Portland Manages A “C” In Offseason Grade

While fans of the Portland Trail Blazers were waiting for President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey to make difference-making moves, that did not come to pass during the NBA offseason. Now that the team has begun to sign players to trading camp deals, Colin Ward-Henniger of CBS Sports hands in a lukewarm grade for the Blazers’ trades, acquisitions, and re-signings, noting that the only major move was keeping Norman Powell.

If Damian Lillard wanted to see meaningful change to the Blazers roster this offseason, he can’t be happy with what he’s looking at right now. Powell’s four-year, $90 million contract is fine and Nance is going to be helpful on both sides of the ball, but as it stands, McLemore, Zeller, Snell and Smith don’t exactly push this team into championship contention — plus, Brown wasn’t considered NBA-ready heading into the draft. It’s going to be a tense couple of months waiting to see how Lillard proceeds. Grade: C

The New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings were the only other two teams to score a C on Ward-Henniger’s grading system.

Ouch.