Portland Trail Blazers: Chinanu Onuaku should receive a two-way contract

The Portland Trail Blazers invited Chinanu Onuaku to their training camp this season. All signs point to his coming out of the camp as an official member of the team on a two-way contract.

Although the Portland Trail Blazers already have a full 15-man roster, they still have two spots open for two-way contracts to give out to players they feel could develop and help out for 45 days throughout the regular season.

On September 3, the team signed three players to training camp deals: Chinanu Onuaku, Cam Oliver, and Gary Payton II. Of these three, Onuaku should have the greatest chance at becoming a Blazer for the upcoming season.

The guy who shoots free throws underhanded

While Onuaku only played six games in his two years with the Houston Rockets, he garnered a reputation for being the guy who shoots granny-style from the free throw line.

And this little curiosity is more than just a gimmick. It vastly improved his free throw percentage.

Before shooting underhanded, Onuaku shot 46.7 percent from the line during his first year at Louisville in 2014-15. Since, he has become a solid free throw shooter, hitting 70.7 percent of his attempts throughout his G-League tenure with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

This type of adjustment may have been too embarrassing for many players to make. But not Onuaku, who only wants to improve his game.

In a 2016 Sports Illustrated article, Onuaku is quoted saying:

"“I don’t really care what people think. I know they’re going to make fun of me. I just brush it off. It’s all about getting better.”"

There’s something so charming about Onuaku’s commitment to improving facets of his game by any means necessary. When his Louisville coach, Rick Pittino suggested the change to his mechanics, Onuaku was willing to try it.

As a player who will have to fight between three other training camp invitees, it’s hard not to root for the one who’s shown this type of modesty in improving his craft. This desire to continue getting better shows Onuaku has the perfect attitude and work-ethic to become a treasured two-way contract player for the Blazers.

It’s more than just intangibles, though.

Of course, there’s no reason to commit to a player unless they’ve already shown flashes of talent.

Throughout his college and G-League careers, Onuaku has proven to be a mobile big man who can rebound, defend at the rim, and make smart passes for his teammates.

In his last season as a Cardinal, he grabbed 8.5 boards per game with a 19.8 total rebounding percentage, meaning he gobbled up nearly a fifth of the rebounds available on the floor.

As a member of the Vipers, this number has only improved. His career average with the club is 10.0, with 3.4 of these coming on the offensive end.

Though Onuaku is only six-foot-nine, he’s shown he has the tenacity and ability to position himself to grab loose balls. At 250 pounds, he has more than enough muscle to box out his larger competition down low.

This muscle also allowed him to bully his opponents in the post for easy dunks. While he will have a tougher time doing this in the NBA against elite competition, his occasional physical dominance in the G-League shows he could certainly hold his own in a Blazers uniform.

But this strength doesn’t hinder him from running the floor. With the Vipers, Onuaku could regularly be seen trailing fast breaks and getting into positions for slams against unsuspecting opponents.

However, he wasn’t only dunking on defenders. Occasionally Onuaku displayed stints of clever passing around and through his opponents to cutters.

On November 21 2017, he notched a triple-double against the Memphis Hustle with 11 assists.

While he probably won’t be hosting any passing clinics any time soon, Onuaku proved in the G-League that he knows how to make the right pass from beneath the basket and high-post.

And lastly, with a seven-foot-three wingspan, he has the length to become a solid rim-protector. His quickness at the five-spot could make him into a very useful help defender, especially as he continue learning the game and potentially getting more NBA minutes this season.

Why the Blazers would want him

With the loss of Ed Davis, the Blazers big man rotation is currently Jusuf Nurkic, Zach Collins, and Meyers Leonard. Both Nurkic and Collins have blossomed into solid defenders and developing high-post passers but Leonard lacks these abilities despite being a legitimate seven-footer.

Granted, Leonard is more of a stretch four/five, but with the emergence of a shooting Collins, along with capable wingers who can play the four in Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless, there may not be a lot of space for a player like Leonard.

Onuaku could prove to be the better option to toss in with lineups that have Aminu, Harkless, and/or Collins on the floor as a guy who can keep the offense running the way it does with Nurkic. He definitely lacks any sort of midrange touch, but his mobility could allow him to fit better into small-ball lineups while still remaining a staunch defender down low than Leonard could.

Having Onuaku would provide the Blazers with a look that could keep Zach Collins playing the de facto power forward as a shooter from the midrange and beyond the arc. With Leonard, you almost certainly want Collins playing more in the paint.

The luxury of having three centers who are all capable of protecting the rim could make for some scary lineups that could launch Portland into a top-five spot in defensive rating. All of their passing ability could bring a ton of movement to a Blazers offense that has added more shooting this offseason with Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas

Still a long road ahead for Onuaku

While Chinanu Onuaku has a long road ahead of him to becoming a rotational player in the NBA, a two-way contract with the Blazers could be a major step towards this.

All signs point to Onuaku having a solid foundation with tons of desire to improve. If he can make the most of his NBA minutes and show he is a better fit for the Blazers than someone like Leonard, he could earn himself a spot on the 15-man roster next season.

And I, for one, am definitely rooting for the man with the underhanded free throws.