3 teams the Toronto Raptors outperformed at the trade deadline

1. Portland Trail Blazers

The Trail Blazers are rudderless right now. While they allegedly want to build around Damian Lillard and compete for the postseason, trading away CJ McCollum and Norman Powell and getting back draft picks hints at a rebuild. Portland couldn’t even do that right, as their returns for both of those players were inadequate.

The Powell trade netted them Eric Bledsoe and Keon Johnson, both of whom are currently injured, while the best players they got back in these trades were Josh Hart and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Naturally, the latter was traded to the Jazz for Joe Ingles, who may never play for this team due to an injury.

The Trail Blazers have less direction than the Toronto Raptors.

Portland is not a marquee free-agent destination, so the Blazers need to take cues from the Raptors and outline a vision for the future. They blew a chance at a rebuild by only getting one high draft pick for Powell and McCollum, and they messed up “going for it” by getting paltry returns for their two most tradeable assets.

If the Blazers committed to a full-on rebuild and hoarded as many picks and prized young players as possible, the McCollum and Powell deals would’ve made sense. As it stands, this team is getting pulled in every direction.