The Blazers need a focused offseason to get back on track in 2021

Can the Portland Trail Blazers get back on track?

In the wake of an up and down injury-plagued 2019-20 regular season, which was interrupted for five months by a global pandemic, then restarted and finished up in the NBA’s pseudo biodome bubble in Orlando, the Portland Trail Blazers now embark on one of the most important offseasons in recent team history.

Blazers general manager Neil Olshey has some potentially franchise-altering decisions to make between now and the beginning of the 2021 regular season.

And let’s be honest, at the moment no one truly knows when the 2021 regular season will actually begin, so this could be a shortened offseason or an extended offseason, only time will tell.

More from Sir Charles In Charge

• Dillon Brooks proved his value to Houston Rockets in the 2023 FIBA World Cup
• NBA Trade Rumors: 1 Player from each team most likely to be traded in-season
• Golden State Warriors: Buy or sell Chris Paul being a day 1 starter
• Does Christian Wood make the Los Angeles Lakers a legit contender?
• NBA Power Rankings: Tiering all 30 projected starting point guards for 2023-24

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has stated that a January start is possible but not set in stone, so this can either be a help or a hindrance to the Blazers as well as the other 29 NBA organizations across the league.

As a team that is strapped for cap space like the Blazers will be heading towards 2021, any moves made during this offseason period will be as crucial as ever in determining the team’s success over the next couple of years. After the run this team had in the bubble with a short-handed roster due to both injury and COVID-19, now is the time for the Blazers to strike and make a couple of big moves to bring in the right pieces to potentially push this team over the top and back into a top three or four team in the West as they were just one year ago.

Two big contributors to the Blazers roster last season and during the bubble run were Carmelo Anthony and Hassan Whiteside. Both guys played great, both guys are over 30 and free agents. As good as they were at times, it is time to move forward and get younger and more athletic.

Melo is an East Coast guy and more than likely will have options to pursue in the East which is more to his liking. Whiteside is 31 and while still a good player if you can get younger here for less against the cap then this will be a good move for the team.

A potential move would be a trade with the Brooklyn Nets who for some reason seem to be hell-bent on moving a good portion of their young emerging talent. Center Jarrett Allen of the Nets would be the target for the Blazers in this trade. Allen is a young athletic rim stopper who has improved in each of his first three seasons in the league. Already a great defender who is still developing and already totes a PER (player efficiency rating) over 20 with the league average being 15. Allen has the potential to be a future all-star and all NBA defensive team representative very soon.

For Portland to acquire Jarrett Allen, it may not take as much as one might think to do so. If the Blazers can figure out their tight cap situation, it is possible the Nets could let go of Allen for a draft pick alone. Portland currently holds the 16th overall pick in the upcoming draft. If draft picks alone aren’t enough then maybe add a young guard to the deal like Anfernee Simmons.

He’s a nice young combo guard who played well in spurts for the Blazers in 2020. But the Blazers aren’t exactly lacking in the backcourt, this team needs more help up front, and the chance to get younger and more athletic in the frontcourt can’t be taken lightly.

This is a trade that could be within reach especially if Simmons is included as both he and Allen are still playing out their rookie contracts.

The last potential move here will not be a favorite among Blazers nation, but sometimes teams have to make tough decisions on fan favorites if it is going to help the team in the long run.

Jusuf Nurkic is coming off a great showing in the bubble in Orlando where he averaged a double-double, posted a PER of 22.6, and averaged a career-high of 31 minutes per game. At 27 years of age and with injury concerns, it seems like it’s now or never with Nurk. It never hurts to test the market and see who and what you can potentially get in return for Nurkic.

There is no doubt he would garner attention from multiple teams looking to improve their frontlines. Again, with the cap situation of the Blazers and the fact that Portland usually seems to be on the lower end of NBA free agent destinations, the front office in Portland will need to get creative as they usually do when it comes to acquiring talent outside of the NBA draft.

Do not worry though, the Blazers won’t be giving Nurkic away for a bag Dorito’s and a Snapple exactly, but the only untouchables currently on this roster should be Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. These two are the core, and now Portland’s front office needs to continue to build and bring in pieces to put around them.

Rodney Hood has a $6 million player option which by NBA standards is very reasonable. Whether he stays or decides to go elsewhere the Blazers should be in a good position there.

No matter which moves the Portland Trail Blazers choose to make, the coming months will be very interesting and extremely important to the Blazers’ overall success going forward into 2021.