NBA Rumors: Raptors' OG Anunoby possible trade target for the Portland Trail Blazers
With the importance of the upcoming offseason for the Portland Trail Blazers' championship aspirations, Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby has garnered some interest from the organization.
According to NBA insider Michael Scotto, Toronto's Pascal Siakam and Anunoby are interesting roster pieces for the Trail Blazers looking to build around Damian Lillard.
For Trail Blazers' writer Sean Highkin, however, he provided an update regarding Anunoby.
"A name I’ve seen thrown out there as a Portland possible target is Anunoby," Highkin said. "They like him, and they had pretty serious talks with Toronto around draft time about him, but they decided not to give up the seventh pick last year for Anunoby. I don’t see a world where a year later, they give up a third pick for him."
OG Anunoby finished the regular season for the Toronto Raptors averaging 16.8 points (47.6% shooting, including 38.7% from 3-point range) and 5.0 rebounds.
Anunoby can add that much-needed defensive presence for the Trail Blazers since the departure of Josh Hart from the roster. His perimeter shooting has also improved each season.
Is Anunoby the missing piece the Trail Blazers are sorely missing? He's not the main piece, but he could improve the roster with his versatile skillset. The Portland Trail Blazers will have to decide what trade packages they need to acquire quality players like Anunoby.
If the organization is serious about building a team around Damian Lillard that can compete for championships, it should be willing to explore all options.
Damian Lillard finished the regular season averaging 32.2 ppg (46.3% shooting, including 37.1% from 3-point range) and 7.8 apg.
The Portland Trail Blazers (33-49) finished 13th in the Western Conference as they wasted another excellent season from Lillard. The team finished 18th on offense with a 114.0 rating and had the 28th-ranked defense at a 118.0 rating.
Damian Lillard defends Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups after subpar regular season
Damian Lillard defended first-year Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups after Billups was crticized for a disappointing season.
“A lot of things go into a team struggling, and I’ve never been a fan of blaming the coach,” Lillard said. “I think there are a lot of things on the court, and that you can see in film, that us as players have to be better about. The last two years, we’ve been really young, and I think it’s hard for a first-time coach to have a young team."
The Portland Trail Blazers started the regular season with a 9-3 record before collapsing in the Western Conference.