Trail Blazers Rank No. 24 In David Aldridge’s Offseason Power Rankings

The Trail Blazers’ relatively quiet summer after being swept by the Pelicans in the postseason has received a considerable amount of criticism. NBA.com’s David Aldridge reflected on Portland’s summer, ranking them No. 24 in his latest NBA Offseason Rankings.

These rankings aren’t a representation of how Aldridge believes teams will finish at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season, but rather an assessment of the moves that each franchise made over the summer.

Despite placing the Blazers at No. 24, Aldridge did praise Portland’s coaching staff in his rankings.

Assistant coaches David Vanterpool, Nate Tibbets, Dale Osbourne, Jim Moran, John McCullough and Jonathan Yim. With the Blazers mostly landlocked the next two seasons -- they’re currently above the projected luxury tax line both for next season and 2019-20 -- there aren’t likely going to be many significant roster changes for a while. And in the West, especially, standing pat is often falling behind. It will thus fall to Portland’s excellent staff behind coach Terry Stotts to maximize the production of the current group.

The Blazers parted ways with Ed Davis, Shabazz Napier, and Pat Connaughton over the summer. Nik Stauskas, Seth Curry, and a pair of rookie guards will attempt to fill the open minutes created by those departures.