Portland Trail Blazers fans can find good reason to tune into the Western Conference Finals matchup between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers. Besides purely good basketball enjoyment, the Rip City faithful can also do some at-home scouting on potential future Blazers.
It’s never a bad idea to steal free agents away from contending teams, especially within your own conference. This type of heist would act as a catch-22, bolstering Portland’s roster while also weakening their potential playoff opponents.
Both teams are loaded with quality role players, a key aspect of true contenders. If the Blazers can steal away one of these supporting pieces, it’ll be a huge win for them this offseason.
The Portland Trail Blazers can steal a player of need from the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers
Aside from star power, both squads competing in the Western Conference Finals are strong in the other two most important needs for a championship run: defense and perimeter shooting.
The Clips and Suns both ranked in the top-seven in the league for 3-point percentage. They did that while placing in the upper-half for 3-point attempts as well. This incredible efficiency is in large part due to the accuracy of their supporting snipers.
Not only were a lot of their role players dead-eyes from deep, they also greatly contributed on defense. Both squads finished in the top-10 in defensive rating, and their supporting casts deserve a good amount of credit for the teams’ defenses as a whole.
Now that the Western Conference Finals have tipped-off, let’s do some scouting moving forward to see how a few of the key role players would fit in with the Blazers: