Kanter Solid Choice For Blazers

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone, and buyout season is upon us. The Portland Trailblazers went into the buyout market to pick up Enes Kanter after he was bought out by the New York Knicks.

The Blazers originally gave Kanter a four-year/$70 million offer sheet in the summer of 2015, which the Oklahoma City Thunder matched.

Matt John of Basketball Insiders wrote about the value of the players teams picked up, and pointed to Kanter’s ability to eat up second units with his offense and rebounding should help bolster Portland’s bench:

According to NBA.com, Portland’s bench averages 35.4 points a game, which ranks 19th in the league. Kanter eats second units for breakfast thanks to both his elite low-post scoring and rebounding. Averaging just 25.6 minutes per game this season, Enes is recording 14 points and 10.5 rebounds a night.

Kanter could provide offense and rebounding to a team that is already stellar on both those fronts, according to John. John also recognizes, however, that Kanter’s defense is still lacking. He also doesn’t believe that should affect the Blazers too negatively either:

This season, the Knicks’ defense was plus-3.9 with Kanter on the floor. That’s not good. It’s not dreadfully bad either. It’s not bad enough that Kanter would be an overall liability. It may help Enes to not have to play in the 26th-highest rated defense in the league like he did in the Big Apple.

Overall, John thinks Kanter adds value to the Blazers despite his deficiencies on defense. Blazer’s Edge’s Dave Deckard also wrote about the good and the bad of Enes Kanter while Robert Flom and Danny Marang also broke down five interesting statistical nuggets and how Kanter fits in with the Blazers.