Not sure if Portland giving out Gary Trent Jr. in that trade for Norman Powell was wise. Trent is streaky, but when he has it going, he can be really good. 44 points tonight on 17/19 shooting!
Streaky indeed. He followed up his worst game of the season v. CHI (39 minutes. 6 pts on 2-14 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 tov, -21 plus-minus, -5.8 game score) with last night’s insanity v CLE (33 minutes, 44 pts on 17-19 fg, 7 reb, 4 ast, +31 plus-minus, 41.6 game score). His previous high game score of the season had been 22.6, and he only broken 20 twice. And he busts out a 41.6.
I’m still not that high on Trent Jr. overall, cos his passing and rebounding numbers are so desultory (career 2.8 reb and 1.7 ast per 36), but yeah, it’s tough to give up on a productive player that young (he just turned 22) with good size and elite 3 pt gunning potential.
At the same time, Powell is not old (almost 28), and I get the logic behind upgrading to a slightly better overall player who’s more playoff battle-tested and better matches Dame and CJ’s windows. It assumes they think they actually have an outside title shot, which is a stretch, but as long as they’re not dumping Dame and CJ and committing to a full rebuild, I’m not sure I hate the trade for them.