{"id":22220,"date":"2019-06-19T10:08:48","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T14:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=22220"},"modified":"2019-06-19T10:08:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T14:08:48","slug":"free-agents-the-portland-trail-blazers-should-target-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2019\/06\/19\/free-agents-the-portland-trail-blazers-should-target-this-offseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Agents the Portland Trail Blazers Should Target This Offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/portland-trail-blazers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> suffered another disappointing playoff finish. But this year, they reached the Western Conference Finals where the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/golden-state-warriors\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Golden State Warriors<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/05\/23\/western-conference-finals-recap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">swept them<\/a>. The Warriors were too much for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a><\/strong> and the Trail Blazers. It was a better season for Portland than the previous years. They just needed some additional key pieces to finally advance to the NBA Finals. The Portland Trail Blazers should be careful and target the right free agents that fit in with their system.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>The Top Free Agents the Portland Trail Blazers Should Target<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2><strong>The Portland Trail Blazers need Patrick Beverley&#8217;s Top-notch Defense<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Portland Trail Blazers need a backup point guard and having a defensive specialist like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beverpa01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Patrick Beverley<\/a><\/strong> would be a great addition. Beverley has a big heart and he is a competitor. He showed it in the playoffs. He would not back down even against the top players in the league. The Blazers need a player that can hold off opponents&#8217; superstars while Damian Lillard and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccolcj01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CJ McCollum<\/a><\/strong> are taking a breather.<\/p>\n<p>Beverley can also knock down three-pointers while playing top-notch defense on the other end of the floor. Also,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willilo02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lou Williams<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a><\/strong>, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/shamela01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Landry Shamet<\/a><\/strong> are likely to be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/los-angeles-clippers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> guard for the future. So, Patrick Beverley might not be included in their plans for the future.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Derrick Rose Can be an Offensive Spark Off the Bench<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rosede01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick Rose<\/a><\/strong> is back. Yes, he came off a very spectacular season. He even had a 50 point game last season. He averaged 18 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists with a player efficiency rating of 19.52. He improved his game in many ways including the three-point shot. He proved that he still has a lot left in the tank.<\/p>\n<p>The Trail Blazers need a solid backup point guard that can provide the scoring when Damian Lillard is on the bench. He can be a huge offensive spark off the bench.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Portland Trail Blazers Take a Chance on Carmelo Anthony<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The disrespect of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anthoca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carmelo Anthony<\/a><\/strong> is too much. He&#8217;s one of the best scorers we&#8217;ve ever seen. The Portland Trail Blazers need an upgrade at the small forward position and Carmelo Anthony would be a great fit. If he embraces a lesser role, he can be an effective scorer off the bench.<\/p>\n<p>He can make the Trail Blazers better offensively. He&#8217;s a bucket getter. If they let the offense flow through him when Lillard and McCollum are taking a rest, it can be effective. Anthony can bring a big offensive impact to the Blazers. He is a better option on the offensive end than\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harklma01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maurice Harkless<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"rID6xZjgTVxBZrHYKqNFtA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/654325676\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'rID6xZjgTVxBZrHYKqNFtA',sig:'scfOKsM8YqSVw9MFuRx9xMkpDMcdXd01QV_WUYXDT78=',w:'594px',h:'588px',items:'654325676',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Portland Trail Blazers suffered another disappointing playoff finish. But this year, they reached the Western Conference Finals where the Golden State Warriors swept them. The Warriors were too much for Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers. It was a better season for Portland than the previous years. They just needed some additional key pieces [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3110,"featured_media":22243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,23],"tags":[1970,67,95,297,494,184],"class_list":["post-22220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-trailblazers","tag-2019-nba-free-agency","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-derrick-rose","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-patrick-beverley","tag-portland-trail-blazers"],"modified_by":"Tyler Marling","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}