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A little more than a year has passed since the Trail Blazers traded away longtime centerpiece Damian Lillard. So, it maybe isn’t super surprising that Portland hasn’t fully rid its roster of veteran talent.
Jerami Grant, Lillard’s one-time sidekick, is still around. So, too, are big men Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams III and Duop Reath, none of whom is under the age of 26 and all of whom loom as potential obstacles in the path of No. 7 pick, Donovan Clingan. The Blazers are younger in the backcourt, though there’s even some confusion with that group as it’s hard to envision all three of Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons residing in the Pacific Northwest for the long haul.
Again, the Blazers are still in the experimental phase of their post-Lillard rebuild, so this isn’t alarming at a macro-level. It is, however, a sign of how little Portland has figured out regarding its path ahead.
“One thing we’re really hoping to find this year, throughout this season, and definitely by the end of it, is more clarity,” general manager Joe Cronin said, per Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. “… We need to have a better feel and understanding of what we are, what moves we need to make, what additions we need to have, what’s going really well. We just need more focus on what our long-term outlook is going to look like.”
The center group is overcrowded, the backcourt has too much overlap and the wing spots largely underwhelm in between. (Grant is solid, but he is overpaid and totally out of place on a team playing for the future.) This reads like a roster sponsored by the “Keep Portland Weird” folks.
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