NBA Insiders Still Confused on Whether Blazers Want to Rebuild or Win

NBA insiders remain confused about whether the surging Portland Trail Blazers want to rebuild or win now.

The league at large has the same question.

A fresh piece from Tim Bontemps of ESPN appears ambivalent on the club's roster-building efforts. Bontemps praises Portland general manager Joe Cronin for trading to acquire potential future All-Defensive Teamer Toumani Camara (selected by the Phoenix Suns with the No. 52 selection in the 2023 NBA Draft), but also chastises him for offloading a lottery pick (the eventual rights to No. 14 pick Bub Carrington) to the Washington Wizards, in addition to the expiring contract of point guard Malcolm Brogdon.

New ESPN story: With the NCAA Tournament getting underway — and the tank race among several NBA teams for Cooper Flagg already well underway — I ranked each of the league’s current rebuilding teams in terms of their pursuit of championship contention.https://t.co/uuoBjJUe3A
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) March 20, 2025

Bontemps ranks Portland 10th among the 11 teams he defines as "rebuilding" this season, ahead of only the confoundingly inept Chicago Bulls, who keep acquiring guards and offloaded an All-Defensive Teamer in Alex Caruso and two former multi-time All-Star wings in DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine for minimal draft assets.

Part of Bontemps' grievance with Portland is the team's total lack of offseason cap space, although one would imagine the veteran deals of centers Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III, point guard Anfernee Simons, and power forward Jerami Grant could be moved for assets and savings.

The Trail Blazers also boast four tradable first-round draft picks and eight players under 25 years old, as Bontemps points out.

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"Since moving on from Damian Lillard 18 months ago, it has been difficult to discern the overall strategy for Portland, especially after a 21-61 season to kick off the post-Lillard era," Bontemps contends.

The overall strategy after a 21-61 season sure seemed to be tanking. Portland landed the No. 7 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, which it used on 7-foot-2 former University of Connecticut Huskies center Donovan Clingan. Portland brought in several draft picks, the rights to Camara, and former No. 1 overall draft selection Deandre Ayton in its trades to offload first Lillard and then Jrue Holiday.

Bontemps then calls out the club for ditching the Carrington pick and retaining the aforementioned competent veterans like Ayton, Grant, Williams and Simons. Of course, again, it's possible that those players could notch trade interest around the league.

"Portland winning a bunch of games over the past few weeks could be taken as a sign of things moving in the right direction," Bontemps writes. "But by doing so, Portland has moved out of the top 10 spots in the draft lottery, likely preventing this group from adding another high-level player."

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Bontemps also voices his skepticism about whether anyone on the Trail Blazers' young core — Clingan, Camara, point guard Scoot Henderson, and shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe — is a "foundational" piece for the franchise. Bontemps also wonders, long-term, if the team can rocket up the standings of the crowded Western Conference.

Danny Marang of 1080 The Fan Portland clapped back at Bontemps' claims in an X rebuttal.

I don’t expect everyone to see things the same way - but I can’t square away how Tim Bontemps gives the Blazers credit for acquiring Toumani Camara a “promising young forward,” in his own words and then a sentence later calling trading for Deni Avdija - who is younger than Camara… pic.twitter.com/I29LpuH4kR
— Danny Marang (@DannyMarang) March 22, 2025

"I don’t expect everyone to see things the same way - but I can’t square away how Tim Bontemps gives the Blazers credit for acquiring Toumani Camara a 'promising young forward,' in his own words and then a sentence later calling trading for Deni Avdija — who is younger than Camara — a win now move."

Avdija has been in the league three years longer than Camara, but Camara is 260 days his senior.

Marang contends that sacrificing the rights to the younger Carrington in favor of Avdija, who has blossomed on both sides of the ball for a feisty Trail Blazers squad, was a worthwhile gander for Portland during its rebuild.

"They didn’t trade for an in-prime veteran, they traded for a young player at arguably the most valuable position who they thought could be more than he had shown. He’s been that and more," Marang opines.

In 65 games this year for the 32-39 Trail Blazers (winners of four straight games), Avdija is averaging 15.9 points on .474/.366/.779 shooting splits, 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists a night.

More Portland Trail Blazers:

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LaMarcus Aldridge Reveals He Tried to Return to Blazers Multiple Times But Former General Manager Stopped It

Jabari Walker Makes Blazers History, Joining Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum

For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visit Portland Trail Blazers on SI.