Portland Trail Blazers: Complete 2017 offseason grades

The Portland Trail Blazers covered some short-term financial needs this summer and set themselves up for a big move once the trade deadline comes around, but will their current roster keep them in playoff contention in the West?

Always playing the role of the young, hard-nosed, energetic underdog, the Portland Trail Blazers have continually been one of my favorite playoff teams in the NBA. But in this new age of NBA “super teams,” it’s tough trying to envision Portland making the postseason for what would have been the fifth year in a row.

Sure, the Blazers arguably didn’t lose anything substantial this year. They retained their dynamic backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic — whom the Blazers acquired at the deadline — is on the right track to start the year healthy after going down just moments before the postseason.

Yet when you look at the other bottom-feeders in the West, each of them have made moves this offseason to better their roster: the Oklahoma City Thunder added Paul George, the Minnesota Timberwolves added Jimmy Butler and the Denver Nuggets added Paul Millsap.

Hell, even news of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope going to the Los Angeles Lakers and Danilo Gallinari going to the Los Angeles Clippers made headlines. Then of course, the Houston Rockets signed Chris Paul, and the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs are still very much at the top of the food chain.

Additionally, the teams that pulled off these transactions retained some workable flexibility should they want to make a move later in the season. The Portland Trail Blazers, on the other hand, didn’t make any headline trades or signings, and their options remain rather limited going into the season.

Let’s take a look at what the Blazers did this offseason and analyze the short-term and long-term effects of these decisions.