Portland Trailblazers Team Review

2024-25 Finish: 24-58 (13^th in West)

Season Highlight:

The Highlight for JMac and his Blazers was achieving exactly what they set out to do, sell, sell, sell, accumulate draft picks and supercharge a rebuild the likes the NSL has never seen. 

A team that holds 26 first round picks is set to be the major player in the trade landscape for years to come. The team had a revolving door of players and the one highlight stats wise was Bradley Beal showed he isn’t done just yet as a 2k contributor; over his 58 games with the team.

Season Lowlight:

The on-court product that the Blazers produced last season would have been a shock for their fans after years of title contending teams, 58 losses is more than the franchise saw between 2019 and 2023 combined (for those counting at home that total is 46). How long will the ever-competitive Jmac accept the losing is the biggest question going forward. We expect it won’t be long.

Best Trade:

Blazers send: Luguentz Dort and a 1st-Rounder (Cle)

Blazers receive: Marcus Smart, a 1st-Rounder (Utah), 1st-Rounder (Sac) and 2nd-Rounder (SA)

The Blazers made a heap of trades and while reading through them it felt like reading the same thing over and over, Blazers get player and picks, Blazers trade out slightly better player. There wasn’t a complete stand out trade but I liked this one. Clean and simple and Sac picks are usually a solid asset for future moves, once Jmac decides to push the chips in.

Worst Trade:

Blazers send:  OG Anunoby

Blazers receive:  Jusuf Nurkic, Brandon Clarke, DaRon Holmes II and  1st-Rounder (Ind)

Jmac just doesn’t take losses in trades, this one all I can fault is the Ind pick is looking like it will be low, you probably want more for O.G in hindsight.

Other Notable Trades:

Blazers send: Russell Westbrook, Karlo Matkovic and 2nd-Rounder (Cha)
Blazers receive:  Isaiah Jackson and 1st-Rounder (Tor)

Got Russ for 2 seconds, sold Russ for a young guy (although out for the year) and a 1^st. Efficient.

Blazers send: Jusuf Nurkic

Blazers get: Max Strus  1st-Rounder (Bos) 2nd-Rounder (Por)

This is what I am talking about, see the above, check the Blazers Transaction page and there are 6 more just like it. Great dealing for the team direction.

Free Agency:

With a full slate of players under contract, FA is not a place for these Blazers as it was for the Blazers of old.  They only have 1 player out of contract and that is an easy RFA retain. Likely will be looking at some moves to reduce the roster down to legal size but I don’t expect the Blazers to be a big player.

Isaiah Jackson (RFA) – Easy retain if they want to keep him. Comes back at a $7,000,000 salary. A nice price to see if Jackson can become a rotation piece going forward.

Star:

Bradley Beal

NBA 2k Beal is a great scorer still, and a perfect player to be your #1 on the team if you don’t want to win too many games. Beal put up numbers 27 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.9aspg, shooting 0.47 from the Field and 0.39 from 3. Beal had the green light and let it fly helping the Blazers lose way more than it won. He would be a great 4^th on a title contending team, but not at $50 something million.

Flop:

Keegan Murray

A former 5^th overall pick, young guy on a team that is looking to lose and just put up stats. Leading into the season Jmac probably saw him as at least a rotation piece going forward. 78 games played later and 12ppg, 5rpg in 32 minutes and He is on his way out the door to be replaced by a guy that no one can see failing.

Draft Grades:

Pick 1 – Cooper Flagg

Pick 2 – Dylan Harper

Overall Grade: A+

The only way to ding this draft grade would be if the Blazers didn’t take the 2 stand out guys at 1 and 2. They did exactly what they needed to. Flagg projects as a franchise centrepiece going forward with elite Bball IQ and potential. Harper could be the perfect sidekick for Flagg in the Blazers next title run.

The Future:

While the now isn’t super exciting for this season, this team has by far the brightest future of the entire league, 2 Franchise young guys, a swag of picks, a savvy GM that knows his way around a trade. Once the team decides it’s had enough of the losing it will be back to contender status in no time. While nothing is guaranteed in the league, all you can do is get yourself in the best possible position to succeed going forward and that is what the 2024-2025 season was about for the Blazers. Now the work really starts.

Current Depth Chart:

C: Isaiah Jackson/ Tristain Vucevic

PF Cooper Flagg/Kyle Anderson

SF: Brandon Miller/Hunter Tyson

SG: Brandon Ingram/Max Struss

PG: Anthony Black/ Dylan Harper