MAILBAG: Are the Trail Blazers Done Making Moves?
Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons status updates, plus questions about Dalano Banton, Jacky Cui and other upcoming roster decisions.
We kicked off the latest round of offseason mailbag questions on Monday and will continue today and then next week.
Sean Highkin
Today’s installment focuses on roster questions—not just relating to recent trade rumors involving Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons, but on decisions the Trail Blazers will have to make further down the roster including Dalano Banton and Summer League superstar Jacky Cui.
Here we go:
Sean,
Thanks for continuing to bring great stuff through the off-season!
Q: Do you feel like the roster is set for training camp, or do you expect that Portland will try and make one more move before things get underway? Feels like we are a center heavy right now...
- Mike
Has there been any trade chatter regarding the vets in recent weeks? Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle, Anfernee Simons or Deandre Ayton?
- Zac
On the trade front, I haven’t heard anything new since Summer League. This is the time of year when most teams’ front-office executives go on vacation. After the Olympics, talks could start picking back up again but I don’t think the Blazers are close on anything right now. As far as I can tell, the Grant/Lakers stuff is just recirculating this week because people are bored in the summer and aggregator accounts have engagement quotas to hit, not because anything new is actually happening there.
Sean Highkin
Right now, I would expect the roster as it stands to be the roster going into training camp, plus a couple more camp invites. The only move they really had to make this offseason was trading Malcolm Brogdon, and they did that. If they get a good enough offer for Grant, Simons or Thybulle between now and training camp, they’ll do it. But their stance hasn’t changed since the beginning of the summer: they’re not desperate to move anybody right now if no one meets their asking price.
They’ll have to move some of these guys eventually, but Brogdon is the only one they wouldn’t have been able to take to the deadline, or even next summer.
If Ant doesn't get moved before the end of the offseason, how does the guard/wing rotation work? The abundance of guard/wing players seems like an issue for development of Scoot, Shae, Avdija, Banton and Toumani.
- Bailey
Let me add on to Bailey’s question: Currently got just two PGs on a full roster. If no trades happen by October, do you think Joe will target the third open two-way spot on a PG?
- Nate
Assuming Simons is still on the roster, I would expect the three backcourt/wing starters to be him, Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija, with Scoot Henderson coming off the bench. That’s not the long-term solution, which is why they’ll have to make a move at some point, but if everyone is still there, that’s the most logical combination.
I don’t think the “logjam” there is as pressing as the one at the center position that we covered in the first part of the mailbag. Toumani Camara slots in cleanly backing up Avdija at the three and will also play some four backing up Jerami Grant along with Jabari Walker. Kris Murray can back up both forward positions where needed. Rayan Rupert will probably play a lot with the Remix this year regardless.
That third open two-way spot probably won’t be filled until training camp. If one of the guards gets hurt in camp, maybe they’ll add another one. They still have a few camp roster spots to fill, with Jacky Cui (who we’ll get to below) and Devonte’ Graham already in the mix there. They’ll see who looks good in camp and then make a decision based on need.
It’s also worth noting that two-way contracts are completely non-guaranteed and can be cut and replaced at any time. Just because someone is on a two-way contract right now doesn’t mean they will be in a week, let alone two months. I wouldn’t expect that to happen to Justin Minaya or Bryce McGowens—they like both of them—but someone being signed to a two-way in July, August or September doesn’t mean much.
Beyond his flexible contract, how do you think the team views Dalano Banton? Did his strong 2H performance have anything to do with their willingness to trade away their second rounders?
- Sam
Trading away second-rounders had more to do with a) not being in love with anybody on the board, and b) none of the players they did like being willing to sign a two-way contract rather than a standard NBA deal, which is something teams often backchannel with a player’s agent ahead of time when it comes to the second round. The opportunity to trade their second-rounders this year for future second-rounders and recoup the ones they had given up in the Brogdon-Avdija trade ended up being more appealing.
They do like Banton, though. I don’t think they fully knew what they were getting when they took a flier on him at the deadline, but he proved he’s a more than capable bench guard at the NBA level. He was never going to get a real opportunity as an end-of-bench guy on a title contender in Boston, so it was a win-win situation for him to show what he can do. Even if he doesn’t stick in Portland long-term, I think he’ll stick in the league somewhere.
This week’s news that the Blazers are signing Devonte’ Graham, another guard, to a training-camp deal makes Banton’s future interesting. As the only player already on the roster without a fully guaranteed contract (Banton is only guaranteed $217,533 out of his $2.2 million salary if he’s waived before the start of the season), he’s the most vulnerable to being cut if Graham or someone else outplays him in camp. But as the incumbent, he’ll have a good shot at keeping the spot.
Can you please tell me that Jacky Cui is getting that third two-way spot? He looked unstoppable for 3 minutes and then disappeared. I can only imagine he didn’t play more because they were hiding him from other teams. 🙏
- Josh
No need to hide him from other teams because he’s already agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Blazers. That means Cui will be in camp this fall and if he’s waived, the Remix will then have his G League rights.
I’m very interested in digging into Cui’s background and learning more about him. All I know about him right now is that he played in the NBA Global Academy program in Australia alongside Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels before returning to China. I want to do more on him closer to camp.
The fact that the Blazers moved quickly after he went undrafted to offer him a camp deal clearly means they liked him enough to not want to risk another team getting him first. That would point to him having at least a decent shot at getting the last open two-way contract. But as I said above, I don’t think that decision will be made until they see how everyone looks in training camp and what their needs are.
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