Portland Trail Blazers: Making a case for Paul George

Explaining how he fits with the Blazers

The fairytale ending to this story is Paul George ends up filling McCollum’s role at shooting guard, adding a proven two-way player on the perimeter to couple with Lillard’s playmaking. George, a capable creator, replaces McCollum as the third hydra head. Pretty simple.

Nurkic continues as center with Jefferson as his main backup. Maurice Harkless continues to grow at small forward, giving the Blazers another solid defender on the wing, and Ed Davis finds a way to stay healthy and productive.

Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, Allen Crabbe, Noah Vonleh, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Shabazz Napier all have a solid year off the bench, and Lydon — or whomever Portland’s rookie may be — exceeds expectations.

The Blazers also drop Festus Ezeli and Tim Quarterman, subsequently using the team’s $5.2 million tax mid-level exception to add a free agent of value. Options include George Hill, Jeff Teague, Patty Mills, Shaun Livingston, Brandon Jennings, Langston Galloway, or Darren Collison.

Next: 5 potential landing spots for Gordon Hayward in free agency

With this roster, the Portland Trail Blazers go straight from being the eighth seed to the upper echelon of the NBA. The threat of the Lakers in free agency looms large, but would that roster be good enough to convince PG-13 to stick around past his 2018 free agency?