The trade deadline passed with the Portland Trail Blazers only making a small move. Should we be disappointed they didn’t make moves to improve the team?
Skal Labissiere was the only move made by the Portland Trail Blazers at the deadline. In an interview post the deadline, Neil Olshey stated that Skal’s injury meant he couldn’t play for this team. So the move was just a salary dump.
It seemed likely earlier in the year that Hassan Whiteside would be moved because of his large expiring salary. Lacking depth in the front-court and without the ability to replace Whiteside because they are over the cap, it seemed like the logical move to trade him for some help in the front-court.
When this didn’t happen at the deadline, Blazers twitter was a little unhappy. It’s hard to fault Neil Olshey and co for the upgrade of Trevor Ariza for Kent Bazemore, but this team will have to fill the roster with minimum contracts next year unless Whiteside agrees to take a big discount to ride the bench.
If they let Whiteside walk in free agency then they will have approximately $3 million in space. This is obviously not enough to do anything with, so they may be better off keeping him. Whiteside has had a huge start to the New Year. But we know with his history on the Miami Heat, that his effort could wane.
It does seem like Whiteside’s fit and camaraderie with Damian Lillard have helped him increase his effort and production this year. If Whiteside was to leave though, leaving them with $3 million in space, that would be very disappointing.
The return of Jusuf Nurkic will be huge. It’s worth noting that Olshey was quoted this week as saying that when Nurkic returns it would be a better move than any other team had made at the deadline. This is probably true, but still brings us back to the question on Whiteside.
Was the team’s current hot streak with him involved at risk if he was traded? Probably. We are unsure what the longterm ramifications are of not trading Whiteside to bring back someone that could help now and in the future.
But the bigger picture is that this team is currently short three starters. These three starters are Nurkic, Zach Collins and Rodney Hood. Olshey did make it clear that they wouldn’t sacrifice the longterm future of this team for short-term gain.
The contract situation means that all the key pieces of this team bar Carmelo Anthony and Whiteside are locked down till at least the end of next year.
Next seasons’s starting five will be an upgrade over this one and could have Anthony and then this year’s draft pick coming off the bench as well.
The pros and cons of discussing Whiteside’s expiring deal could be bandied back and forth. But the reality is that his contract can’t be used to upgrade the team now. Olshey and Terry Stotts will now rely very heavily on the production of Rodney Hood and the development of Zach Collins.
With the emergence of Gary Trent Jr as well, this team does have some developing pieces. Hopefully the master plan is that we have enough house to push this team over the top. It’s easy to want trades for the sake of them when you see other teams making exciting moves. But that can get you into trouble.
For the rest of the season the squad is locked in, and we can hopefully enjoy a big run to the seventh seed and then a playoff matchup where we avoid the Los Angeles Lakers.
Casting our eyes forward, we aren’t unhappy about the result at the deadline. We just want to see this team win. Hopefully Olshey’s longterm plan lends itself to sustained success!