It has been a tough last couple of days for Trail Blazer fans. With all of the drama surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge heading into free agency, we have been stuck in this teeter-totter of staying and leaving. With new teams popping up as “in the mix” for the talents of our smooth big man, my ESPN app won’t stop buzzing with teams aiming to take away my favorite player from my hometown team. As to whether or not i think Aldridge will stay, I honestly have no idea. Something tells me he won’t, and we are going to have a long season next year.
To go along with that growing uncertainty, Wes Matthews has agreed verbally to join the Dallas Mavericks. I can honestly say I did not see that one coming. Matthews was lured over to Dallas by Chandler Parsons and by the hope that DeAndre Jordan would also join the wayward team out of Texas. With Montae Ellis gone to the Indiana Pacers, The Mavericks are attempting to put a couple of solid pieces around their aging future hall of fame inductee Dirk Nowitzki.
To add to the pain, we just lost Robin Lopez to the New York Knicks. What is happening here? As of right now, we have likely lost our entire starting lineup from last season (minus Damian Lillard). Did we not actively try to re-sign Wesley and Robin? I didn’t hear anything about us making an offer at all. I really think that both of these players were a great fit in Portland and should have been higher offseason priorities.
In the hopes of not seeming pessimistic about next season, lets take a look at what we did get out of this crazy NBA whirlwind.
-Mason Plumlee, a promising young center who will likely be able to play in the pick-and-roll fairly effectively with Damian due to his high level of athleticism and ability to get to the rim.
-Noah Vonleh, a total question mark but someone who has huge upside potential. He was a lottery pick a year ago, and saw limited minutes off the bench for Charlotte last season. If he is given some time to expand his role, he could turn into the steal of the draft for us. However, it will likely take time to get a significant contribution from this raw big man.
-Gerald Henderson, a slashing 2-guard out of Charlotte who I really have not observed much to be honest. His stats are pretty decent (Approx. 12ppg, 3ast, 2 reb). However, he was playing on Charlotte. I don’t know whether we are planning to slide him into a starting role or not, but I assume he will get decent playing time in a potential sixth-man role. This depends on if we make another splash in free agency, and if CJ McCollum is given the bid of confidence to be our starter next season.
-Pat Connaughton, a big physical guard that can stroke the 3-ball. I really like this pick up. I only got to watch him play a little bit in the NCAA Tournament last year, but he can score and is active on the floor so he has potential.
-Al-Farouq Aminu, a versatile small forward with strong defensive competencies and offensive potential as well. He is long, athletic, can get to the rim, and has a decent jump shot. While he will likely be required to be more of a defensive stopper, if he is able to develop his 3-ball a bit more, he could be a strong 3 and D player as NBA analysts like to say.
-Ed Davis, a young big man who I really hope works out for us. At 6’10, he has good size to play the power forward position. He had a good season with LA last season (Approx 8.5ppg, 7.5 rpg), and has a good amount of NBA experience. Will he be our starter at this position next year? Potentially. Once again, this is could depend on how much the Blazers want to expand the role of Meyers Leonard after his growth into a strong stretch-4 player.
Well, it has been an interesting stretch here for the boys in red, black, and white. I am staying optimistic that not all hope is lost with LaMarcus Aldridge, but we shall see. At the end of the day, I will still be out there cheering for my team. I think between now and July 9th we will have a lot of our questions answered.