Blazers Receive “Average” Grade for NBA Free Agency Moves

The Portland Trail Blazers had dreams of adding veteran players to the roster heading into NBA Free Agency and the offseason trading period, but nothing came to fruition. Portland actually ended up losing one of their few veterans, Ed Davis, to the Brooklyn Nets on a one-year, $4.4 million contract. Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report places Portland in the “We’re Average!” category with a C free-agency grade:

Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas can both hit threes, which should help the Blazers generate offense from players not named Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. That’s a plus.

A minus: letting Ed Davis walk, much to the displeasure of Lillard and McCollum. When your franchise’s success depends entirely on two players, maybe you should think twice about letting a quality veteran go just to save $4.4 million.

Even if Jusuf Nurkic is a classic big man who can’t switch and doesn’t offer much stretch, he was key to Portland’s improved defense a year ago. At four years and $48 million, his deal feels fair.

Executive Neil Olshey recently spoke about Portland’s offseason and the motives behind moves their made (or didn’t make), hitting on Davis walking as well as targeting veterans but coming up short. You can find highlights here.

How would you grade Portland’s free-agency decisions? Let us know in the comments.