Trail Blazers Rebuild

By: Andrew Shine

Last season was rough for the Portland Trail Blazers, with Scoot Henderson playing very subpar and a congested amount of centers, it didn’t look good. Our 3rd overall pick, Scoot Henderson has plenty of time to develop, he can run the court and get open, but he just can’t dial his shot in. Scoot has talent and I see a breakout year coming. Another young player Sharpe, has one of the highest verticals in the NBA and one of the highest ceilings in the league. This year we used our first-round pick on a big guy from UConn, Donovan Clingan. His tall stature and paint ability intrigued the Blazers head coach. We also have a first-overall pick on our team, DeAndre Ayton, who was traded to us by Phoenix. He’s massive, and he works around defenders in the key in an unguardable way. The forwards are our weak spots, Jerami Grant, Toumani Camera, and Matisse Thybulle, these forwards are all mediocre and need some work. In my opinion, our best player as of now is Anfernee Simmons, his 3-point shot, and rapid dribbling skill both play into his ability to score points. Chauncy Billops is an aggressive coach, he’s so far not made anything special, but he’s started a young and explosive team. My personal starting five should be, Anfernee at the point guard position, Shaedon Sharpe at the shooting guard, Matisse Thybulle as the small forward, Jeremy Grant as our power forward, and DeAndre Ayton at the five. With Scoot, Toumani, and Donovan Clingan off the bench, this team looks pretty good actually. If we could get our hands on one franchise player we could have a playoff-contending team.