Blazers’ Offseason Receives Passing Marks from ESPN

ESPN’s Kevin Pelton gave Portland’s relatively quiet offseason a “B-” as part of his Western Conference report cards.

With much of the team’s cap room consumed from last summer’s shopping spree, he liked last week’s trade that sent Allen Crabbe to the Brooklyn Nets.

The Blazers were never going to be players in free agency after spending lavishly a year ago. Portland managed to cut that bill dramatically without using any draft picks by swapping Allen Crabbe to the Brooklyn Nets for Andrew Nicholson.

Pelton was not as receptive to Portland’s draft night moves.

I was less enthused about the Blazers' trading the No. 15 and No. 20 picks to move up to No. 10 and take Gonzaga center Zach Collins, who struggled to make shots in summer play. Portland has a bit of a crowd in the frontcourt after drafting Collins and Caleb Swanigan in the first round."

While most of the NBA world loved Collins’ potential coming into the draft, his poor—and brief—showing in the Las Vegas Summer League has some people scaling back their expectations. Portland will have to wait for Collins to fully develop before the trade is labeled a success or failure.

ESPN Insiders can see every team’s grades here.

Do you think Pelton’s “B-” assessment was fair? What would your grade for Portland’s offseason be?