3 players the Portland Trail Blazers missed out on in free agency

2. Semi Ojeleye

I spoke about Semi Ojeleye as a target for the Portland Trail Blazers to sign on a minimum contract earlier in the offseason. I was a little worried that he would command more than a minimum, but alas I was wrong. I was certainly right that the Blazers should have gone after him though.

Ojeleye is still only 26-years old, can guard multiple positions, is a brick wall on defense and screens, shoots 35 percent from deep, and just signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for under $1.8 million.

These kind of under-the-radar moves are the exact type of deals that championship teams need to swing to keep themselves in the title conversation year-after-year and that’s all Bucks GM Jon Horst did this offseason.

Along with grabbing Ojeleye on a budget, Milwaukee retained Bobby Portis on a very affordable deal and added George Hill and Rodney Hood. This is the kind of sneaky-smart offseason that Blazers fans have been hoping for from Portland for years, but have yet to see it in the Damian Lillard era.

Ojeleye is a perfect candidate to fill the role that PJ Tucker played for the Bucks last season and they shed $3 million plugging that hole.

Semi would have added much needed wing depth, defensive versatility, and youth to the Blazers roster, and they could have gotten him on a minimum deal.