The Oklahoma City Thunder are so good that signing anyone associated with that franchise feels like a worthwhile swing. That's what the Portland Trail Blazers did on Monday morning, adding rookie sharpshooter Chris Youngblood on a two-way deal. Youngblood had been without a home since being waived by the Thunder on February 6th.
Yet again, Joe Cronin and the Blazers front office showed they're willing to take swings on talented players who are cast off elsewhere. Sidy Cissoko and Blake Wesley have been two success stories already; who's to say Youngblood can't be another?
Youngblood, a 6-foot-4, 24 year-old who played college ball at Kennesaw State, South Florida, and Alabama, is a sharpshooter by trade. In his five-year college career, over half of his shot attempts were from beyond the arc, and he shot 39.3 percent on over 800 career attempts. Any shooting help would help the Blazers — so this signing makes sense from multiple angles.
Blazers front office continues a promising trend with
When a team has about 65 NBA-caliber players, as the Thunder does, it's impossible for everyone to get a chance. Youngblood actually played in 32 games for the Thunder this year — which is a pretty promising sign. Cracking the lineup for the best team in the league is an accomplishment in itself, even if I think Mark Daigneault sometimes plays the most outrageous lineups possible simply to challenge himself (and I do think that).
If Youngblood can find his footing in Portland, he wouldn't be the first former Thunder player to find success in a new city this year. Ousmane Dieng, OKC's lottery pick in 2022, has had some nice moments in Milwaukee after being traded at the deadline.
Not every move like this is going to be a home run. But the Blazers' top brass is starting to develop a reputation as a team that will scoop up players who the rest of the league doesn't seem interested in, and turning them into legit reclamation projects. So far, the success rate has been high enough that fans should be excited about moves like this.
With Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe both sidelined, the Blazers' already-weak offense has reached DEFCON-5 levels of desperation. Chris Youngblood will likely get a chance with the Blazers in the next few days. He's not going to become a superstar, but if he can hit a couple shots per game while the stars recover from injury, it'll be another notch in the developmental belt of this regime in PDX.