Trio of Forwards Emerge as Options for the Blazers

Devin Vassell, Saddiq Bey, and Patrick Williams are possible draft choices for the Portland Trail Blazers, according to Sam Quinn and Colin Ward-Henninger of CBS Sports. Portland has lacked good presence on the wing, especially on defense, so they should look to remedy those short-comings by drafting a 3-and-wing.

The Blazers entered last season without a small forward-sized player on their roster. Their solution to that was acquiring 35-year-old Trevor Ariza, who skipped the bubble, leaving Carmelo Anthony and Gary Trent Jr. the unenviable task of defending LeBron in the playoffs. It didn’t go well, and if Portland wants to have any chance at changing that next season, it needs an actual small forward athletic enough to hang with the best of the West.

Quinn and Ward-Henniger suggest that Vassell, Bey, or Williams could fill that need for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Recent videos of Vassell’s revamped (not in a good way) shooting form might allow him to drop to Portland at No. 16, where they’ll happily snatch him up due to his defensive potential. If he’s gone, one of Bey or Williams might still be around, and they’re excellent consolation prizes. Bey is more of a finished product while Williams has more upside, but both should immediately help a team desperate for wing defenders.

Blazer’s Edge profiled all three players; you can read Saddiq Bey’s profile here, Devin Vassell’s draft profile is here, and Patrick Williams is here.

You can read what every team needs to acquire in the draft here.