Portland Trail Blazers Offseason Review: Requiem For A Storybook
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TL;DR PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS
Traded Anfernee Simons for Jrue Holiday
Waived Deandre Ayton (buyout)
Signed Damian Lillard (3-years, $42 million)
Signed Blake Wesley (1-year, minimum)
ADDITIONS
I was never a Simons guy and was always a Holiday guy, so this is a no-brainer for me
If Simons was going to become a legit No.1 scoring option for a playoff team, it’s likely, though not certain, that he would have already shown that
This pretty much sums it up for me:
Cam Thomas, who is being held at RFA knifepoint by Brooklyn, is younger and considerably more impactful than Simons. It’s just hard to make an argument that Simons wasn’t worth moving on from to clear up touches while adding Jrue.
Holiday had a little bit of a slide last season.
The decline was more gentle than last season, but the Celtics were better with Holiday on the bench than on the floor1 and the impact metrics slid as well.
But if you think about the Blazers as first trying to maximize their strength and defense, then Holiday’s addition is exponential. He provides not only individual defense but the ability to quarterback or “green dot” the defense.
If they can go from a promising defense to a legitimately great one, that might get them further along than trying to play more balanced. And Jrue’s a great addition if you want to make a play for it.
DEPARTURES
If there’s one position they could afford to lose talent at, it’s center.
Robert Williams, Donovan Clingan, Hansen Yang, they’re stacked at the spot.
