Portland Trail Blazers: Grading The Offseason
The Draft
With the 23rd pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Blazers had a slight chance of strengthening the foundations of a new core with a rookie. After shipping away Batum to jumpstart the rebuild, every position but point guard had suddenly become a need for the Blazers in the draft.
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When Rip City selected Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at No. 23, they could’ve kept the pick and hoped that the young defensive stud from Arizona would improve his perimeter shot and develop into a Wes Matthews replacement.
Instead, the Blazers quickly shipped him and backup point guard Steve Blake to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Mason Plumlee and the rights to the No. 41 pick, which yielded into Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton.
You can see the logic behind such a move. Robin Lopez would’ve been too expensive to re-sign as a free agent (he wound up signing a four-year, $54 million contract with the New York Knicks) and overpaying to retain a 27-year-old center was pointless with the context of building around Lillard in mind anyway.
I like this Nets trade for Mason Plumlee, too. Think he'll start in Portland, and should fit nicely with their renovated roster.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) June 26, 2015
At age 25, Plumlee isn’t that much younger than RoLo, but he provides rim protection that the Blazers simply didn’t have outside of Lopez. Blake no longer fit in with the team’s younger direction, and although Mason probably doesn’t have much room left in his game for improvement, he’ll be a serviceable starter nonetheless (with two years remaining on his cheap rookie contract).
As for Connaughton, he’s a potential second round steal due to his shooting ability, tenacity on defense and excellent athleticism. He’s a tad undersized, but for a Blazers team that could use some additional three-point threats on the wing, Connaughton is about as good as it gets in the second round.
Finally, the Blazers sent $1.5 million to the Utah Jazz for Daniel Diez, the 54th pick in the draft. Diez is a very good shooter, but he’s a draft-and-stash player for the time being.
Grade: B-
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