Why the Portland Trail Blazers Will SHOCK EVERYONE This Season

Why the Portland Trail Blazers Will SHOCK EVERYONE This Season

The Portland Trailblazers will shock everyone this season and we need to talk about that. How’s it going everyone? My name is Devin. I hope you guys are all having a great day so far. Today I want to talk about your Portland Trailblazers and why I think they’re this year’s breakout team. Every year it feels like there’s an NBA team who takes the leap into stardom and pushes for the playoffs who the past few years prior had been one of the bottom dwellers. If you remember a couple years ago the Houston Rockets took that step. Last year it seemed like it could have been the San Antonio Spurs but then of course Victor Wimbeyama got hurt. But I think the Blazers are really positioning themselves to be just that team in the 2025 and 2026 season. Before we get into the video, if you are new here, please do make sure to hit that subscribe button and like the video to support the channel and let me know what you think about this video in the comments below. We’re on the road to 3,000 subscribers, so every subscriber counts and I appreciate the community we’re building up here on this channel. So again, if you are new, hit that subscribe button and now let’s get into the video. So first, I kind of want to summarize what the Blazers have done this off season. They’ve made a handful of moves, some more questionable than others, and I think we need to talk about those. So, the first big move of the off season was, of course, the Blazers trading Anthony Simons in two second round picks for Drew Holiday on June 23rd. This was the first move the Blazers have made in quite some time that really showed that they are wanting to compete. They’re not as focused on the young core as obviously Anthony Simons is a lot younger than Drew Holiday. Up until this point, it just seemed like the Blazers were still focused on keeping a young core around and just seeing what players end up becoming good. And it obviously seemed like there was a bit of hesitation with how Scoot Henderson has been playing. But the fact that they went out of their way to trade him for Drew Holiday shows that they’re ready to win right now. And it obviously showed that Anthony Simon’s value wasn’t as high as a lot of people thought considering they had to attach two second round picks. Now, don’t worry, I’ll get back to that. I know they didn’t actually end up sending those picks out in the trade. So after trading Anthony Simons, this was kind of the alltale sign that they are wanting to win next season and push for the playoffs, which isn’t new. Joe Cronin has mentioned a couple times now in different interviews that they want to win next season. And so they trade Anthony Simons for Drew Holiday. And then the next thing they do is they buy out DeAndre Aen. DeAndre Aen’s value was known to not be super high around the NBA, right? Obviously, he is not a top performing center in the league. Maybe you could argue he’s a top 13ish center in the NBA, so right around average. But he was getting paid as if he was one of the top five best centers. And so a lot of people weren’t really stoked to take on that contract. But it was clear the Blazers obviously wanted to move off of him as they ended up paying him over $25 million to get off of his contract and not have him on the books next season. And considering what he ended up signing for with the Lakers, which was a two-year $16 million deal with a player option for next season, that obviously kind of showed more so or not where his value is. He’ll still be making the same amount of money that he would have, give or take a couple hundred,000 if he had just stayed on the Blazers. But overall, the Blazers opted to get out of the DeAndre Aiden situation so that they could have a bit more cap flexibility this off season as well as start their young center Donovan Klingan. And this happened just a couple days after the NBA draft where the Blazers actually made a couple questionable moves on draft night. This started by trading back from their 11th pick to pick 16 and in so acquiring two more second round picks plus a first round pick and that was from the Memphis Grizzlies. And so overall it seemed like a pretty good trade. The Blazers moved back only five spots and they gained an extra first round pick they can use in future negotiations along with what at the time seemed like recouping those second round picks they traded out with Anthony. And then the Blazers go ahead and make one of the most shocking draft picks of all time by drafting Hansen from China at pick 16. Now, I’ve actually come around quite a bit on the Hansen pick. At first, I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favorite pick the Blazers have ever done. I didn’t know who this guy was, but after seeing all the reports that the Minnesota Timberwolves actually wanted him at 17, and then the Brooklyn Nets still had two picks later on in the first round that they were looking at drafting him with, if he was the Blazers guy, then I’m glad they went out and got him. And so I’m really excited to see him play in summer league. Comment below if you want a whole video on that, but I’m really excited to watch this team play and see how Hansen Young plays against other NBA talent. So now that we’re all up to speed, this Blazers team is looking a good bit better than it has in the past. They have a ton of defense, which is definitely a foreign concept to Blazers fans. At least for me, I really started to become a Blazers fan kind of earlier on in the Dame era. And so