Portland Trail Blazers: 2016 Offseason Grades
Overall
If it feels like the Portland Trail Blazers spent a ton of money without actually getting much better this summer, that’s both the beauty and the concern with relying on internal growth.
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Sometimes you can build upon it; other times you’re the 2013-14 Phoenix Suns who hit their ceiling too soon and came crashing back down to earth.
Many are projecting a season of regression for Portland in 2016-17, which makes sense given the down year that the Western Conference just had. The Blazers’ playoff success last year wouldn’t have been possible without that, nor would they have had such an easy time advancing to the second round of the playoffs without those injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
Still, the Blazers made their living surprising people last season, and it’s possible a summer of internal growth and new contracts to keep the continuity intact will serve Portland well.
Unfortunately, the raw numbers are ugly no matter how you look at them, especially in light of Evan Turners’ massively bloated deal and quirky fit.
The Portland Trail Blazers have $291 million wrapped up in C.J. McCollum, Evan Turner, Allen Crabbe, and Moe Harkless.
— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) July 26, 2016
Yikes.
McCollum got $106 million. Turner got $70 million. Harkless and Leonard combined for $81 million. Crabbe earned $75 million. What began as an exercise in denoting essential roster parts to keep around for the future quickly snowballed into an all-out avalanche of cash.
Olshey deserved the benefit of the doubt heading into the summer, but you have to question whether he’s made the mistake of trying to accelerate this rebuild (i.e. signing Turner) or even worse, whether he’s drank too much of the Kool-Aid on how good some of these younger, relatively unproven players can be.
More hoops habit: Oklahoma City Thunder: 2016 Offseason Grades
It wasn’t a bad summer for the Blazers, but it wasn’t a very safe one either, with quite a few of these deals having the potential to be backbreakers down the road. Like last offseason, this mixed bag of summer overspending will either be validated or exposed by Portland’s 2016-17 season. Until then, a meager passing grade feels about right.
Grade: C