1. Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers can score with the best of them. They had the second-best offensive rating in the NBA last season, as Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum spearheaded the offense. Unfortunately, for as good as the team was on offense, they were as poor defensively.
Portland finished the season with the second-worst defensive rating in the NBA. They were unable to get stops when they needed them most, resulting in their fourth first-round elimination in the last five years from the playoffs.
Adding more players that can get after it defensively is key to the Trail Blazers getting over the hump in the postseason. Retaining Norman Powell in free agency was a step in the right direction, but they need more still to turn things around on defense.
Cam Reddish would help them do that. His performance in the postseason against the Milwaukee Bucks could be enough for a perennial playoff team such as the Trail Blazers to take a chance and hope that is something he can sustain over time.
READ MORE: Predictions for Latest NBA Trade Rumors: Simmons, Siakam, Dragic, Lillard
Reddish was excellent in his four games against the Bucks, averaging 12.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks in 23 minutes per game. His 64.3 percent shooting on 3-pointers is unsustainable, but making strides in that department would be nice to see.
The former Duke product has the prototypical two-way size on the wing. Even if his offense doesn’t ever fully develop, providing consistent production defensive will be more than enough to warrant playing time in any rotation.
