PORTLAND — The Portland Trail Blazers kick off their Las Vegas Summer League season on Saturday when they take on the Boston Celtics at 5 p.m.
On Thursday, the Blazers stepped forward into their new direction with Damian Lillard as the team’s leader. But while Lillard’s star power and leadership are the foundation upon which the Blazers will be built moving forward, summer league is an opportunity to see players who the franchise is counting on to improve.
Among the 12 players on the current roster, nine of them are under 25. (Click here for the summer league roster.)
Portland has made significant investments in the players that they’ve brought in as part of this rebuilding process.
Here are five things to watch in the upcoming summer league:
1) Who is Noah Vonleh?
Vonleh and his potential were the crown jewel of the Nicolas Batum trade that was consummated the night before the draft.
At 19, his skills and size are a tantalizing mix at power forward. Vonleh had setbacks last year in Charlotte, including a sports hernia surgery that held him out of his first pro training camp.
Summer league will be a great opportunity for him to get a hang of the bare bones of Portland’s scheme on both ends. He says that he can create action for others and that he is going to show his versatility. Summer league will be the first time Portland gets a shot to see what that’s all about.
2) The growth of Allen Crabbe.
It’s easy to forget that two off seasons ago, the Blazers traded two future second round picks to Cleveland for Crabbe.
Crabbe has patiently waited his turn on the bench, usually on the outside of the rotation looking in. He started 11 games last season for Portland, but this summer he’s clearly going to be one of the team’s first options in Vegas.
He said he’s made sure to focus on knocking down his 3-pointers when the season starts. But in a bigger offensive role, it will be interesting to see how he has improved as a ball-handler and decision maker. He also said he’s been working on his post-up game.
This summer league is Crabbe’s best chance to show what he can do.
3) How’s Tim Frazier’s jumper coming along?
Frazier isn’t in the NBA because he can shoot. He’s here because he knows how to run a team and do a little of everything from that spot.
There is an opening at point guard on the Blazers’ roster and Frazier comes very cheap.
He said he’s been working a little on his outside shooting and has spent time learning with Damian Lillard on and off the court. If he can show a little more consistency in his shooting, it would certainly increase his value.
4) What’s Keith Bogans doing here?
The Blazers have only 12 of their 15 roster spots filled and they’re very young. Bogans, 36, is so eager to be back around the game that he’s in summer league for just the second time of his career, after an 11 year career. He’s openly lobbied to be a player-coach veteran presence role on this Blazers team.
Will he convince the team he’s right for the job after Vegas?
5) Will there be an unknown who earns a training camp invite or earns a spot next summer?
For the first time in years, this seems like a real possibility for the Blazers.
They still have to meet the salary floor, but being three players short of a full roster gives them more options than years past. They aren’t trying to win big immediately and that could allow them to take a flyer on a guy who played well in the summer.
Guys like Matthew Dellavadova or Langston Galloway have earned their way onto NBA rosters because of summer league.
