Portland Trail Blazers: 3 reasons Seth Curry is a good move

3. Fills backup guard role

By adding Seth Curry, the Blazers are moving on from last year’s backup point guard, Shabazz Napier.  Portland did not tender Napier a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. He was the sixth on the team in total minutes, sixth in total points and first in total steals.

Napier is still on the market, but will most likely be looking for more money than Curry got from Portland. Curry is a mature, high-IQ basketball player who comes from an excellent basketball family. He is not going to come in and cause drama.

The only other backup point guards the Blazers have are Wade Baldwin IV, who is on a non-guaranteed contract, and recently drafted 19-year-old Anfernee Simons. Baldwin is not ready to take over the primary backup job and may not even return next season. Simons is a couple of years away from being able to contribute to this team.

Curry now comes in and takes over the lead backup role. He can play next to either Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum, or he can run the offense and keep it afloat while both guys are on the bench.

Curry can play with the ball in his hands, but is even more effective playing off the ball. He has similar skills to Lillard and McCollum, and would be excellent running the second unit.

He has a chance to see significant minutes on this team and it would be no surprise to see him in the running for the Most Improved Player and the Sixth Man of the Year awards at the end of the 2018-19 season.