Portland Trail Blazers — Backcourt bench predictions
— Gary Trent Jr.
— Anfernee Simons
— Jay Scrubb (two-way)
Don’t be dismayed by the lack of names here. The Portland Trail Blazers went the distance of the 2019-20 with Damian Lillard as the lone, designated “point guard” on the roster before they signed Jaylen Adams in July. In this projection, the Blazers add a little bit of depth to that.
There are tons of names we can juggle here. Given the chance to be the Blazers’ GM for the day, Gary Payton II would be the ideal minimum-salary contract, something fans seemed to be in agreement with. But given that Payton II and Portland have had little-to-no link to one another, this prediction takes a safe, more traditional route.
Three names seem to reek of that potential-Blazer stench for the 2020-21 season: Shabazz Napier, Tyler Johnson, and D.J. Augustin.
Augustin feels to be the safest bet, considering he offers the best mix of scoring and assisting of the three. He’s in the last year of a four-year, $29 million deal, likely the last sizable payday of his career.
We covered him in detail a few weeks ago. He’s a consistent, low-risk option that, at some point, likely covets the chance to play for a winning culture again.
The Blazers will be joined by backcourt mainstays Gary Trent Jr. and Anfernee Simons. The addition of D.J. Augustin could allow Simons more work flexibility where he can work off-ball and on-ball. His potential remains sky high, which certainly makes him convenient trade bait. 2020-21 certainly feels like the year he begins to put everything together.
And then, there’s Trent Jr., who appears primed to take that third-year step that puts him in position for the Sixth Man of the Year award, or even the Most Improved Player. It comes as no surprise that the Blazers’ bench outscored opposing benches 54.8 percent of the time, the No. 9 rank in the NBA from Jan. 18 to Aug. 13.
That coincides with Trent’s best breakout, where he averaged 13.4 points on 48-44-78 percentage lines over 31 games.