The Portland Trail Blazers are a team to monitor leading up until the February trade deadline. As a rebuilding team, it doesn't make sense for them to have established players still on their roster. Jerami Grant is the obvious name as the oldest player on their team, but several others could be on the move. Especially if the 6-9 Blazers continue winning more games than many anticipated, they could be incentivized to make a deal to worsen their roster in an attempt to land a better draft pick next summer.
Last offseason, they were a team many watched closely as well. Despite much anticipation and trade chatter surrounding three Blazers starters -- Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant, and Deandre Ayton -- the only trade GM Joe Cronin made was Malcolm Brogdon to the Washington Wizards in a package for Deni Avdija.
On paper, Portland is returning an extremely similar roster to the 2023-24 team that finished at the bottom of the Western Conference with a 21-61 record. However, the additions of Avdija and Donovan Clingan and the subtraction of Malcolm Brogdon have played a huge role in shaping the construction of their roster in terms of strengths and weaknesses.
Additionally, the Blazers are now much healthier than they were throughout last season. Between their health and internal improvements from up-and-coming players, Portland is gaining much more clarity surrounding their roster, which was something that Cronin emphasized as a primary goal for this season.
Blazers address needs with offseason moves, growth, and health
After last season, the Blazers' three most glaring roster needs were positional size, two-way wings, and shooting. A primary concern was how their three highest upside players, Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe, would all mesh together without being a defensive liability. As the tallest starting lineup in the league with an average height of 6-foot-8, it's no longer an issue that needs addressing. That's not even to mention that they have four centers on their roster, all capable of playing quality minutes (one of which is 7-foot-2, 282-pound Donovan Clingan).
Teams can always use more two-way wings, as it is a premium in today's NBA. However, the Blazers are much better off now than they were last season. The addition of the versatile do-it-all forward Avdija is an obvious upgrade. But what has gone more under the radar is the development of players such as Toumani Camara, Kris Murray, and Rayan Rupert.
Camara has already proven he belongs as a long-term starting wing for the Blazers, regardless of how the rest of their rebuild shakes out. Murray's three-point shooting has gotten much more reliable in his second season, improving from 26.8 percent to 36.4. And the 20-year-old Rupert has shown plenty of flashes on both sides of the ball when given the opportunity, suggesting that he can eventually become a consistent part of the Blazers' rotation.
The Blazers should look to continue upgrading this aspect of their roster, especially with so many promising wing prospects expected to enter the 2025 NBA Draft. But it's no longer the roster burden it was last season.
Of the three areas of need from last offseason, shooting is still the one that has gone somewhat unaddressed. There was a lot of reason for optimism surrounding Avdija's three-point shooting, as he was coming off a career-best season with the Wizards, where he drastically improved to a 37.4 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, he's still trying to find his footing with the Blazers as a shooter, connecting on a career-worse 26 percent of those attempts so far.
But between Shaedon Sharpe being healthy and looking like a reliable knockdown three-point shooter and the expected continued improvement of the Blazers' youth in that department, they could finish closer to league average than the bottom of the barrel like they were last year.
Guard play has become the Blazers' biggest problem
Instead, the Blazers' biggest issue has become playmaking. Last year, they had a significant backcourt logjam with Brogdon, Simons, Henderson, and Dalano Banton all on the roster. With Brogdon no longer around and Henderson showing discerning signs that he may not be the franchise-building block many expected of the former No. 3 overall pick, Portland has suddenly found itself in desperate need of playmakers, specifically a floor general.
The Blazers' offense has gotten extremely stagnant this season, and assist and turnover totals have become major concerns. They are building a new team identity of having long, athletic, and versatile players, which is ideal on the defensive end.
Eventually, Cronin needs to figure out a way to put together all the pieces of the rebuilding puzzle, and the major problem to solve is finding a way to get a reliable point guard to orchestrate the offense. Hopefully, Henderson reaches his ceiling and becomes the much-needed answer. But given his late play, it's also time for Cronin and the Blazers to at least start considering contingency plans.