Portland Trail Blazers: Grading every free agency move so far
Trading Evan Turner for Kent Bazemore
In an exchange that seems to be on the verge of going borderline extinct in the NBA, the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks organized a simple one-to-one swap of players to fulfill a need for both ends.
The Blazers were in need of a glue guy that could knock down open 3-point shots and create space for Lillard and CJ McCollum. The Hawks needed to clear their log jam at the wing and find a veteran ball handler to help expedite the development of their newly drafted pair of forwards.
Just like that, a deal was done.
The public images of both Kent Bazemore and Evan Turner suffered due to the huge contracts each received. Through no fault of their own, this pair of players became almost underrated due to the immediate dismissal of their talent by the media due to their hefty pay days.
However, there is a reason they received those pay days in the first place. They’re both talented players. Unfortunately, the Blazers had no need for another ball handler that can’t shoot on a team loaded with talented guards. Despite all of his charisma, there’s no denying that Turner is a better fit on Atlanta.
Instead, the Blazers received a prototypical ‘3-and-D’ player in Bazemore, who can add shooting for a team desperate to inject spacing into the starting lineup. Bazemore is versatile enough to play shooting guard off the bench and help stagger Lillard and McCollum’s minutes or step right into the starting lineup and become the offensive threat Moe Harkless never was.
This trade makes perfect sense for the Blazers. The only reason they’ll be docked a bit on their grade here is by not fully capitalizing on their most valuable trade chip in Turner. After completion of this trade, the Blazers will not be able to trade Bazemore until a month after the season begins.
This removes the possibility of trading for a bonafide star like Blake Griffin or Kevin Love off the table for the foreseeable future.