2011 NBA Draft Grades: Portland Trail Blazers Reach on Nolan Smith

The Portland Trail Blazers have a rather underrated team. Despite Brandon Roy’s injuries, LaMarcus Aldridge stepped up this season as a leader, and Andre Miller proved he still has something left in the tank.

All the Trail Blazers needed to do was find a solid option or two that could contribute to their already solid team. Instead of grabbing Kenneth Faried or Marshon Brooks, both of whom could have helped, they chose Duke’s Nolan Smith.

Smith is a solid player, but was projected as a second-rounder and will not be more than a sixth man for the Trail Blazers. They used their second round pick on Jon Diebler of Ohio State, a player who can shoot well and that’s about it.

What makes the grade confusing is the draft day trades Portland made. They got Raymond Felton for Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez, which was a great move, as Miller is aging and Fernandez needed to go to another team.

In the end, they had a good draft night, but not a good draft. The grade below includes the trade since it involved draft picks; it would have been a letter lower without it.

Grade: B-

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