3. Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers went into a mini rebuild/retool that started ahead of the 2022 NBA trade deadline. They wanted to bottom out to upgrade the roster around Damian Lillard in the offseason.
CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Norman Powell and Robert Covington were all traded away to clear cap space and acquire some draft capital. They used that to upgrade the roster, as they traded for Jerami Grant from the Detroit Pistons and signed Gary Payton II away from the Golden State Warriors.
Along with the selection of Shaedon Sharpe with the No. 7 overall pick and the re-signing of Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic, the Portland Trail Blazers have upgraded the roster. But, if they want to truly contend, there is still some more work to do.
The Portland Trail Blazers were connected to John Collins of the Atlanta Hawks earlier in the offseason, so they could be targeting some frontcourt help. If that is the case, Julius Randle makes for an intriguing target.
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We have never seen what Randle can do playing alongside upper echelon guard play, such as what Lillard can provide. As the second or third option, Randle could really thrive, as some of the tough, low percentage shots he has been forced into with the New York Knicks in recent seasons would be cut down drastically.
Playing between two strong defenders in Grant and Nurkic on the Portland Trail Blazers could also help hide some of Randle’s deficiencies. But, as we saw during the 2020-21 season when locked in, Randle can get the job done on both ends of the court.
