Does this trade make sense for the Portland Trail Blazers?
Giving up Norman Powell, CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller, Nassir Little and draft picks is a ton of value to trade away, but at the same time, Ben Simmons, Myles Turner and Danny Green is a ton of value to get back.
While Danny Green does not present much future value for this franchise, both Myles Turner and Ben Simmons do. Both of these two guys are two of the best defenders in the NBA and for a team that ranks 28th in defensive rating, they could immediately have a huge impact that raises them into the Top-15 in defensive rating league-wide.
Say what you want about Ben Simmons and his offensive struggles, but nothing bad can be said about how he plays defense. He is consistently one of the top players in the league in defensive rating and for his career, he has averaged 1.7 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.
Ben Simmons led the league in steals during the 2019-20 season and is a 2x All-Defensive player in this league, which is why his impact is definitely known defensively. As for Myles Turner, he has only led the league in blocked shots two of the last three seasons… no big deal!
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So far this season, Turner is averaging 2.9 blocks per game, which is the best in the league yet again and he is a really solid rebounder as well. What would happen with Jusuf Nurkic is a big question Portland would need to answer since he and Myles Turner would not be playing together, but Nurkic is in the final year of his contract and could easily be moved.
This trade is all about getting better defensively for the Portland Trail Blazers and quite honestly, a move like this is on the horizon for them. Maybe this exact trade is not possible for them, but moving CJ McCollum is definitely a move we could see this front-office make within the next few months.
Other than Damian Lillard, he is the only high-level talent on this roster that carries a ton of trade value and he is the only player Portland could trade for someone like Ben Simmons or Myles Turner.
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With Anfernee Simons emerging as a high-level guard and now looking like a strong defensive team, Portland could actually improve greatly after making this trade and be a tough team to face during the second-half of the 2021-22 season.
Ben Simmons, Danny Green, Myles Turner and Robert Covington are all really strong defenders that could instantly make the Portland Trail Blazers threats in the Western Conference, especially since Damian Lillard is still calling the shots on offense.
