The Portland Trail Blazers are trying to have their cake and eat it, too. This team has an active four-year playoff drought as they've been patiently stockpiling assets. While that's been the correct approach up until this point, we can't help but wonder whether they truly have enough to show from this rebuild to enter the next phase successfully.
Portland's front office has held onto veterans for too long to the point where they are now playing key roles on a roster that suddenly wants to win again. Players like Jerami Grant, Robert Williams III, Matisse Thybulle, and offseason acquisition Jrue Holiday are helping Portland achieve its short-term goals of making a play-in spot. However, the fact that the Blazers need all these veterans on the roster, just to finish as a nine- or ten-seed in all likelihood, is a concerning sign for their ceiling.
Blazers don't have enough to show from their long rebuild
These veterans are masking a lot of the flaws in the Blazers' young core. And while the play-in atmosphere will be a valuable experience for Portland's youth, which would you rather have: gained experience in one or two games or a top ten pick in a stacked draft? If Portland's existing building blocks had a contender ceiling, we'd be more than happy to take the former approach. But this team needs to continue adding to its young core.
These veterans playing significant minutes during those playoff-like settings also largely defeats the purpose. Yang Hansen isn't going to touch the floor, Shaedon Sharpe may not even return from injury by then, while Scoot Henderson remains buried behind Holiday on the depth chart.
There's a lot to be excited about in Rip City. Henderson and Sharpe have both shown flashes of their ceilings this season. Clingan has had a major second-year breakout. Avdija ascended to All-Star status. At the same time, this core doesn't quite fit together as currently constructed. You simply can't win at the highest level in the modern NBA with this many building blocks being poor-to-average shooters.
Whether they realize it now or not, Portland will eventually have to make some sort of shake-up to their young core. They also need to continue adding star power to belong even in the conversation with teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, who are seemingly set for the next decade.
The best way to do that? Through the draft, where Portland has been good but not great. Joe Cronin has nailed these trades for Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara, but the downside is that it puts their rebuild in a strange position where they don't have a high enough ceiling but are too talented to bottom out entirely.
Purgatory isn't the right word, as it's not that extreme. This young roster still has plenty of room to grow. But they must also look at their 5-year plan, as this team seems to be going nowhere fast as currently constructed. Gaining playoff experience is one thing, but Portland is brute-forcing the issue with all these veterans on a team that has confusingly blended two timelines.