Portland Trail Blazers: Grading their signings in NBA free agency

Portland Trail Blazers NBA free agency signings: 4. Re-signing Norman Powell

As mentioned earlier, the Blazers sent Trent and Hood to the Raptors and received Norman Powell in return. Powell’s efficiency went down when he became a member of the Trail Blazers. That is to be expected when he has changed from the Raptors system which he has played in for five and a half seasons to a new system where he played 27 games.

However, the Blazers saw enough is Powell that they signed him to a five-year, $90 million deal. This was a very good move for the Blazers as they have locked up their future core with both McCollum and Lillard signed for the next few seasons as well.

With the rumors swirling around the Blazers, if they lose Lillard then they have Powell waiting in the wings to take over running the team. If Lillard does not leave then Powell is also a tremendous floor spacer which is going to help the other members of the backcourt create for themselves or others.

One thing that Powell does not help is the Trail Blazers’ lack of ball movement.  He has only averaged 1.4 assists per game for his career, being more of a finisher than a distributor. However, he needs to improve to more than 3.0 assists per game if he is going to help the Blazers contend for a championship.

Grade: A-