Portland Trail Blazers: Not have a G-League affiliate is hurting the development of Moses Brown

The Portland Trail Blazers are one of the few NBA teams who do not have a G-League affiliate. This is hurting the development of players like Moses Brown.

Moses Brown, the 7’2″ rookie out of UCLA has not had the developmental rookie season he would have envisaged. Despite the ranks of the Portland Trail Blazers big men being decimated by injury, Brown has only appeared in seven games.

In these games Brown has averaged 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in only 3.3 minutes per game. These numbers show that coach Terry Stotts does not have a huge amount of faith in the rookie despite not having the services of Jusuf Nurkic so far this season.

Hassan Whiteside has missed five games, Zach Collins has only played three of a possible 54. On top of that, Skal Labissiere missed almost 20 games prior to being traded. Surely there should have been some time able to be carved out for Brown, just to see what he can do at the NBA level.

However, the Trail Blazers have not done this and Brown has been assigned to the Texas Legends in the G-League for 22 games of the season. That is usually not a bad option, the varsity squad can request a certain style of play to ascertain what they have in a player.

The problem is that Brown, who is good enough to be a two-way player, has not started a single game for the Legends. There are not many 7’2″ players in the G-League and this would be a distinct advantage considering the numbers he is putting up.

Brown is averaging 15.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 0.6 steals in just 19.6 minutes per game. He is shooting the ball at 63.3 percent from the field. These numbers are good enough to earn him a starting role.

This is particularly true as the player he is behind on the depth chart is Chad Brown. The 6’9″ rookie out of Central Florida has started all 34 games he has played. He is averaging 5.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.9 blocks and 0.4 steals per game. He is shooting 51.6 percent from the floor.

It seems that one of the main reasons that Moses Brown is not starting is the Legends are actually the G-League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks. They will not prioritise the development of another NBA franchises player over their own season, nor at the expense of the development of the Mavericks’ talent.

As a result, Moses Brown is not being developed in a way that benefits the player or the Trail Blazers’ future. Brown is unable to show what he can do for the Portland Trail Blazers as he is forced to play in a team structure which is different to that of his varsity squad.

Moses Brown was signed as a project by the Blazers at the start of the season. If they had a G-League affiliate the organization could have tasked the coaching staff of their affiliate with developing Brown.

The fact is they are reliant on other franchises for the development of their two-way talent. This means that they are not able to fully evaluate what they have in certain players. This is not only a problem this season but for future seasons as well.

Only two teams in the NBA do not have G-League affiliates. They are the New Orleans Pelicans and the Portland Trail Blazers. The Pelicans have a team debuting in the 2022-23 season. Let us hope the Blazers announce theirs soon.