Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from potential starting lineup leak
No. 2: Should Portland continue to add to their roster?
It’s unclear as to if the Portland Trail Blazers are done bolstering their backcourt, but Terry Stotts’ statement did give us an idea of what Jaylen Adams’ role in Portland will be:
Terry Stotts said the thinking behind signing G Jaylen Adams was to help the team in practices leading up to the games in Orlando. Felt team was deep at wing, but could be exposed at G if injury to Dame or CJ.
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) July 1, 2020
Which, call me crazy, feels like the equivalent to saying the sky is blue. If Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum so much as suffer a paper cut, Portland’s depth beyond them feels difficult to harbor trust in.
The Adams signing could work out well; Adams finished No. 2 in G-League Most Valuable Player voting, and averaged 21.5 points on a blistering 48.6 percent from the field, 40.7 percent from 3-point range, and 78.8 percent from the charity stripe.
There’s diamond in the rough potential there, and he fits the McCollum-Lillard mold — an undersized, little-known verified bucket getter with a chip on his shoulder. The hope, personally at least, is that the Portland Trail Blazers aren’t done making moves.
Given Adams’ scoring prowess, it appears the Jamal Crawford idea could be done. They probably won’t want to pair the two of them together, while taking minutes away from Anfernee Simons. So, what about the addition of another perimeter stopper?
We threw three names out on the board earlier this week, with Justin Anderson being taken. If the Portland Trail Blazers are on board with Carmelo Anthony taking on opposing small forwards, and employing a “we’ll see” approach, why also have an insurance policy in the form of extra depth?
Caleb Swanigan opting out of the Orlando restart puts the Blazers back at square one. A player like Iman Shumpert or Gerald Green could be beneficial moves if the Blazers truly want to be prepared for everything that could come their way in Orlando.