Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers have made it clear that they’re still focused on building a contender around Damian Lillard. The front office took significant steps in that direction last season, as they tore down the previous regime’s roster and started placing their own pieces around the superstar point guard.
New General Manager Joe Cronin has already put his fingerprints all over the lineup, adding Jerami Grant, Josh Hart, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and rookie Shaedon Sharpe to feature as Lillard’s new supporting cast.
With enough internal development from young players Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little, the Portland Trail Blazers could be a dark-horse team to watch in the Western Conference next season, as they’ve successfully added more defense, athleticism, and versatility around Dame — something that the previous GM Neil Olshey failed to do in nearly a decade at the helm.
While they undoubtedly added more stoppers to the roster, the Trail Blazers are still short on wings capable of locking up bigger opposing forwards. Josh Richardson would immediately step into Rip City as one of the better defenders and one of the bigger wings on the roster. His ability to create for himself and others off of the dribble and spot up for triples off-ball make him a great fit on offense as well.
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The Portland Trail Blazers have plenty of intriguing players in positions of redundancy, so they’ll likely look to make trades before the deadline. Josh Richardson’s price tag should fit right into their range.
