Complete 2018 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams

Portland Trail Blazers

Key additions: Anfernee Simons (draft), Gary Trent Jr. (draft), Nik Stauskas (free agency), Seth Curry (free agency)

Key subtractions: Ed Davis (free agency), Shabazz Napier (free agency), Pat Connaughton (free agency)

The Portland Trail Blazers‘ main item on the summer to-do list was figuring out what to do with Jusuf Nurkic‘s restricted free agency. Though he didn’t have the monster year most where expecting, Nurkic has been a boon to this core on both ends of the floor, so re-signing him to a four-year, $48 million deal seemed fair for both sides.

Outside of that though, Rip City’s offseason was a bit of a head-scratcher. The Nets snagged Ed Davis — a very useful bench player — away for a more than manageable $4.4 million. Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton were let go, and though Seth Curry could be an upgrade shooting-wise, he comes with more health concerns.

Considering one of the Blazers’ first moves in free agency was signing Nik Stauskas, it was pretty clear general manager Neil Olshey was unintentionally dead-set on downgrading his backcourt depth. Stauskas is nowhere near as useful as Napier or Connaughton.

The Anfernee Simons pick is an interesting gamble, and though Gary Trent Jr. should supply some perimeter shooting, he didn’t really show it in Summer League. The 3-seed in the Western Conference last year was thoroughly embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs. Nothing Portland did this summer changed that fate in an even tougher West, nor did it offload any of the albatross contracts that have a middling playoff team $7.9 million over the luxury tax.

Grade: C-