With Labor Day now past, it’s time to acknowledge that fall, September, and the ramp-up to the 2026-27 season are now upon us. It won’t be long until Media Day, training camp, and preseason games start. Acknowledging that, we’re going to update a Blazer’s Edge Mailbag question submitted back in July. Check it out.
Dave,
How have the Blazers done so far big picture? I generally agree with each move they have made but I also question how it all adds up in the long term. I feel weird feeling optimism
with each trade but pessimism when they’re all added up. How about you? Can you solve this conflicted feeling?
Jon
I can’t entirely, because I feel it too.
Here is the complete list of transactions the Blazers made this summer:
June 29th—Traded Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis for Ja Morant
July 1st—Signed Branden Carlson
July 10th—Signed Micah Potter
August 2nd—Signed Jeremy Sochan
Look, am I going to scream about these moves? I am not. There was one big splash, trading Grant for Morant. Then they made three smart, value-oriented moves with some potential for upside and little real downside. That’s been their M.O. for the last 14 years, really. They play the smart game, not the big one.
I think the Blazers do have to avoid the “Baby on Board” syndrome, though. Remember those yellow sticker-signs people used to hang in their car windows? I still see them every once in a while. They caught your attention. They announced to the world that you had reproduced and now had a child somewhere in that vehicle. The signs were obvious and easy to understand.
What good did they do, though? That’s what I always wondered. How many times have you been cruising along the city streets saying, “You know what? I’m gonna ram my car into this m$#&% f%$$&! Oh no, wait. Look at the sign! They have a baby on board. I probably shouldn’t.” The answer is approximately, “Never.” The sign is the ultimate example of, “Looks like you did something, obvious what you’re trying to do, actually does nothing.”
With a few exceptions (drafting CJ McCollum, trading for Deni Avdija, snagging Toumani Camara among them), the Blazers have been a Baby on Board team since the 2012 NBA Draft when they changed their fortunes forever by selecting Damian Lillard with the sixth overall pick. That was the last foundation-rocking moment they experienced until this past season when Avdija ascended to NBA All-Star status.
The problem is, even with their recent growth, Portland is still at the bottom of the Western Conference playoffs bracket, not the top. The conference is loosening up in the middle ranges. The Blazers could ascend amid the chaos. They did the same in 2019. But that wouldn’t make them contenders. It would just make them the next team on the on-ramp to a road that doesn’t lead to a title.
None of the moves the Blazers made this summer qualify as more than “Baby on Board” quality, at least not to my vision. I think the team will be interesting. It’ll certainly be different! But will they be excellent? They’re going to have to prove that—repeatedly and sustainably—before anybody can believe that.
I should also affirm that Portland isn’t done necessarily. Personally, I’m eyeing Jrue Holiday and thinking that he’s a likely candidate to get dealt before February. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him traded before the season starts, even. One could say the same of Scoot Henderson if Jrue stays. But the key question there isn’t who the Blazers are sending out, but who they’re getting back in.
Either way, I’d say the Blazers did fine during the Summer of 2026, but that I’m not optimistic that their moves will lead to greater success in 2027 and beyond.
What’s your assessment? When all is said and done, how did Portland do this off-season? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. And if you want to submit your own Mailbag question, you can send it to blazersub@gmail.com! We’ll try to answer as many as possible.
