Portland Trail Blazers Rising Stars Challenge Participants

The Shape Of Ben Simmons's Contribution Doesn't Have To Make Conventional Sense

Maybe it's okay that Ben Simmons isn't going to be a devastating all-around scorer, because he brings to the floor an abundance of other qualities that help you win basketball games.

Minnesota's New Degree Of Purpose

by Colin McGowan

The timing is odd but Gersson Rosas probably actually wanted Chris Finch instead of Ryan Saunders all along and now they half a weird season left to start figuring out what's next.

Blake Griffin's Quest To Rediscover His Game

by Rafael Canton

Blake Griffin has looked like a shell of himself, failing to prop up a young and inexperienced Pistons team. But there might be a late career role player in there if he can find the right situation.

The NBA Will Always Be A Commodities' League

by Colin McGowan

As things are currently set up, franchises have immense control over what players are allowed to do- where they can work, how they work, what they can say, even what they do in their limited spare time. For every James Harden in the league, there's many more Andre Drummonds.

Season	Player	Team	Pos	Height	Weight	Age	Pre-NBA Draft Team	MVP
2013-2014	Damian Lillard	Portland Trail Blazers	G	6-3	195	23	Weber State	-
2012-2013	Damian Lillard	Portland Trail Blazers	G	6-3	195	22	Weber State	-
2010-2011	Wesley Matthews	Portland Trail Blazers	G	6-5	220	24	Marquette	-
2008-2009	Rudy Fernandez	Portland Trail Blazers	SG	6-6	185	23	Club Joventut Badalona (Spain)	-
2008-2009	Greg Oden	Portland Trail Blazers	C	7-0	273	21	Ohio State	-
2007-2008	LaMarcus Aldridge	Portland Trail Blazers	FC	6-11	265	22	Texas	-
2007-2008	Brandon Roy	Portland Trail Blazers	G	6-6	211	23	Washington	-
2006-2007	Brandon Roy	Portland Trail Blazers	G	6-6	211	22	Washington	-
1997-1998	Kelvin Cato	Portland Trail Blazers	C	6-11	255	23	Iowa State	-
1997-1998	Alvin Williams	Portland Trail Blazers	G	6-5	185	23	Villanova	-
1995-1996	Arvydas Sabonis	Portland Trail Blazers	C	7-3	279	31	Zalgiris (Lithuania)	-

Season

Player

Team

Pos

Height

Weight

Age

Pre-NBA Draft Team

MVP

2013-2014

Damian Lillard

Portland Trail Blazers