The Portland Trail Blazers have made a multitude of interesting moves over the last few months since the NBA’s off-season began. With the clock ticking on Damian Lillard‘s prime, and his recent quotes around the Blazers roster not being of championship-caliber, the Blazers have made some moves to try and improve the roster.
They haven’t been big moves, but the positions and depth provided by these moves make for interesting reading.
Here are 3 signs that the Portland Trail Blazers may be preparing for a big trade
Sign #1 – the multitude of wings on the roster
Last season, at the one through three the Blazers had Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, Carmelo Anthony and a combination of Gary Trent Jr and Rodney Hood, then Norman Powell.
Even though Simons had a great year and was one of the best spot-up shooters in the NBA, he still played only 16 minutes a night, as the Blazers guard and small forward rotation was stacked.
This season, though Trent and Hood are gone, Powell is the full-time small forward, and there are still not a lot of minutes spare for guys like Little or Simons. So the signing of two more back of bench wings seems like a strange move.
Tony Snell and Ben McLemore are good for 10 – 15 minutes a night, but why were they signed if they aren’t going to play at all? Could this mean that the Blazers are looking to trade CJ McCollum and then move Norman Powell to shooting guard?