2017-18 Finish:  29-53

Season Highlight:

Towards the end of the season, the Blazers put together a nice little 8 game stretch where they went 6-2, beating 2 playoff teams.  They also had a nice early stretch to the season, the 1^st 4 weeks to be exact.  They actually had an over .500 record to start the year.

Season Lowlight:

For about a week, the Blazers were GM-less, due to communication errors.  GM Toby was a free agent, but the commishes righted the ship and Toby returned to the disaster that was the 2017-18 Blazers season.

Best Trade:  The Portland Trail Blazers send Rudy Gay to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia 76ers send Pascal Siakam to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Philadelphia 76ers send a 2nd-Rounder (Pho) to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Philadelphia 76ers send Malik Beasley to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Though this doesn’t look great, The Blazers were able to move from Rudy and get a young player with intrigue in Pascal Siakam, along with a 2^ndround pick(that won’t become a player until 2020).  Beasley was also later added to this deal.  He has the makings of an improving player, but Malik still isn’t at the level that was expected of him.  With the difficulty that Philadelphia is having in getting decent value for Gay, this looks like the best Toby could do at the time.

Worst Trade:  The Brooklyn Nets send Kyle O'Quinn to the Boston Celtics. The Brooklyn Nets send Justin Anderson and Guerschon Yabusele to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Boston Celtics send Shabazz Napier and A.J. Hammons to the Brooklyn Nets. The Portland Trail Blazers send Larry Nance Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets. The Boston Celtics send a 2nd-Rounder (LAL) and 2nd-Rounder (Bos) to the Brooklyn Nets. The Portland Trail Blazers send a 2nd-Rounder (Por) to the Brooklyn Nets.

Moving Larry Nance Jr AND a 2^nd for Justin Anderson and Guerschon Yabusele really seems like a steal for the Nets and a major head scratcher for Portland.  Was this prior to the hiring of GM Toby?  Anderson and Yabusele may have potential, but Nance seemed to be a great fit next to Brown and gave Portland much needed athleticism.

Other Notable Trades:

As a disclaimer, we only addressed all trades for the 2017/2018 season.  There have been some solid new trades for the 18/19 season, that we will discuss briefly in “The Future” section

The New Orleans Pelicans send Brandon Knight to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send Miles Plumlee, Jake Layman and Wesley Iwundu to the New Orleans Pelicans.

-          Knight is always hurt.  He may be a decent PG, but does it matter if he never suits up?

The New Orleans Pelicans send Furkan Korkmaz and Thomas Bryant to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send Wayne Ellington and TJ Leaf to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Portland Trail Blazers send a 2nd-Rounder (Utah) to the New Orleans Pelicans.

-          Too early to tell anything on this deal.  Ellington is a solid 3 point wing, but Korkmaz lit up the Summer league this offseason.  Can it translate to the NLL?

The Portland Trail Blazers send Dakari Johnson to the New Orleans Pelicans. The New Orleans Pelicans send a 2nd-Rounder (Utah) to the Portland Trail Blazers.

-          Wise move in retrospect, as Dakari is now out of the league.

The New Orleans Pelicans send Chandler Parsons and Semi Ojeleye to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send JR Smith and Brice Johnson to the New Orleans Pelicans. The New Orleans Pelicans send a 2nd-Rounder (Mia) to the Portland Trail Blazers.

-          Another head scratcher, as Portland trades for a usually injured player in Parsons.  Ojeleye looks intriguing.  Smith could be solid this year without LBJ running the Cleveland show in the NBA.  Toby also pulled a 2^nd rounder out of this deal.

The Portland Trail Blazers send Sindarius Thornwell to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves send a 2nd-Rounder (SA)and 2nd-Rounder (Min) to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send a 2nd-Rounder (Utah) to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

-           Thornwell could become something, so it was sort of a surprise that Toby traded away potential that is in the NBA for two 2nds that may never make the NBA.

The Portland Trail Blazers send Justin Anderson to the Washington Wizards. The Washington Wizards send Cristiano Felicio to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Washington Wizards send a 2nd-Rounder (NY) to the Portland Trail Blazers.

-          More 2nds… Anderson for Felicio is the blah part of this deal.  The pick is what seems to turn Toby’s head.

Free Agency:

Thomas Bryant:  Big man that didn’t really seem comfortable with the speed of the NLL yet.

Eric McCree:  Power forward that has yet to step on the court.

Star:

Ian Mahinmi – Ian was THE star on a team where everyone would expect me to say Jaylen Brown, but all you need to do is look at the numbers and there is no question.  Mahinmi averaged 19.2 and 12.6.  He was top 20 in the NLL in 5 major categories.  He also shot almost 60% from the field.

GOAT:

Justin Anderson – Hard to say any one player should be a goat on a team with this bad of a record, but Anderson was a key piece in the Rudy Gay trade.  He performed so poorly, he was shipped out after just 21 games.

Draft Grades:  Per insider by Nenjabin

Portland had no draft pick on draft night, but then traded for recently drafted players that have not even been signed yet, so we included them in this analysis.

De’Anthony Melton: (received via trade with Houston) The Rockets already took one leap at 11, and they went an even bigger one here grabbing Melton who mocked out at 46. The talent in the 2^nd round though is pretty interchangeable and Melton had shown a great knowledge for the game and use of his physical tools on defence particularly. Will he develop into a starter as you might hope at 28 with his limited handle and lack of explosion? Grade: C+

Devon Hall: (Received in trade with Minnesota) Hall won’t demand the ball and he can defend up to the 4 in some match-ups cause of the development of his body. He’s a shooter and is a more than willing role player which bodes well for his chances at holding a spot somewhere. Another thought out, safe pick. Grade: B+

 The Future:

The future is intriguing for Portland.  They have made a few trades in this offseason. We really liked the moves to get Melton and Holmes, but we are not sure about moving Jaylen Brown for Dennis Smith.  Both seem to be solid players, but with the depth in the league at PG, coupled with the fact that Portland already has Scary Terry, our thought is that Portland should have kept onto Brown. Wing players in the NLL are much harder to come by and Brown is shaping up to be a perennial all star.  Sure, the Blazers got an additional 1^st in the deal, but sometimes the bird in the hand IS worth more than the 2 in the bush draft.  The Blazers do still have a young nucleus and if they all progress nicely, could start to push for improvement in a Western Conference that still lags behind the more dominating East.