The Portland Trail Blazers have a wonky roster as currently constructed. This offseason, they shipped out Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Grizzlies for Ja Morant, then later signed former Thunder big man Branden Carlson. They now have a logjam at both the point guard and center positions, making the forward position the obvious area to address in their next move.
Forward depth was already an issue last season, and that has been further compounded with Grant and Murray out of the picture. Here's a breakdown of Portland's roster moves to this point:
In: Ja Morant, Branden Carlson
Out: Matisse Thybulle, Blake Wesley, Caleb Love (restricted), Jerami Grant, Kris Murray
Blazers desperately need to add more forwards
Portland still has three roster spots remaining to fill out its 15-man roster. They also extended Robert Williams III on a three-year, $44 million deal, which is only more reason to turn their attention to the three and four positions.
Carlson has potential to be utilized as a stretch four, having shot 36 percent from beyond the arc in 42 games with the Thunder last season. That said, 98 percent of his minutes up until this point have come at the center position, according to Basketball Reference.
Meanwhile, none of Portland's other center options can scale down to the power forward position. Williams shrinks the floor too much offensively, while Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen are traffic cones defensively out on the perimeter.
Adding more two-way wings should've already been a point of emphasis entering the summer for Portland, given how valuable they are in today's NBA. Not to mention, Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara's positional versatility allows them to provide tremendous lineup flexibility to throw more wings into the rotation. That's why it's surprising that, up until this point, they haven't made a single move to address the forward position. In fact, they've only gotten worse in that department.
What forwards are left for Portland to target?
Now entering Day 3 of NBA free agency, the options are already beginning to dwindle. Here are some potential targets that are already off the table: Kelly Oubre Jr. (signed with Indiana), Tobias Harris (San Antonio), Sandro Mamukelashvili (LA Lakers). Portland was on the list of teams Oubre was slated to talk to, but in typical Blazers fashion, the team must now turn its attention to backup plans.
Rui Hachimura and Peyton Watson (restricted) are intriguing targets, though they could be out of Portland's price range.
Kenrich Williams is another casualty of Oklahoma City's roster crunch and could be an option for Portland. He'd likely be more realistically attainable while still filling shooting and positional needs.
But with each option coming off the table, it's becoming increasingly logical for a Matisse Thybulle reunion as well. Injury concerns aside, he's a valuable two-way contributor who has drastically improved his shooting since entering the league.
It remains to be seen which direction Portland's front office wants to take regarding the particular player, but by now, the position they need to address couldn't be clearer.
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