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Portland Trail Blazers: Ranking each player on the 2019-20 roster

By Austin Carroll

PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 23: Portland Trail Blazers react from the bench during Game Five of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - APRIL 23: Portland Trail Blazers react from the bench during Game Five of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Portland Trail Blazers
Zach Collins #33 of the Portland Trail Blazers shoots the ball against Anthony Tolliver (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

10. Anthony Tolliver

What were the Portland Trail Blazers desperately missing during last year’s playoff run? Shooting. If nothing else, what can you count upon Anthony Tolliver to provide? Shooting.

For that reason alone, Tolliver was worth every penny of his veteran’s minimum contract. He could just stand patiently in the corner and wait for passes while Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum collapse opposing defenses and earn his paycheck.

But even at 34-years-old, Tolliver can do so much more. Whether it’s highlight reel blocks on Giannis Antetokounmpo, or providing veteran leadership that helps teams developing teams outperform their preseason expectations, Tolliver brings a lot to the table.

And of course, he can shoot the lights out. Over the last three seasons, Tolliver has hit 40.7 percent of his shots from deep on a respectable sample size of 3.9 attempts per game. Considering this will be Tolliver’s first postseason since 2016 — and only the fourth of his entire career — expect him to play his heart out as he helps usher the Blazers towards a championship.

— Carroll

9. Mario Hezonja

In a few months time, there’s a very real chance we look at this and think about how silly we were for placing Mario Hezonja as the ninth best player on the Portland Trail Blazers. The irony here? He could very move up OR down this list.

As a former No. 5 pick, Hezonja has had a lot of expectations set upon on shoulders over the course of his short career. Thus far, he has struggled mightily. Hezonja has a career -3.0 Box Plus/Minus and has posted a negative amount of Win Shares in two of his four seasons.

Whether this is massive failure on behalf of Orlando and New York’s player development departments, or on Hezonja’s own shoulders remains to be seen. Portland offers the ideal situation for Super Mario, which likely explains why he signed a minimum contract with the Blazers before even truly testing his value in this summer’s free agency period.

Head coach Terry Stotts should be looking forward to employing Hezonja in a versatile offense. Capable of playing both forward positions and also assuming the role as a secondary ball handler, there’s a lot of untapped potential Hezonja still has to offer. But this season should decide if he’s ever likely to fulfill his projected ceiling.

— Carroll