2018 NBA Mock Draft: What if Memphis wins the lottery?

If you could combine two of your most productive players into one younger guy with far more years of cheap team control left, would you? Of course. Drafting Hutchison wouldn’t rid Portland of Evan Turner and Maurice Harkless, but it would combine many of the traits each has that makes them valuable to the Trail Blazers and spit out a player with higher upside.

Harkless shot 42 percent from distance this season, but isn’t enough of an off-the-dribble to demand defensive attention. Turner was the opposite as a shooter, making just 32 percent of his 3s, but served as the Blazers’ secondary playmaker and defended wing scorers to alleviate pressure on the team’s star guards. Hutchison, who shot 35 percent from distance at Boise State and projects as a potential four-position defender in the NBA, brings the best of both worlds.

Any wing talent is vital for Portland, who plays two small guards together to start and end each game. Surrounding CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard with solid wings allows them to be hidden on defense and operate in space in the halfcourt. The team needs to reinvent itself somewhat this summer — how would a Lillard-McCollum-Hutchison-Al-Farouq Aminu-Zach Collins crunch time lineup look? That’s much more versatile and dangerous than anything Portland was capable of with Turner and Jusuf Nurkic on the court in the playoffs.

Hutchison would be great for the Blazers.