The ninth iteration of the Trail Blazers roster under top executive Neil Olshey is perhaps his finest.
With two trades, five free-agent signings and one draft pick, Olshey last week made the Blazers deeper, more versatile and — theoretically at least — better defensively.
There are position battles to be won, and rotation philosophies to be formed, but at first blush, it appears the Blazers could start a lineup of Damian Lillard at point guard, CJ McCollum at shooting guard, Derrick Jones Jr. at small forward, Robert Covington at power forward and Jusuf Nurkic at center.
A second unit could feature Anfernee Simons, Gary Trent Jr., Rodney Hood, Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter. And when Zach Collins recovers from September surgery on his left ankle, he will add depth to power forward and center, as will newcomer Harry Giles.
“We were happy with the offseason,” Olshey said. “We accomplished (many of) our goals: We wanted to…
