Blazers Finish Roster With Stage 2 Free Agent Signings

[Jestor]

Portland Hoping For Good Luck in Bench Play with Goodluck, KBD

Goodluck Okonoboh will back up Laurynas Birutis

Although the Portland Trailblazers failed to land Dikembe Dixson from the Milwaukee Bucks and reunite GM Jestor with one of his favorite draftees, the team still came away with significant bench upgrades over last season when they signed former UNLV star big man Goodluck Okonoboh and Keita Bates-Diop to round out their roster.

Okonoboh, 30, ensures that Jack Salt and Adam Woodbury will chill on the bench in street clothes, bringing in solid defense and rebounding ability while not taking shots away from other players. Signed to a two year cap room exception at $2.8 million a year, the veteran who has spent his entire career with the Cleveland Cavaliers might not be long for the roster, as players of his skillset are always in demand. But for now, a Jestor team finally has a UNLV alum among its ranks once again.


Now appearing: Keita Bates-Diop

28 year old Keita Bates-Diop is the definition of a serviceable minimum salary bench player. Fresh off signing a two-year deal at that price point, he'll back up Jaylen Hoard at the SF slot and provide a modicum of 3&D ability. Although he's never gotten a full season of games at the CSL level, in part-time duty with the Charlotte Hornets, and Houston Rockets, he's shown capable defensive work and some quality shooting ability.

Said one CSL analyst, "Neither of these guys are world-beaters, but Portland desperately needed a bench upgrade at center given the ceilings of Salt and Woodbury, and now they can be flexible with how they use Jordan Hill, rather than force him to play 32 minutes a game. You can also make the argument that Jalen Jones is a better player than KBD, but Jones struggled in Portland's offense, and there's reason to believe KBD will be a much better fit there despite the handling loss and slightly worse defense."

So heading into preseason, the rotation look as follows:

PG Hamidou Diallo
SG Tyrese Haliburton
SF Jaylen Hoard
PF Franz Wagner
CE Laurynas Birutis
6th Milos Teodosic (32 MPG SG)
7th Jordan Hill (PF/CE)
8th Goodluck Okonoboh (CE)
9th Keita Bates-Diop (SF)
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10th Cameron Oliver (PG/SG/SF)
11th Finn Delany (SF/PF/CE)
12th Kyle Guy (SG)
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Inactive - Jack Salt
Inactive - Adam Woodbury

"It'll be interesting seeing how this unit works together," said a league scout. "They've got three scorers in Diallo, Birutis, and Teodosic, shooting everywhere, and defensive upside to grow into with regards to Haliburton and Wagner. The bench is so much better than last year's it's not funny - Oliver, Delany, and Guy were all 15-16 minute guys and now they're on mopup duty, Salt and Woodbury are finally banished from Memeland to not dressing.

I wouldn't expect a huge uptick in wins - they're starting two rookies and Haliburton in particular needs to develop his defense, but this is a really solid foundation. You can complain about the lack of a superstar after they passed on Jakeem Gant and ZDK in the drafts, but they've got two more classes to find the franchise guy - I'm guessing they don't make the playoffs in 2030, so it's the 2031 pick that will convey to the Bucks."

[Ramcus]

I see the plan is to funnel Diallo as many touches as possible. I wonder how that's going to work in the new engine, considering he's really not much of a point guard. I'd actually like Haliburton at point guard, he'll be a steady hand ala Jaylen Adams in Sacramento. Won't be much of a scoring threat, but he'll definitely hold his own. Otherwise I'm really interested to see where your team places this season. You're significantly better than last season, as you addressed your awful bench issues and also upgraded in the starting lineup. But the rest of the West also had a massive upgrade. Besides OKC Utah and LAC, every team got better or stayed the same.

[Jestor]

I'm trying it out to see how it goes. The reason I'm experimenting with Diallo at PG is because of his handles. Haliburton will play 32 MPG at PG/SG, which is how Teodosic will get to a full 32 MPG SG 6th man role.

Agreed the West is going to be a challenge - last year, even a winning record wasn't enough to get into the playoffs and like you said, a lot of teams upgraded. I'm guessing we'll be around 25 wins due to two rookies

[bt]

I agree on Diallo as his handling/pass ratio reminds me of Elfrid Payton (much higher handle) and it worked well enough. Still, PG play could be an issue against pressing teams with good theives.

Don't mind Haliburton at all but screams combo guard but should be a good one at that.

[Flaming Homer]

Never really paid much attention to Diallo but looking at this handle he may indeed the better option at point. Will be an interesting experiment.
And I also think Haliburton will be just fine in his CSL career!