Hamidou Diallo has come off the bench, but he's a 20 PPG scorer anyhow
Following former GM Jestor's resignation, it's been a rough season for the Portland Trailblazers. They continue to be one of the worst teams in the league despite the addition of Milos Teodosic and their -10 Margin is right on the nose double-digits bad.
Nearly everyone's shooting has gone in the tank and Laurynas Birutis, despite maintaining consistent shooting and drawing All-Star consideration for his rebounding and shotblocking, has suddenly seen fewer scoring opportunities due to rookie head coach Dwayne Wade inserting shot-gobbler Cameron Oliver in the starting lineup - consequently dropping to a hair over 12 PPG.
If there is a bright spot, it's Hamidou Diallo turning into a 20 PPG scorer as the Blazers' 6th man and actually improving his shooting from downtown while staying consistent in his overall FG%. Milos Teodosic's defense has been a pleasant surprise - a team-best 0.77 PA/SF.
More concerning for league observers is that Tyrese Haliburton (despite a meme 1st place vote for the ASG) has been injured and is a 15 MPG backup, while Franz Wagner, despite showing great 3 point shooting touch, has only appeared in a little over half of the team's games and under 9 minutes per appearance.
Said one of the league-appointed administrators: "Dwayne felt like he had to do his best to win to appease the fans who were unhappy about the heyday of Marcus Smart, Nikola Mirotic, and Joel Ingles being gone without a title, so he went with the most experienced guys possible. It didn't pan out, so the franchise has all but lost a season of development for Wagner. Not that it matters too much - neither player really has the kind of upside to make them more than fifth starters/rotational pieces - but it's still representing a backsliding."
Nor will Portland be free agency players this year. Kyle Guy, Finn Delany, and Jack Salt will be gone after this season, but all three are on rookie contracts and the team will again modestly be over the cap until the following summer, where Teodosic's team option presumably gets declined and renounced if he's still around, which will then give Portland a modest amount of cap space.
Meanwhile Ja Morant has finally turned into a 20 PPG scorer himself after being sign and traded to Orlando.... and the Magic are still 20-46 as they wait for LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuzminga to continue developing. "Future is actually looking pretty good there in Disney Central," said a West scout. "And they'll be in cap players territory once they purge Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, and ideally Julius Randle from the books this summer. What a remarkable turnaround it's been for a franchise that has had years of suffering since the Paul George era."
No such turnaround is apparent for Portland. Too conservative in their draft selections. So unappealing an option that the GM post has remain unfilled since Jestor's resignation. A rookie head coach who so far has looked like proof of the old adage, "Don't promote your best sales rep to manager. You'll lose one of your star salespeople and have a terrible manager to boot."
"Good luck with whoever replaces me," said the administrator. "This is an island of misfit toys that's not in horrific shape, but not in good shape either."
