The pioneers’ various actions in this year’s trading limit are not reinforcements, but more like killing in the market, looking forward to the layout of the coming year in advance.
The Blazers launched three trades before the trade deadline, sending Josh Hart in exchange for Cam Reddish, Svi Mykhailiuk, Ryan Arcidiacono and Nick’s 2023 protected first-rounder. The other two transactions were multi-party transactions, which were to send Svi Mykhailiuk acquired in the previous transaction in exchange for Matisse Thybulle; and to send Gary Payton II to get Kevin Knox and five second-round picks. In addition, the Blazers also announced the release of Greg Brown III .
The overall change of the pioneers is as follows:
| In | Out |
| Cam Reddish | Josh Hart |
| Matisse Thybulle | Gary Payton II |
| Kevin Knox | Greg Brown III |
| Ryan Archdeacon |
** The Blazers also received the 2023 Knicks lottery to protect the first round (if not transferred, it will be changed to 4 second-round picks), and 5 second-round picks.
stacked flanks
In addition to Ryan Arcidiacono, Cam Reddish, Matisse Thybulle, and Kevin Knox are all wing players with physical strength and size.For the Trail Blazers, who have long suffered from insufficient flank manpower, the goal of this transaction deadline seems to be quite clear: to supplement enough flank talent pools.Reddish and Knox’s career trajectories are quite similar. Both are highly anticipated potential stocks in the lottery area with excellent physical conditions, but their potential has not been fully converted to the game. Now that the two have come to the Blazers and are expected to compete for the same playing time, it is curious how the Blazers will arrange their roles.
Compared to Reddish and Knox,Thybulle’s defensive prowess has been proven, In the past few years in the playoffs, he can also serve as a star player to watch and defend opponents. He is already a qualified role player. Thybulle’s biggest problem is always on the offensive end. In addition to his lack of ball-handling ability, his poor perimeter ability is the key to his inability to get more playing time, which also caused him to fall out of the rotation lineup at the beginning of the season. For Thybulle, who changed contracts this season, the remaining seasons will be a good opportunity for him to regain his worth. In addition, in the end, the Blazers chose to keep Arcidiacono, which is expected to hope that he can bridge the team’s long-standing problem of substitute possession. Releasing Greg Brown is relatively easy to understand. After two years, he still does not have a skill to stabilize the league. With at least two young players stuck in the same position, it is difficult for him to get playing time.
As the preface, the Blazers have at least improved to a certain extent in the height of the wing: Thybulle has 6-5, Reddish is 6-8, Konx is 6-7, and his physical fitness is also excellent in the league. If all of them can become immediate combat power, at least the pioneers don’t have to worry too much about the depth of the flanks like in the past. Also, as mentioned in the mid-season commentary,The Blazers often suffer from physical disadvantages on the defensive end this season. This deal has increased the overall size. Will it be reflected on the defensive end? Let’s just keep watching.
Pessimistic about season prospects
The most important part of this trading deadline is the trade of Josh Hart, who has started all the games this season and played the top few minutes of the team. The most intuitive reason for Hart being traded is his contract. Next year is an option for both parties. He may choose to jump out of the contract and enter the free market. team performance.
However, at this point in time, I chose to send out Hart, who was the main starter, and there was a certain gap in combat power in exchange.In fact, it is similar to announcing the attitude of the Blazers’ top management towards this season: they have no expectations for this season., Even if the team is still in the play-offs, it is less than 3 games away from the front of the Western Division. However, after replacing two players who can make stable contributions in the rotation, and finding three young players, two of whom performed extremely unstable, it is difficult to say that the team’s combat power has increased.
