The Portland Trail Blazers made a few quiet moves on the edges this offseason, and one of them already looked promising in first practice Tuesday. Head coach Micah Nori singled out former Oklahoma City Thunder big man Branden Carlson as the standout performer.
But the move that could end up mattering even more for Portland this season came much earlier, at last February’s deadline: the trade for Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Vit Krejci.
Portland was supposed to be active at the deadline as it chased a late playoff push, but general manager Joe Cronin took a different route. Instead of making a splashier move, he sent center Duop Reath and two future second-round picks to Atlanta for Krejci.
The Blazers still got into the postseason, even though Krejci never really settled in after arriving. In 19 games with Portland, his shot was off in a big way, as he hit just 30.3 percent from deep.
That was a sharp drop for a player who had hovered around 40 percent from three over the previous three seasons with the Hawks. Krejci has built his reputation as a shooter, and the expectation is that he’ll climb back toward that level for Portland. If that happens, the Blazers should get a real boost from beyond the arc this season.
The shooting matters even more because Portland’s wing group is thin after losing Kris Murray, Jerami Grant, and Matisse Thybulle this offseason. Rather than replacing those departures directly, Cronin added more point guards and centers, and he explained at Media Day that the team believes in the wings already on hand.
Jrue Holiday spending more time at small forward should help, but a lot of the burden now falls on Krejci and Sidy Cissoko. They bring very different skill sets, which means Micah Nori will need to lean on each of them in different situations.
That wasn’t happening at the end of last season with Splitter and Krejci, but this new start gives Portland reason to think Krejci can get his shot back. With so much attention on the Blazers’ new offseason additions, the value of a steadier Krejci could be easy to miss.
In Other News...
Blazers Make Another Camp Cut As Their Next Roster Plan Emerges
The latest round of training camp business kept moving this week across the league, and Portland was part of it as the Blazers continued trimming the edges of their roster. Chicago waived Peter Suder and Utah waived Jaelen House, while Portland moved on from Hyunjung Lee, all according to official transaction logs and team announcements. Each player had been brought in on a non-guaranteed training camp deal with an Exhibit 10 clause, the kind of arrangement that often signals a path toward the G League once camp breaks.
Lees situation fits the familiar late-September pattern for teams sorting out their next steps before the regular season begins. The move leaves Portland with one less body in camp, but it also keeps the door open for the kind of follow-up plan the organization often uses with fringe prospects, especially when there is still a route to stay in the system through the affiliate level. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Suddenly Face Another Broadcast Shakeup Before Preseason
The Trail Blazers are back in the market for a new play-by-play voice before preseason even gets underway, a jarring turn for a broadcast booth that was supposed to have found some stability. The organization had only recently introduced Braiden Bell as its latest hire, stepping into the role left open after Kevin Calabros departure, and the move was meant to help settle one of the more visible parts of the teams presentation.
Instead, Portland moved quickly to part ways with Bell after old racist and offensive tweets from 2012 and 2013 surfaced, prompting the club to issue a statement condemning the posts and reaffirming its commitment to inclusive values. It leaves the Blazers once again searching for a replacement at a time when the focus was supposed to be on basketball, not another abrupt broadcast reset. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Coach Already Faces A Damian Lillard Ja Morant Dilemma
Micah Nori is already trying to sort through one of the more intriguing lineup questions facing Portland before the preseason even gets rolling. With Damian Lillard and Ja Morant both on the roster, the Trail Blazers have enough shot creation in the backcourt to make any coach curious, but also enough size concerns to make the fit tricky. Nori has said he wants to test different combinations and see what works best, which is exactly the kind of early-camp experiment this situation calls for.
The tension comes from how Portland balances pure talent against defensive stability, especially when two undersized guards are involved. Nori has made clear that his contract status will not influence those decisions, and Jrue Holiday looms as the more defense-first alternative if the Blazers decide they need more balance in the starting five. For now, the roster gives Portland options, but it also leaves one of the teams biggest questions sitting right at the point of attack. [Read more 🡒]