Portland Trail Blazers: 5 takeaways from 2018 NBA Summer League
By Ty Delbridge
5. The Blazers need a G League team
After reaching the finals in back-to-back years, the Blazers should really consider getting a G League team of their own. They like to draft young players and could develop them within their own system and coaches instead of sending them to other team’s affiliates.
If Portland had its own team, Simons, Trent, Baldwin and Papagiannis could all be on the squad, along with other guys Neil Olshey likes to fill out the roster. If the Blazers had a full season of John Jenkins or K.J McDaniels in their system, they might have just called one of them up to the team instead of adding Nik Stauskas.
Hearing there is a VERY strong chance the Portland Trail Blazers are bringing a G-League team to Vancouver. They would play out of the Langley Events Centre. #RipCity #NBA
— Adam Forsythe (@adamforsythe) July 2, 2018
Portland has a knack for finding guys and creating good teams on the fly, as it has shown the last few seasons. It could do the same thing with a G League squad and could continue to find the diamond in the rough type of players. If the Blazers don’t want to lose Jenkins or Goodwin after their impressive Summer League performances, they could sign one to a two-way contract.
The Blazers did that with C.J. Wilcox last season, and he played for the Warriors’ G League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors. They also sent Swanigan to the G League for most of last season, but he played for the Cavaliers’ team, the Canton Charge.
The Blazers could send the 19-year-old Simons to the G League to develop his body and get used to playing against high-level competition. It would be a very beneficial thing for the franchise to have its own affiliate, and it could probably put together a pretty nice team.