The Portland Trail Blazers should capitalize on the momentum of their draft day success and give these promising players a chance to show their value.
Shamorie Ponds and Luguentz Dort were two players that worked out for the Portland Trail Blazers in advance of the NBA Draft, yet found no luck on draft night. Naz Reid and Kris Wilkes were another pair of highly touted prospects left abandoned. Other teams quickly scrambled to pick up these intriguing players on cheap contracts, but a few diamonds remain hidden in the rough.
Given the success Neil Olshey and co. had in Thursday night’s draft, hopefully they can rev up their talent detecting machine one more time to bring a few players on board that could potentially help the Blazers push through another playoff run.
With five key contributors from last year’s campaign set to hit free agency, there will inevitably be a few holes to fill. Neither Nassir Little or Jaylen Hoard are guaranteed to plug these leaks in the boat. Injecting some healthy competition in the mix would be mutually beneficial and hopefully push the new rookies to continue improving upon their game.
In the following slides we’ll take an in-depth look at a handful of overlooked players with sky-high potential or too-good-to-bust talent running through their veins. The Portland Trail Blazers would be wise to continue supplementing their successful core with young guns hungry to prove themselves on the world’s biggest stage.