Portland Trail Blazers: 3 players to absolutely avoid in free agency
By Andy Quach
There’s tons of excitement surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers free agency this year, as the team enters a new era with a new coach incoming. This offseason could be the most important for the Blazers in and for a long time.
Damian Lillard is 30, CJ McCollum is 29, and Carmelo Anthony is the NBA’s resident old-head at 36 years old. The title window for Portland will not be open for too much longer. The Blazers couldn’t have waited anymore to make major changes and honestly, should have made them a couple seasons prior.
As loyal as Lillard has proven to be, there has to be a growing anxiety in general manager Neil Olshey and the Blazers brass heads that the sand is running out in the Dame Time hourglass. This makes it crucial for Portland’s management to acquire the correct players this free agency to give Lillard his best chance at a title.
New is not always better, but there’s rarely progress without change
There are a number of mercenaries available this offseason that could help the Blazers in their future championship pursuits, but of course, there are a few that would not only be a lateral acquisition, but could possibly even be subtractions by addition.
There’s also a chance that the Blazers stagnate by remaining too similar to their squad last season. Enes Kanter enters free agency this offseason and while Portland retains his bird rights, they should not extend Kanter an offer.
While he’s not a terrible backup center, Kanter’s strengths and weaknesses just do not matchup with Portland’s needs right now. It’s clear that if the Blazers tread on with Jusuf Nurkic as their starter, they’ll need a strong defender coming in for him off the bench.
The Blazers need to allow Kanter to walk and find an interior defensive force to fill his spot.
Here are three other players that Portland should avoid this free agency: