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Superstar Damian Lillard will eventually be traded by the Portland Trail Blazers. Lillard’s trade request will likely result in him donning a different uniform at some point this week or immediately before the season.
The question of “how do we operate in a post-Lillard era” doesn’t apply to the Blazers. instead of making a direct turn to the question, “How do we properly build around Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe?”
But first things first. Lillard’s trade will demand a substantial amount of assets in exchange. We’ll have to wait and see if it comes from draft compensation or a large number of young players. However, the Blazers must get as much as they can out of that deal in order to help them create a long-term window for their new backcourt.
Second, they need to help Jerami Grant find a trading partner. Possibly not in time for the deadline, but by the summer after that. Grant is a top starter, but his timetable doesn’t exactly match that of the new core. Optimizing timeframes will be extremely important because he will be paid $160 million over the course of the next five seasons.
To be fair to Grant, he’s an excellent play finisher, and having him on the team this year may help Henderson’s growth advance. Young point guards require players to pass to, just as every young big man prospect requires a point guard to give them the ball. As a result, Grant has an instant benefit.
The Blazers’ Next Generation
It will be interesting to watch how the Blazers construct their team around Henderson and Sharpe. However, certain objectives are pretty clear-cut.
Prioritizing shooting will be crucial going forward, given Henderson’s propensity to attack the rim. In an ideal scenario, the Blazers’ backcourt would be flanked by shooters at each position, giving Henderson and Sharpe ample room to create driving lanes.
Ironically, that makes Trendon Watford’s waiver all the more perplexing. Watford, who is only 22 years old, averaged outstanding rebounding and passing figures at the big position while making 39.1% of his three-point attempts last season. You would have thought he would fit in perfectly. Perhaps there is still time to pick up that thread before the conclusion of the offseason given that he is still available, which is fairly surprising.
Here is a tweet confirming the news:
The Portland Trail Blazers will trade Damian Lillard and focus on building around Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. They need to get valuable assets in return for Lillard and find a trade partner for Jerami Grant. Shooting and defense will be important… https://t.co/TLl74jIIDJ
— AM1_NEWS (@am1_news) July 11, 2023
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What Does the Future Hold?
Defense is another requirement going into the future. Even though it sounds obvious, 3-&-D players will be even more crucial when paired with two highly skilled creators, especially to balance out the floor’s two ends. Henderson and Sharpe will likely be in charge of a sizable portion of Portland’s offensive production, potentially reducing the amount of effort they can put forth on the opposite end.
The Blazers’ final problem comes in the form of Anfernee Simons.
The 24-year-old is still young enough to participate in a rebuild and he undoubtedly provides the aforementioned shooting component, making 3.4 3-pointers last season at a 37.7% efficiency rate.
Simons is interesting, and he has a 21.1 point average to boot, but the Blazers can they afford to keep him when he’s undoubtedly long-term projected as a sixth man for them?
Due to his overall offensive potential, Simons should be valuable across the league, but Portland would lose a lot of effective spacing by moving off of him, which is difficult to replace. Do they keep him for his depth or do they move him elsewhere to suit a need? They will need to have that discussion even before the season begins.
Portland will eventually have choices. Due to the strain of striving to win now, they will be able to think creatively in ways they weren’t able to under Lillard. It will be interesting to see how they expand their roster from this point.
We’ll update you if this news changes. Visit our website Focushillsboro for the latest news on this issue.
