Ben McLemore Reportedly Signs Minimum Deal With Blazers
The Trail Blazers have brought in another former lottery pick for the veteran's minimum.
According to Michael A. Scotto of HoopsHype, Portland has agreed to terms on a one-year contract with veteran shooting guard Ben McLemore.
McLemore, the fifth overall pick of the notoriously underwhelming 2014 draft, spent last season with the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets. He signed with Los Angeles in early April, shortly after being released by Houston.
Across 53 appearances with the Lakers and Rockets, McLemore averaged 7.7 points in 17.1 minutes per game, shooting 34.6 percent from beyond the arc. The vast majority of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc, further confirmation that dreams of McLemore developing into just slightly more than a shooting specialist won't ever come to fruition.
But truly elite shooters will always have a role in the league—even ones, like McLemore, who are squarely below-average defenders. The bigger problem for McLemore is that he's never quite established himself as a consistent shooter, textbook release notwithstanding.
McLemore has shot 40 percent or better on catch-and-shoot triples just once in his eight-year career, per NBA.com/stats. Though he's taken increasingly difficult attempts while transitioning to a more finite offensive role full-time, it's abundantly clear by now that McLemore lags far behind top-tier shooters whose sole value is derived from spacing the floor and jacking threes.
McLemore, basically, was available at the minimum for a reason. Unlike new teammate Cody Zeller, there was never any chance he'd sign for more—a reality in perfect alignment with their optimal statuses as solid rotation player and deep bench option, respectively.
Still, signing any player for the minimum who could theoretically help the Blazers is a satisfactory piece of business from Neil Olshey. McLemore shouldn't factor into the backend of Chauncey Billups' rotation on a game-by-game basis, but is a fine injury replacement, and will no doubt see situational time when Portland needs a three.
McLemore doesn't move the needle for the Blazers, nor represent a winning move by the front office. His signing is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a team like Portland with an offer at the minimum.