Portland Trail Blazers: Wenyen Gabriel looks ready for his close-up during NBA Playoffs

The Portland Trail Blazers have had a number of once-little-known talents make a name for themselves in the Orlando bubble. Wenyen Gabriel deserves a moment for potentially becoming the latest to do so.

The world is abundantly filled with clichés about the positives that come through “hard work” and “staying ready.” More often than not though, those quotes come from athletes and figures who’ve already made it to the top.

On Tuesday night, sparingly-used forward Wenyen Gabriel showed us what that looks like in unheralded, role player form.

As a Portland Trail Blazers player, Gabriel’s only strung together consecutive games of 10 or more minutes twice. Prior to Game One of this series, he had only a single NBA start to his rèsumè. But Zach Collins’ ankle injury threw yet another ready or not moment his way.

And just as he’s consistently done, Gabriel’s took it, And ran with it.

In Game One, the Sudanese rookie played the role of best kept secret. He took on the task of guarding All-NBA big Anthony Davis, and held him to just 1-of-10 shooting.

He also contributed four points in the seven-point win, and had a +12 net rating in 15 minutes of playing time.

Granted, Davis played with the aggressiveness of an arthritic old head simply searching for a sweat at the rec center. He bailed the Blazers’ defense out by settling for inaccurate 3-pointers that did little to pressure the teeth of Portland’s resistance. He’s a bonafide future Hall of Famer, though, and it’s a safe assumption that he’ll be more aggressive in Game Two. But for Wenyen Gabriel, it’s a nice feather for his young cap.

Gabriel appeared to earn the trust of Stotts with his sound decision making. He closed out well on Davis’ attempts, and north-to-south on his pump fakes, so as to not get beat on a closeout. In turn, he played key minutes midway through the fourth quarter. Per Aaron Fentress of Oregon Live, Stotts said Gabriel “didn’t make many mistakes, if any.” 

Players with 235 minutes of professional ball to their name aren’t supposed to be capable of doing that on a simple call of the name, should they? Despite playing two tumultuous seasons under John Calipari as a Kentucky Wildcat, Wenyen Gabriel never played a game of this consequence before. But he fit the theme of the Portland Trail Blazers — the “stay ready” theme — to a tee.

His past production suggests the defensive success should have been expected. Despite a minuscule sample size, he’s held his own as a defender. Per Synergy, here’s how he’s fared on the year:

— as a pick-and-roll defender, Gabriel is holding scorers to 4-of-14 shooting (28.6 percent). That averages out to 0.52 points per possession. That ranks in the 96th percentile.

— as a spot-up defender, Gabriel is holding scorers to 8-of-22 shooting (36.4 percent). That averages out to 0.96 points per possession. That ranks in the 67th percentile.

Those rate out to being elite. And while Gabriel doesn’t quite have enough of a body of work to analyze his pick-and-roll ball handler defense (he holds scorers to 3-of-9 here), that’s the beautiful thing. I don’t make decisions in Portland’s front office, but I’d argue he’s certainly given himself an opportunity to be a part of the long-term project.

He’s also become a pluggable 3-and-D player. He benefitted from Portland’s spacing hitting 5-of-12 from deep, and gave himself a respectable 60.6 true shooting percentage in 19 games with the Blazers.

What Gabriel did in Game One against the Lakers falls in line with his only other start — the “Kobe Night,” where he filled in admirably for Carmelo Anthony, and showcased his potential.

In American football, he’d be equivalent to a nickel corner or an elite backup quarterback. One can never gauge exactly when his number will be called on. The 15-minute, 59-second frame he played in Game One was his most since Feb. 29. But what you can gauge: the ability to be prepared for that. And he’s done that admirably.

The moment the game tipped, I was hoping ESPN would do a close-in on Gabriel’s face. Just to see his reaction to the baptism-by-fire. Was there fear? Were there obvious nerves at play? Even as the self-proclaimed leader of the Wenyen Gabriel bandwagon — the Bandwenyon — it never hurts to be sure.

On a Damian Lillard-led team, that was at most a foolish thought. Gabriel entered the game stone-faced, and played the game of a stone-cold, poised contributor. The Portland Trail Blazers will sorely miss Zach Collins over the next few games, but their other best kept secret has a story to tell, too.

And what better time than in a Playoff series against LeBron James and Anthony Davis?