I think the Trail Blazers are more than Lillard and McCollum. They have Nurkic as well. The Suns could probably use some of their "junk."
I know their players might be more than junk but their contracts make them junk and keep them from upgrading their roster. They're paying Meyers Leonard, Mo Harkless, and Evan Turner about $43 million annually compared to Lillard and McCollum $55 million. Add in Nurkic to those 5 and they're on the hook for $110 million between those 6 players for the 2019-20 season. They're tax payers this year also. Turner and Leonard are their worst deals. Turner is due $18.6 next year so they will have trouble dumping him. Mo Harkless had an incentive where he needed to shoot 35% or higher from 3 to get a half million dollar bonus and didn't shoot a 3 for the final 5-6 games so he didn't miss it. That isn't someone you want on your team, especially during a playoff hunt. He passed up some wide open shots also. One game is ok, I think, as long as the playoffs aren't on the line for that game but that wasn't the issue for them, they needed wins to stay ahead of other teams.
They have a ton of guys that can shoot the ball. Now that I think of it, who do they have that can't shoot the ball? They are a team that is going to likely average 110+ points this year and that has a lot to do with all those shooters.
Nurkic and Evan Turner, who are starters. Caleb Swanigan & Chinanu Onuaku are more traditional 4's who can't shoot from 3 also. They have a great backcourt, probably the best in the NBA, and both are good distributors so it keeps the ball moving and everyone involved.
I agree about the shooting part although I have not broken down their entire roster.
Although the Trail Blazers have not gone anywhere for a number of years, they have always been one of the most talented teams in the NBA. They have tremendous scouting.
I don't know about scouting for prospects in college but they seem to know other teams well. If you check out their roster you'll see there was some turnover but they should be ok. Signing Seth Curry was big for them. I can see a 3 guard lineup of Lillard, McCollum, and Curry spread around the arc with Turner as their PG of sorts, finding the open shooter. Put Nurkic in with them in the high post and you can stretch the floor, get open looks, and have 4 guys who can create for themselves and others.
I like the Blazers but they won't get better without being able to make moves and they don't have any good players to trade except maybe Zack Collins but that might be a mistake. Who knows how he'll end up. With Nurkic there though Collins is expendable if he can be combined with another player to dump a salary or bringing in a good PF who can shoot.
Here's
their roster.
Here's
their payroll.
