Last summer's offseason trade for Deni Avdija elevated the Portland Trail Blazers' floor too much for them to embrace a full-on tank. Time will tell whether they made the right call, missing out on an increased chance at a historically great freshman in Cooper Flagg.
But the silver lining to the Blazers playing themselves out of the Flagg sweepstakes is Avdija's ascension. The Blazers decided to guarantee themselves a building block rather than, at best, having a 14 percent chance at something that likely wouldn't have happened anyway.
Avdija has taken his game to an entirely new level that we weren't quite sure existed for him. At worst, we knew he would always be an elite role player due to his versatility. But the Blazers had other plans for him -- they weren't going to sacrifice two valuable first-round picks and Malcolm Brogdon for someone they viewed to be just a role player at this stage in the rebuild.
Blazers can build around Deni Avdija’s playmaking and on-ball creation
We are seeing GM Joe Cronin's vision for this team come to fruition as Avdija has emerged as a go-to player for Portland, something they desperately lacked before his arrival. His improved playmaking and on-ball creation have quickly taken Avdija from an elite role player to now being the Blazers' building block.
Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon discussed Avdija's value on the Game Theory Podcast, ranking him as the second-best contract in the NBA behind Jalen Brunson.
"It's unbelievable the way he has grown and thrived, particularly as a creator himself with the ball this year. He's just an absolute truck stick of a player. The way that he uses his shoulders, the way that he drives to the rim, the way he's able to just brush off opposing players in transition, semi-transition, everything. It's just crazy how good he is," said Vecenie.
Simon notes that Avdija's current role is perfect for his skill set as a playmaker. He also brings up another aspect of Avdija's game that is oftentimes overlooked: availability.
Looking around the league, the most disappointing teams (like the Philadelphia 76ers) failed to meet expectations mainly due to injuries. Stars are frequently sitting out games in today's NBA, which gives the Blazers a massive advantage because of Avdija's availability. He's averaging 76 games played over his last four seasons.
When you are building a team, you want your go-to player to check as many boxes as possible to make sure that there are few weaknesses in your roster that teams can exploit. Now that Avdija is consistently shooting the three, there are very few holes in his game outside of turnovers.
Combine that with his durability and the fact that he's just 24 years old and on a descending contract -- it's easy to see why Avdija should be the player Portland builds around.