Ranking the 10 Worst Trail Blazers starters of the Damian Lillard era

8 of 10

Noah Vonleh was one of the worst Blazers starters of the Damian Lillard era.

Noah Vonleh, Portland Trail Blazers (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) /

3. Noah Vonleh, 2015-16 season

Now we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Noah Vonleh was a top-10 pick of the Charlotte Hornets in 2014, but the former Indiana Hoosier never figured out how to use his athletic gifts in North Carolina. After just one season, the Trail Blazers decided to take a flier on Vonleh as part of the trade that sent Nic Batum to Charlotte, hoping he’d find his NBA footing next to Lillard.

It didn’t work out.

The 6-foot-10 big man got a fair shot, starting 56 games in 2015-16, but it started to become clear that Vonleh wasn’t going to figure it out as a pro. In more than 15 minutes a night, he averaged just 3.6 points and 3.9 rebounds on 42 percent shooting.

He was dead last on the team with a -0.6 VORP and contributed nothing offensively. His defensive box plus-minus (a box score estimate of the defensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed above a league-average player) was -0.3 and his offensive box plus-minus was a horrific -3.9.

Vonleh was clearly one of the worst starters of the Lillard era.