How Noah Vonleh became a Trail Blazer: The rookie story

Noah Vonleh has the potential to be a game changer for the Portland Trail Blazers, which seems odd to say since he was traded by the team that drafted him—the Charlotte Hornets—after just one season in the NBA. That does not usually happen to players with Vonleh’s upside. Yet, here he is in the Rose City, more ready than ever to be a valuable contributor. Some even have him projected as a starter. So what exactly happened in Charlotte that made this possible? Gather round, it’s story time.

Vonleh was drafted with the 9^th pick of the 2014 NBA Draft. The Hornets had drafted forward-center Cody Zeller with the 4^th pick the year before. The frontcourt was going to be crowded in 2014-15 from the get-go, but before any sort of competition had chance to form, Vonleh suffered a sports hernia in voluntary workouts. After having surgery to repair the damage, he missed nearly all of preseason, as well as the first two weeks of the regular season.

Upon returning to good health, he was sentenced to ride the bench. Weeks passed and he continued to play sparingly or not at all. Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford explained Vonleh’s predicament to the Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.

"“It’s the speed of the game: To play consistent, regular minutes you have to have a comfort level with how the NBA game is played,” Clifford said. “Unfortunately once the season starts you only have certain stretches of the year where you can practice a lot.”“He’s a 19-year-old who missed all of September, when the foundation was put in, and all of October and is now playing catch-up.”“The thing that gives him a chance is he’s very gifted and a great worker. But it would be tough for anybody to catch up quickly after missing his rookie preseason.”"

The day after Clifford was quoted, Vonleh was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Charlotte’s D-League affiliate. Hornets management recognized that Vonleh needed to get experience one way or the other, and there was no way he would see any improvement sitting on the bench. General Manager Rich Cho issued this statement:

"“We believe Noah would benefit greatly from additional game experience. He will be able to get that playing time through this D-League assignment.”"

Nov 9, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Noah Vonleh (11) warms up before the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Vonleh would only play two games for the Mad Ants before being recalled. The D-League was not challenging enough for him. He averaged 7.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks in 13.0 minutes per game, which come out to 18.7 points, 12.0 rebounds, 4.0 steals, and 2.7 blocks per 36 minutes.

His return to the Hornets left him in rookie limbo; too good for the D-League, not properly prepared for the pros. Normally, there would come a time when a team as mediocre as Charlotte was last year would bite the bullet and play him for developmental purposes, but the Eastern Conference was so abysmal that the Hornets remained in the playoff race longer than they should have. Minutes went to established players that had a better chance of winning games.

Vonleh was stuck behind Zeller, Marvin Williams, often Jason Maxiell, and even Jeffery Taylor, who missed the first 20 games of the season while serving the suspension he incurred for a domestic violence incident. At a certain point, keeping Vonleh benched has to be chalked up to negligence. He only saw 20+ minutes per game once the Hornets were finally eliminated from playoff contention in early April.

In total, Vonleh played 25 games for the Hornets, but that doesn’t tell the full story of how badly he was ignored. Of those 25 games, only five were decided by single-digits. The average margin of victory in games that Vonleh played was 17.3 points. The average margin of defeat was 20.4. Almost all of his NBA experience thus far has been in garbage time.

Experientially speaking, Vonleh is essentially still a rookie; a rookie that the Hornets did not have the patience to give a second season. They came so close to making the playoffs in 2014-15 that a trade seemed likely to push them over the edge. Since Vonleh had become a non-essential part of their short-term goals, they packaged him with Gerald Henderson for Nicolas Batum—an upgrade at the wing. Based on their needs and philosophical approach, they got a lot for a little.

The Trail Blazers eagerly snatched Vonleh up. They had been trying to unload Batum for a high pick in the 2015 draft, but settled for a player that would have been one if he had entered the league a year later. Because Vonleh is so young, he is still the same age as some of this year’s most coveted rookies; Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell, Jahlil Okafor, etc—he just has a year of practicing with an NBA team under his belt.

Unsurprisingly, Vonleh dominated Summer League play for the Trail Blazers. In four games, he averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds, while shooting exactly 50.0 percent from deep—all team-highs. As long as the Trail Blazers realize the importance of player development in a rebuilding year, Vonleh has an excellent chance to get his career on track when the regular season hits.

So, keeping with the age-old expression that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Portland is hoping to strike gold. He would not be the first Trail Blazer to find success after a rocky start. Looking at the players that accompanied Vonleh in the 6-10 range of the 2014 NBA Draft (Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, Nik Stauskas, Elfrid Payton), there is no reason not to have lofty expectations for him. If he can establish himself early, he will be one of Portland’s sturdiest building blocks.

Noah Vonleh highlights via GD’s Final Highlights

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