The Portland Trailblazers are an Absolute Mess

CJ McCollumn has officially been traded from the Portland Trailblazers to the New Orlenas Pelicans.

According to NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the Pelicans and Trailblazers have agreed to a seven-player deal in which the Pelicans receive CJ McCollum, Larry Nance, and Tony Snell, and the Trailblazers receive Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, and Didi Louzada along with multiple draft picks.

The fact that the Trailblazers are moving on from McCollumn isn’t a surprise. This decision has been speculated for years, and a trade was expected to take place before Thursday’s trade deadline.

What is surprising is how little the Trailblazers got in return especially considering they gave up two solid pieces alongside the 30 year old shooting guard.

Josh Hart is a 26 year old wing who’s a good finisher, a developing passer, and currently having the best season of his career. This year, Hart is averaging 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assist per game on career-best 60.4% true shooting. His improved passing productivity and scoring efficiency has made him a valuable offensive player which is why he has the highest EPM of his career so far.

I do have some concerns about him as a player, though. He isn’t an effective three-point shooter, and his defense isn’t good enough for him to provide much value in a role where he’s primarily a cutter and a secondary ball-handler on offense.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a bit intriguing, considering he’s just 23 years old, but he has been very underwhelming over the last two seasons. Alexander-Walker has been fairly productive on a per-game basis through his first three seasons. Still, he isn’t an efficient scorer, and he doesn’t have the skills to provide a lot of value in any offensive role without some serious improvement.

His passing productivity is solid, but he isn’t a good shooter, and he struggles finishing at the rim. He also isn’t a good defender, which, combined with his poor offensive skillset, is why he is consistently a negative on the court according to impact metrics.

The best part of this trade for the Blazers is the Pelicans’ 2022 first-round pick. However, they only get this pick if it lands between pick No. 5 and No. 14. If it doesn’t land in that range, Portland will receive it in the future.

I like the idea of the Blazers trading their assets in order to rebuild. However, it seems like that isn’t their plan. Despite creating a $21 million trade exception and potentially opening up $60 million in cap space this summer, the Blazers are trying to pursue high-end talent right now. I don’t know how they plan to do that when they’ve given up all their good assets over the last week.

If they don’t make a big trade before the deadline, I have serious concerns about what they’ll do moving forward. Although they may have a ton of cap space this summer, I doubt any star player will be interested in joining the Blazers considering how bad their roster is right now.

What makes all this even worse is that Damian Lillard is more likely to demand a trade now. With a roster that isn’t good enough to compete now and lacks the assets to compete in the near future, I don’t understand why he would stay in Portland, where the final years of his career would be wasted. I get that he loves Portland, but if he’s ever going to leave, the time is now.

Trailblazers General Manager Joe Cronin is making decisions that hurt the Trailblazers and make it harder for them to compete now and in the future. I am truly sorry for anyone who claims to be a fan of this franchise because the organization clearly doesn’t have a very good plan right now.