Blazers came into this draft with only one pick: 25th overall. With this in mind, you might be surprised to hear that they exited this draft having taken none other than forward Nassir Little. No one was projecting for the freshman out of the University of North Carolina to drop down that far. At the onset of the college season, he was projected to be a top 5 draft pick. Roy Williams, the coach of North Carolina, typically doesn't start freshman, so some are speculating that Little found it hard to get a rhythm going by not starting. He definitely still has a lot of potential that feels untapped. and we'll see how things shake out once he picks up some minutes in the NBA. As of now, he seems like he's going to be a lock-down defender type, comparable to Andre Iguodala. He also provides a nice skillset on the offensive side of things, so he'll compliment McCollum and Lillard nicely.
You can't help but feel bad for teams in the West that were eagerly awaiting for Golden State to split up just to have teams like the Lakers and Clippers all of a sudden become insanely good in a single offseason. As of now, we can only project, but I just don't see the Blazers having what it takes in their roster to beat the duos of LeBron/Anthony Davis or Kawhi/Paul George. My prediction is that the Blazers will win 2 playoff series and then fall to one of those two teams.