Portland Trail Blazers: How Rookies Jake Layman, Tim Quarterman Factor Into Future
Portland Trail Blazers rookies Jake Layman and Tim Quarterman have not logged much playing time in the NBA. Will either player be a part of Portland’s plans moving forward?
According to HispanosNBA, the Portland Trail Blazers are the second-least experienced team in the NBA. Their 15-man roster currently averages 3.1 years of NBA experience.
Despite the collective lack of years under the belt, the Blazers remain in playoff contention. The team is led by fifth-year pro Damian Lillard and fourth-year pro C.J. McCollum. The acquisition of third-year pro Jusuf Nurkic in February has also made a huge difference.
But in Portland, the players with the least amount of experience are getting the least playing time.
Jake Layman and Tim Quarterman are Portland’s two rookies. Both were acquired despite the Trail Blazers lacking any picks in the 2016 NBA Draft.
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Layman came to Portland via a draft night trade. The small forward out of Maryland was selected by the Orlando Magic with the 47th overall pick. The Blazers acquired him in exchange for a 2019 second-round draft pick and cash considerations.
Quarterman went undrafted out of LSU. He signed a two-year, partially guaranteed contract in late July. At the time he looked like he would just be a training camp body. However, he beat out Greg Stiemsma, Grant Jerrett and Luis Montero for the final opening night spot.
Neither player has picked up much run after joining the team. Layman has played 25 games this season, averaging 6.2 minutes per game. He had 17 points in his NBA debut. Those points came in garbage time of a Nov. 1 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
He last played for five minutes and 41 seconds in Portland’s Feb. 23 win over Orlando.
Quarterman has made 13 appearances, averaging 3.4 minutes per game. He has played for the Blazers only once in the calendar year of 2017. It was a 4:15 cameo in Portland’s Feb. 15 loss to the Utah Jazz.
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But the lack of playing time doesn’t mean these two aren’t good enough or can’t forge a good career in Portland. Riding the bench is part of the Trail Blazers’ in-house development process.
For one, head coach Terry Stotts tends to not give rookies extensive minutes. An exception was made for Lillard, as he logged 38.6 minutes per game in 2012-13. Otherwise, a player’s career under Stotts begins mainly on the pine.
But things can go a number of ways after that first year. Allen Crabbe and McCollum are two examples of rookies that received little playing time then developed into good (Crabbe) and great (McCollum) players.
In contrast, Cliff Alexander and Montero are examples of rookies that failed to catch on under Stotts in Portland.
In lieu of NBA playing time, Layman and Quarterman have had stints in the D-League. Layman has been sent down once. Quarterman is currently on his third assignment.
The Trail Blazers have lacked their own D-League affiliate since 2014. At that time, Portland ended their single-affiliation partnership with the then-Idaho Stampede (now the Salt Lake City Stars).
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General manager Neil Olshey and the Blazers valued in-house development over constantly shipping players out to a farm team.
Now, the Blazers use other teams’ D-League franchises whenever they need to send a player down for a stretch.
Jake Layman’s one time in the D-League was with the Chicago Bulls affiliate Windy City Bulls from Jan. 24-Feb. 13. In eight games he averaged 17.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals in 33.4 minutes per game.
Layman’s scoring ability and athleticism were on display in these games. However, his outside shooting has been streaky. He shot 39.6 percent from three his senior year at Maryland, but hasn’t found the range in the pros.
Layman shot 22.6 percent from three-point range during his D-League tour. That goes along with the 25.6 percent he’s shot at the NBA level.
Layman had a few great games from beyond the arc. He went 4-of-9 from three on Feb. 7 against the Grand Rapids Drive, 3-for-8 on Feb. 1 against the Long Island Nets and 2-of-5 on Feb. 9 against Raptors 905.
At the same time, Layman shot 20 percent or worse in his other five games. He even went 0-for-7 in a Feb. 3 loss to the Westchester Knicks.
Quarterman had two different stints with the Windy City Bulls from Jan. 12-19 and Jan. 29-Feb. 13. In nine games he averaged 9.8 points, 7.2 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 29.6 minutes per game.
Quarterman is currently playing for the Long Island Nets, having been assigned there on Feb. 21. In five games he’s averaging 11.8 points, 9.2 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 35.3 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-6, 195-pound combo guard has some strong playmaking abilities and court vision. He’s also a good rebounder and pesky defender because of his size and hustle.
However, he’s also struggled with his outside shooting. Quarterman has shot 20.3 percent from three in the D-League. He’s shot three or more three-pointers in 11 of his 14 games. Quarterman will likely look to improve his shot instead of cutting it out of his repertoire.
He has also averaged 3.5 turnovers per game. Quarterman had eight turnovers in a March 6 loss to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The combination of his passing ability and young age leads him to sometimes force passes where they shouldn’t go.
Both players have the potential to be on the roster next season. Their contracts are cheap and they have shown flashes of becoming useful role players.
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However, the Portland Trail Blazers have three first-round picks in the upcoming draft. Olshey has stated his team intends to use all three picks.
While all 15 Blazers are signed through at least next season, three of those contracts are not guaranteed: Festus Ezeli, Pat Connaughton and Quarterman.
It’s feasible that either or both 2016 rookies could be dropped to make room for the next crop of kids. It already happened this season. As stated earlier, Montero was dropped after only a year in Portland to make room for Quarterman.
As even more of an omen, DraftExpress currently projects Frank Ntilikina as one of Portland’s three 2017 picks. Ntilikina is a 6-foot-5, 170-pound point guard from France that possesses the same tools as Quarterman and has greater upside.
The Portland Trail Blazers will continue to develop Layman and Quarterman at least until the picks are made. Portland will carry this out behind the scenes and occasionally send them to the D-League.
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If either player is able to stick in the Blazers program, fans will absolutely see these two on the court way more in future seasons than they do now.