Will Gary Trent Jr. Be Miscast with the Trail Blazers?

After the Portland Trail Blazers selected Anfernee Simons with the 24th pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, they dug deeper into the second round for Gary Trent Jr. out of Duke. Most pundits judged it a modestly good pick for the Blazers, but was it good for Trent Jr.? Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report makes an argument that the Blazers aren’t Trent Jr.’s ideal landing spot in an article titled, “2018 NBA Rookies Drafted by the Wrong Teams”.

Wasserman suggests that the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, and New York Knicks would have been better fits for the young guard, then offers:

Strictly a shooting guard—not creative enough to play combo or defensively tough for a forward—Trent finds himself buried behind CJ McCollum and newly acquired free-agents Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas. Not to mention Anfernee Simons, who’ll likely get priority, since the Blazers selected him over Trent in the first round.

At this stage, the Blazers also don’t have their own G League team.

Among Wasserman’s other selections for misfit rookies are Trae Young, Mo Bamba, and Collin Sexton.