Portland Trail Blazers: 5 offseason roster moves they need to make
After a season the Portland Trail Blazers would like to forget, here are five roster moves they need to make.
The Portland Trail Blazers went from making the Western Conference finals in the 2018-19 season to only just making the playoffs in 2019-20. The main reason for this was the plethora of injuries they suffered.
They lost starting center Jusuf Nurkic to a broken leg prior to the playoffs last season. This did not stop them from advancing last season but it did hurt them this season. The reason for this? Zach Collins, the other starting frontcourt player injured his shoulder and barely played.
Trail Blazers: 3 goals for Gary Trent in 2020-21. light. Related Story
To compound this loss, the Blazers lost Rodney Hood to an Achilles injury, just at the time he was starting to feel comfortable. On top of that, the Blazers lost Damian Lillard around the All-Star break for six games. He then injured his knee just prior to the Blazers being eliminated from the playoffs.
How the Portland Trail Blazers overcame the injury issues.
The front office was kept extremely busy over the offseason, up until the trade deadline. To replace Nurkic in the middle the Blazers were instrumental in a four-team trade which sent Jimmy Butler to the Miami Heat.
The Blazers effectively sent Maurice Harkless to the LA Clippers and Meyers Leonard to the Heat and in return got Hassan Whiteside. Then when Collins got injured the Blazers signed Carmelo Anthony which proved to be a masterstroke.
In order to replace Hood, the Blazers traded Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver, a 2024 2nd round pick and a 2025 second-round pick. In return, they got Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan.
Their fortunes turn a little when they got some of these players playing in uniform. However, when the bubble was in full swing the Blazers lost Collins for the rest of the season and then lost Lillard in the playoff series against the eventual champions the Los Angeles Lakers.
Looking forward to this season, the Blazers have the 16th pick and the 46th pick in the 2020 NBA draft. With this in mind, it is time to look at the five roster moves the Portland Trail Blazers must make this offseason.