#25. Portland Trail Blazers — Carsen Edwards
This might seem like an unusual choice what with the Portland Trail Blazers’ roster makeup being rather guard-dominant – especially in the upper echelon of the team’s talent – but bear with me.
While Evan Turner proved to be critical in the team’s thrilling fourth quarter against the up-and-coming Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals (scoring more points in the 4th than he had in the entirety of the series up to that point), his anchoring contract and less-than-ideal play style for the modern game means that the team will need a solid scoring punch off the bench – especially if Seth Curry is not retained.
Carsen Edwards of Purdue would surely fit that bill. An absolutely brilliant scorer, Edwards produced one of the most stunning performances of the NCAA Tournament as his Boilermakers almost knocked off the eventual champion Virginia Cavaliers:
Edwards is a tremendous shooter off of screens and dribble hand-offs, which is something that the Blazers run a lot of with their bevy of big men (Zach Collins, Jusuf Nurkic, maybe Enes Kanter). He is also a terrific cutter and opportunistic cutter, though he is better with the ball in his hands.
Though he’s small (six foot even), Edwards’ penchant for making difficult shots is his core skill, and he is also a sneakily impressive athlete who can wend his way through traffic for tough finished around the rim.