Portland Trail Blazers: 3 ways the Blazers can become the No. 1 offense in 2020-21

No. 2: Unleashing Harry Giles’ elbow passing on the second unit

A season ago, the injury-riddled Sacramento Kings went through enough players to start two teams at your local YMCA. A whopping 23 different players donned the purple-and-black last season, which somewhat justifies why King-turned-Blazers big Harry Giles averaged a mere 14.5 minutes per game (No. 9 in total minutes), and found inconsistent playing time at the outset.

It also gives the 22-year-old “best kept secret” potential as he approaches his new situation. Giles himself alluded to playmaking as one of best qualities, but he hasn’t always been able to put it on display.

As a case in point: Giles averaged a modest 1.3 assists per game a season ago, but his pass-to-assist percentage (8.4) placed him among the higher-pedestal passing bigs in the NBA. For reference, he’s in a stratosphere among the likes of Nikola Jokic (9.3 percent), Jusuf Nurkic (8.4), and Domantas Sabonis (7.4), sample size ignored.

Playing time could be difficult to come by when Zach Collins returns into the fold, or if Stotts goes veteran first with Enes Kanter. But at the start of the season, Giles is likely to sharing time with a second unit including Carmelo Anthony, Gary Trent Jr., Anfernee Simons. If they play to his tendencies, he’ll be able to operate right wing and use his vision to dial guys open.

This sort of interlocks with that previous slide with Derrick Jones Jr., but what the Blazers have done this offseason suggests that they’re looking to swing the ball more and find cutters.

Imagining Giles’ fit and pinpoint passing with the Blazers second unit, one can imagine a lot of that, and perhaps even some more creative sets. There’s a set that the Boston Celtics use, known as the “ear tug series” (and yes, literal ears get tugged), where they have two wing players run a quick pick-and-roll and force a switch that gives them a height disadvantage.

And then, a smooth-passing big — maybe even that comes from Chris Paul’s tutelage — who can see over the top of a defense and make instinctual reads drops a time in for an assist. Here’s how it looks. It has the feel of a Blazers-type play.

A player like Giles is so important to this play because the guard who forces the switch has a bigger player in his vision. Envisioning Giles running this to get a Carmelo Anthony post-up on a smaller opponent just feels prescient.

Giles has shown that with playing time, he can impact an offense’s creativity for the better. His contract makes him low-risk. And in an ideal world, the returns will be high-reward.