all the way up to pretty much when we traded him, the whole mantra of this team was that we were a good offensive team and offensively gifted enough to make it to the eighth seed, but didn’t have enough defense to really compete with some of the juggernauts of the NBA. And now it kind of seems like those roles have swapped where the Blazers have multiple alldefense level players in Matis Thyel, Tammani Kamar, Drew Holidayiday, Donovan Klingan, and even Denny of Dia is pretty elite on defense. And so I think at least on that front, the Blazers have it covered. They could be one of the five best defensive teams in the NBA this year and I wouldn’t be too surprised. But what needs to happen next with this Blazers squad? Because obviously as constructed, this is not a team that’s going to take them to the playoffs or at least past the first round. So, I have a few ideas on what I think this team can do to better position itself and overall be in a better spot to compete with some of the better teams in the Western Conference. First things first, they need to add a lot more offense to this team. The Western Conference is by far the most stacked it’s been in a long time. You have teams like the Warriors and the Lakers who are still really solid teams and on most mocks they’re ranked to be somewhere around that 7 to six range. And so if the Blazers are going to want to be able to make it to the playoffs, then they’re going to at least need to be able to compete with teams like that. And that’s without ignoring teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, the reigning champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Nuggets. Those are kind of the cream of the crop teams in the West that the Blazers are going to have to be able to compete with on a night-to-ight basis if they even want a chance at making it to the playoffs this year. And so in order to do that, they’re going to need to add a lot more offense and specifically shooting. Obviously, Anthony Simons, once Dame was traded, was by far the best offensive player and the best shooter this team has seen in quite a while. And they go and trade him for a guy in Drew Holiday, who is a really gifted player and honestly on the surface is probably the better overall player right now. But if the Blazers are going to want to compete, they need to recoup some of that shooting that they lost with Afford. There’s some guys on the team that can shoot all right. Scoot’s actually been somewhat decent. Jeremy Grant has been known to be able to shoot the three from time to time. Kummani Kamar isn’t too bad at shooting. Denny of Dia is not half bad either. But the Blazers need a couple players who are just true offensive shooting talent that maybe can come off the bench and just provide a bit of firepower to this team when they’re lacking a bit. And so if they can add a bit more shooting, and I’ll talk about a couple guys I would love for them to target here in a sec, then I think that’ll help a lot. But in addition to that, I would love for them to trade Jeremy Grant. Jeremy Grant is the one guy that going into this off seasonason, if the Blazers could only trade one person, it needs to be Jeremy Grant. Now, reports are that they’ve actually been trying to trade him and that they’re kind of looking to move him, but he doesn’t really have much slash any value around the NBA, which honestly I’m not super surprised by that just given how giant his contract is that Joe Cronin signed him to. I don’t really think that he’s going to have much value. And honestly, at this point, if the Blazers can get some sort of draft compensation and maybe an expiring player out of it, then I think that’ll be worth it. As I just don’t see a world where Jeremy Grant is okay coming off the bench. I don’t see Chanty Phillips bringing him off the bench. And at this point, Kamani Kamar and Denny Ailla need to be your front court. They play perfectly together and Jeremy Grant’s just the odd one out here. Next, they need to figure out their rotation. and you bring in a guy like Drew Holiday who’s phenomenal. But I think part of why trading Anthony Simons was so important going into this season was so that you could let Scoot Henderson play so that you can let Scoot Henderson take the reigns and be your starting point guard for an entire season to see what you have in him. Most of his career he’s been coming off the bench but has shown a lot of great flashes specifically when he starts. And then you bring in a guy like Drew Holiday who arguably should start. Even though he had a down season last year, he’s still arguably a lot better than Scoot Henderson. And so we’ll see what Chanty Phillips decides to do with the lineup, but for me, my hope would be that they bring Drew Holiday off the bench and they let Scoot Henderson start and Drew Holiday can just be a really good six-man and mentor to Scoot. So, they need to figure out that rotation and then they need to figure out what they have in Hansen Young. He is by far this team’s biggest X factor. And I think summer league over the next week or so will help the team kind of figure out where his skill sets at, what he needs to work on the rest of the offseason. But if he can come in and even in his rookie year just give a few valuable backup center minutes, I think that’ll be huge. And so just figuring out what this team has with him and kind of what his timeline looks like as far as when they expect him to become a true contributor is going to be crucial. As I mentioned before, this team has the structure and the roster to be a top five defense in the NBA next season. But just being