How has The Portland Trail Blazers’ offseason been? Not real good, but not the worst either. That’s the takeaway from a piece by Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, who assigned a grade to every Western Conference NBA team’s offseason.
Quinn starts by criticizing the Jrue Holiday for Anfernee Simons trade, something we’ve talked about here on Blazer’s Edge. While acknowledging that Simons needed to go to open up minutes for Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, trading for a 35-year-old with $100 million left on his contract might not have been the play to make.
The Yang Hansen pick will take some time to evaluate, but Quinn does appreciate that the Blazers earned an extra first-rounder by trading down while still getting their man. That of course increased the surplus of big men in Portland, but the subsequent waiving Deandre Ayton was a sensible way to deal with that problem, opening up the full mid-level exception in the process. Quinn notes that the Blazers’ lack of shooting is still glaring, but perhaps the mid-level could yet be used to help correct that problem.
Finally, Quinn argues that the best development of the off-season for Portland was something it had no influence over:
The best thing that happened for Portland this offseason was ironically something it did not control. Milwaukee didn’t trade Giannis Antetokounmpo, but its desperation following the decision to waive-and-stretch Lillard to add Turner is palpable. The Blazers control Milwaukee’s first-round picks from 2028 through 2030. Had the Bucks moved Antetokounmpo this offseason, they might have had time to recover in time for 2028 and send Portland less valuable picks. Now? It looks like this situation is going to drag out a bit. The longer it takes, the better for Portland. They want him moved as close to 2028 as possible so they can reap the immediate rewards of a Milwaukee rebuild.
Only one team earned an F from Quinn: the New Orleans Pelicans. No holds are barred. It’s a grim picture illustrated by a litany of questionable choices, one after the other. Read Quinn’s assessment and try to come up with counter arguments if you dare.
The Golden State Warriors was given an incomplete, which is perhaps a bit of a cop out. After all, the Blazers’ roster is presumably not set yet, nor are the rosters of many other teams. If a team like Golden State gets an incomplete because they have made no moves so far, that defeats the purpose of the article. You can issue your own grade for them in the comments, but getting this far into the offseason without adding a single player isn’t great for a team that fell well short last season has aspirations for next season.
Other notable grades include the only A+, issued to the Houston Rockets, while the Denver Nuggets got an A-, the only other A of any sort. Joining the Blazers with a C- are the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Dallas Mavericks earned a D+ while the Sacramento Kings got a D.