We recently named two young players the Portland Trail Blazers should continue to develop: Yang Hansen and Sidy Cissoko. That said, Portland faces a roster crunch as they look to build off the first playoff appearance of its rebuild.
What was previously a patient rebuilding team suddenly has a sense of urgency to win sooner rather than later as they balance a questionable two-timeline approach paired with an aggresive new owner in Tom Dundon.
At some point, there must be roster casualties. While the Blazers may have had a short first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs, it was an overall success in terms of evaluating roster needs going forward.
"The Spurs series showed us that we don't shoot the ball well enough," GM Joe Cronin said at his exit interview. "Shooting is something we knew we were deficient in. Dame will definitely help us, but something we need to address going forward. We played a lot of possessions in the mud."
Given the Blazers' glaring floor-spacing concerns, it's no surprise that shooting is the primary factor in determining whether the team should keep investing in its young core.
Kris Murray
Admittedly, Cissoko isn't a reliable floor spacer either. That said, Cissoko and Kirs Murray are incredibly redundant to keep around as defensive-minded versatile wings with concerning offensive limitations.
Cissoko is just 22 years old and has shown legitimate progress throughout his young career. Meanwhile, Murray has somehow seemingly already plateaued, failing to eclipse 30 percent from beyond the arc in any of his first three seasons.
At 25 years old, Murray is a reasonable value for Portland to pick up his $5.3 million team option for next season. But given their roster crunch and his age/lack of progress on the offensive end, Portland needs to either trade Murray or simply let him walk in free agency next summer. The sooner they moved on from this failed experiment, the better.
Murray's lack of progress should make Portland feel even worse about their Josh Hart trade, considering they traded away yet another key contributor on a championship team.
Blake Wesley
Blake Wesley is set to hit free agency, which could legitimately go either way.
On one hand, Wesley immediately became a fan favorite in Portland. He fit in perfectly with their newfound defensive identity, utilizing his speed to hound defenders the length of the court.
On the other hand, Wesley contributed to Portland's offensive limitations, shooting just 27.8 percent from beyond the arc and 55.3 percent from the charity stripe.
Although Wesley played a key role at the beginning of the season to fill the void of the Blazers' depleted backcourt, he largely fell out of the rotation when they were at full strength towards the end of the season. Carving out a role should prove to be even more difficult next season with Damian Lillard's return.
Wesley is likely an NBA-level player, but it would be in the Blazers' best interest to find a better roster balance by addressing other positional needs this summer.
Caleb Love
Caleb Love's rookie season has left the Blazers fanbase divided. Despite playing in 49 games as a two-way signing, Portland never converted Love to a standard contract, instead prioritizing Sidy Cissoko.
That was the right decision, considering Cissoko's scalability compared to Love in terms of their ability to impact winning in a lessened role without the ball.
Ideally, the Blazers would be able to keep Love as a two-way contract, but he likely earned a spot on a 15-man roster with his performance last season -- whether that's in Portland or elsewhere.
There's a bit of a Dalano Banton vibe here in terms of Portland ultimately being better off letting Love walk because of the question marks surrounding his role on a true contender. At 24 years old, there's also a perception of Love having a relatively limited ceiling, which could be yet another factor behind Portland's decision to discontinue its investment in him.
Because the Blazers are widely viewed as a wild card this summer, this one could legitimately go either way depending on how the roster shakes out. That said, fans impressed by Love's high-volume shot-making ability last season should temper expectations.
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