a top defense won’t win them enough games to make it to the playoff. They need to go out, get some offense, get some shooting. And I have a few players that I would love for the Blazers to either go out and sign or trade for. The first player on this list is my number one target I would love for the Blazers to go after. He’s an elite shooter. He can cut to the basket. He doesn’t really have to be used too much, but he had a really good season last year. He’s not the best on defense or his shot creation, but he can shoot the ball like nobody’s business. And he would fit perfectly in that six-man floor spacing role and kind of an offball weapon at times. And that is none other than Cory Kisspert from the Washington Wizards. Cory Kissper is the one guy I would absolutely love for the Blazers to go after. He has history with Denny of Ddia. The Blazers have been linked to actually having interest in him so far this off seasonason and I think he would just fit perfect on this squad. I think the most I would give up for him is maybe a guy like Matis Thyel. But honestly, the Blazers could just absorb him. They wouldn’t actually even need to trade out anything for him. Technically, they have the money to make it work. And so maybe the Blazers just send a little bit of draft compensation over to Washington in this deal. But either way, I think Joe Cronin needs to be working the phones right now trying to land Kissert on this roster. He would fit perfect and be just a bit of offensive punch this team needs. Next up is a guy the Blazers have also been linked to. I know some of you may not prefer the Blazers God and trade for this player cuz I don’t think his value is going to be low, but this guy can really slash. He’s great at shot creation. He’s very physical in the paint. He’s a bit of a streaky shooter, but he has that offensive touch that the team needs. And he could easily be the starting small forward or shooting guard on this team if need be. Slash, he could be a really good secondary scorer playmaker, and that is none other than RJ Barrett. The problem with trading for RJ Barrett is he doesn’t have a clear role on this roster. If Scoot Henderson, Shaden Sharp, Tammani, Denny, and Klingan are all healthy on a given night, there’s no way that R.J. Barrett should start over any of those guys. R.J. is a gifted player. However, he put up 21.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and shot 46.8% from the field last season. And so, depending on the matchup on any given night, he could definitely fight for that starting small forward or shooting guard spot with Shane Sharp and Tammani Kamar. Again, putting one of those guys on the bench just doesn’t quite feel right. So, I’m not sure how I’d feel about trading for him, especially if the Blazers have to give up a good player plus some assets to get him. I wouldn’t really like that. But, if the Blazers could get him for a good price, I wouldn’t mind them bringing him in. And then you just kind of figure out the fit later. Next, I have one guy that I’m pretty neutral on. I don’t know if the Blazers would really target a guy like this. He’s great at three-point shooting. He has the size and playmaking ability. He’s not the best on defense and is a bit inconsistent, but this guy could be a good six-man floor spacer and kind of a glue guy that holds the bench together, and that is Kevin Herder. Kevin Herder has definitely had his ups and downs over the years, and it’s kind of coming off of a slow season, but because of that, maybe the Blazers could get him for cheap, and he could be a good bench player for this team. Comment below your thoughts, though. Who do you want the Blazers to target this off seasonason? Or who do you think would be a good trade target for the Blazers to go after? So really, if the Blazers are able to smooth out this roster a bit by trading Jeremy Grant, getting him out of the lineup, maybe trading Robert Williams, even if Hansen Young looks good in summer league and you feel confident that he could be your backup center most of the season, and then if the Blazers can go out and acquire a bit of offensive talent, I really do think this team is ready to shock everyone this season. And I think they’re going to do a lot better than a lot of people think. Most overunders have the Blazers win set at 32. And that is just insane considering how good of a season they had last year. Most people are predicting that the Blazers have a worse season this year than they did last year, which is pretty nuts. And so I think regardless, the team is ready to shock everyone. And they’re slowly coming together and growing out of that young rebuilding style roster and are becoming a much more well-rounded team. Comment your thoughts, though. Let me know what you thought about this video. Like the video if you did enjoy it, and please do consider hitting that subscribe button if you enjoyed it. We are on the road to 3,000 subscribers. I would love to hit that by the end of summertime and I need your help for it. Share the video with a friend or a fellow Blazers fan and I appreciate you guys listening and until next time, I’ll see you later. Peace.

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V I D E O S T O W A T C H N E X T :

Click here to hear my thoughts on the Jrue Holiday TRADE – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwwu-zXLDN8&t=45s

The Next NBA STAR – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYYQe-Qkcsw&t=8s

Who MUST The Trail Blazers Trade? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A52Fx4995I

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