Portland Trail Blazers

Trade Grades: Draft-Day Deal 2017

6/27/2017

Click here for link to Sacramento Kings' Trade Grades

Blazers get: No. 10 pick (Zach Collins)
Kings get: No. 15 (Justin Jackson) and No. 20 (Harry Giles) picks

This trade in general is just a head-scratcher. I get that Portland came into the night with three first-rounders -- 15, 20, and 26 -- and had a desire to move up to capture one of those precious few elite prospects. But there was hardly enough bang for their buck here: moving up five spots at the end of the lottery is absolutely not worth an additional mid-late first-rounder, which often also produce very talented youngsters.

Look: is Zach Collins talented? Of course. In fact, the Gonzaga freshman has a very unique skillset: he can score both down low as well as off his nice jumper, is a decent playmaker, a fantastic rebounder, and is undoubtedly the best defensive big man in this draft. I totally get how the combination of his athleticism, motor, and overall impressive skillset can be very attractive to any team.

But Collins wasn't worth two first-rounders that turned into two quality players in the all-around, low-risk, day-one contributor Justin Jackson and the sky-high upside that Harry Giles presents -- potential that is unheard of for anyone drafted in the twenties. At the very least, this trade should have been 15 and 26 for 10, and Portland could walk away with both Collins and Giles. But if you're packaging two quality prospects, you better make damn sure that you're getting a future star in return. With Collins -- although very well the best big man in this entire class -- there's no such guarantee, and he probably won't be seeing major minutes for a team that looks to be competing for a high playoff seed right away.

Grade: C+

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Trade Grades: Plumlee/Nurkic

2/25/2017

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Click here for link to: Trade Grades Nuggets

Nuggets get: C Mason Plumlee, 2018 second-rounder
Blazers get: C Jusuf Nurkic, 2017 top-five protected first rounder (from Memphis, via Denver)

Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey, in this deal, excellently took advantage of Denver's need to expel these assets as well as their apparent fascination with Plumlee. The Nuggets had little need for the first-rounder, as filling their roster with more young and raw prospects -- in addition to the ones that they have coming in from overseas next year -- made little sense; as well, the team had reasons for ridding themselves of Nurkic, who didn't fit well next to the apparently more-important PF Nikola Jokic.

But just because Denver didn't need them, that's not to say that the first-rounder, which will almost certainly go to Portland this year, and Nurkic were not valuable assets. Rather, this year's draft class is one of the best in recent memory, and first-rounders are always (deservedly so) essentially the gold-standard -- in a currency-like fashion -- of the trade market. Nurkic is only 22 years old, and has performed decently in a limited role: 8.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, and 0.7 steals on 51.4 % shooting in just 18 minutes per game. The fact that he's still on his rookie contract for the next couple of years makes him especially valuable to the franchise that has him in these times where everyone's getting a big payday in free agency. As the likely starting center in Portland, it's even possible that Nurkic can provide the long-term stability that the team hasn't had at that position for a very long time.

Now, it's true that the Blazers lost Plumlee in this trade, a do-it-all big who is having a very outstanding and somewhat underrated season. However, Plumlee will be a free agent this offseason, and considering the expense needed to keep a restricted free agent around in this current salary cap climate, Portland did very well to deal him away now for maximum value... and then some.

Grade: A

portland Trail Blazers

Trade Grades: Draft-Day Deal 2017

Trade Grades: Plumlee/Nurkic

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