Apparently he's a strong on-ball defender. I know nothing about Wesley so I'm not gonna pretend like this is a good move, but he if he plays anything like he did in these clips then I can see why the Blazers wanted him. Fits exactly the archetype of players they are collecting. Also not gonna poo-poo them using their last roster spot when it feels like they haven't committed to using 15 rosters spots for years. And using it to take a chance on a young former first rounder is totally OK in my book.
is this a standard contract? or a 2-way? by the way, for his career, over 156 games in 3 seasons, he's shot under 41% on FG's and under 30% on three's. He really doesn't shoot many three's so Sham's quote about him shooting 37% in half a season is about 90% bullshit. Last season he attempted 58 three's in 58 games pretty easy to see why the Spurs dumped him. Not so easy to see why Portland signed him
Except for the last 5 seasons in a row.... I can't even remember the last time that Blazers did not carry 15 players.
https://www.rosegardenreport.com/trail-blazers-agree-to-free-agent-deal-with-blake-wesley/ Highkin confirms it's guaranteed.
I think this means Grant will not be traded, and if we go to a 10-man rotation, Kris Murray will be in it.
well, are you sure? in 2022-23 he was 14th on the Spurs in defensive rating and 15th in DBPM in 2023-24 he was 13th on the Spurs in defensive rating and 6th in DBPM last season he was 8th on the Spurs in defensive rating and 7th in DBPM in all 3 seasons in San Antonio, he had a worse defensive rating than his team. And he has a negative career DBPM. In fact, after all the shit Dame has got over the years for his defense, his career DBPM is -0.9; Wesley's is -0.6. And Dame posted that number against starters while Wesley went against backups and scrubs. Those aren't good indicators for his defensive chops. Camara-Jrue-Avdija-Thybulle-Rupert. Blazers do have some good perimeter defenders. Where Portland is weak is in shooting. Last season, the Blazers were 26th in FG%; 24th in 2ptFG%; 26th in 3ptFG%; 26th in FT%; 25th in eFG%; 23rd in TS%. sure seems that the Blazers could have found a player at Wesley's level on defense with some actual shooting skills. No big deal, obviously, he's the 15th player in the rotation and will rarely see the floor...probably
He's a 3rd year player that showed some 3&D flashes at the end of the season, would you like it if it was put like that? On a one year deal it's literally a nothingburger.
I like what I see. He'll fit in very well. Has a chance to develop into an actual player down the line.