Announced by General Manager Neil Olshey, the Portland Trail Blazers have signed guard Phil Pressey and rookie forward Cliff Alexander. Both additions add depth to the Blazer roster in their respectable positions.
The Blazers are stacking onto their young and athletic lineup with the signings of Pressey and Alexander. Both have little to no experience in the NBA, like a majority of Portland’s lineup, but are low risk, high reward acquisitions. This has become a theme with their offseason, seen especially in the trade with Orlando, landing Maurice Harkless for a future second-round pick.
Although the contract details aren’t public yet, neither player shouldn’t dent the excessive cap space Portland has to work with. Also, they’re over the minimum amount of players required to be on the roster, meaning the Blazers can save the extra cap room for next offseason.
Phil Pressey is heading into his third year in the NBA. His career averages are 3.1 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game for the Boston Celtics. He will undoubtedly be coming off the bench for Portland and likely won’t see an increase in minutes from last year. Damian Lillard will be the starting point guard, and Tim Frazier, along with C.J. McCollum, is bound to share the remaining minutes.
Cliff Alexander is an undrafted rookie out of Kansas, where he played just one year. In that solo year, Alexander averaged 7.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per contest. He received interest from 15-20 teams before the start of summer league as reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN, but eventually joined the Brooklyn Nets’ roster.
There, he played eleven games, five of which he started. Through those eleven games, Alexander averaged 7.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 22.7 minutes a night. Despite performing well for Brooklyn, they passed on the opportunity to sign Alexander, and he later fell into the lap of Portland.
Like Pressey, Alexander won’t see much court time. He’s accustomed to playing the power forward role, but the Blazer frontcourt is stacked. Ed Davis and Meyers Leonard are battling for the forward position and Mason Plumlee will assume the center spot. Behind them, Chris Kaman and summer league star Noah Vonleh are set to pick up the extra minutes.
Going into the NBA, however, Alexander is now an undersized power forward. At 6’8”, he’s more suited as a small forward, a position the Blazers are short on. Al-Farouq Aminu is expected to be the starter, but Allen Crabbe seems to be the only replacement for Aminu at the three. Portland will be experimenting with their lineup this season, and Alexander could see some time at reserve small forward if he can make the transition smoothly.