Trail Blazers re-sign Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle with plans to win without Damian Lillard: ‘We feel like our talent base is high’

The Portland Trail Blazers are about to enter the post-Damian Lillard era — barring a miracle — but that doesn’t mean general manager Joe Cronin and coach Chauncey Billups have given up on winning sooner rather than later.

Although the Blazers bypassed trading for veteran talent — causing Lillard to seek a trade — Cronin said the franchise is pushing forward in hopes of making a playoff thrust in 2023-24 after two seasons that ended with intentional losing to secure high draft picks.

In order for that to happen, the Blazers must add veteran talent in some form because it’s not likely that an even younger roster than last year’s will rise to playoff caliber in the Western Conference.

To that end, the Blazers certainly didn’t want to lose existing important veteran players in addition to Lillard.

On Monday, Cronin and Billups appeared in a small meeting room inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas to re-introduce Jerami Grant and Matisse Thybulle. The Blazers re-signed them for a combined $193 million in the hopes that they will continue providing a veteran presence on a team that will lean heavily on guard Shaedon Sharpe, 20, and Scoot Henderson, 19.

“Our goal is to win to keep moving forward,” Cronin said. “We feel like our talent base is high. We’ve got these two guys — Jerami and Matisse — we’ve got some really good young guards. We’ve got some other players that are here with us and other guys that we’ll add.”

It would seem logical that after losing Lillard the Blazers should continue to go young and let Grant, 29, and Thybulle, 26, move on, then return to the lottery to add another young potential star.

But that’s not the plan.

“Everything that I believe in as a coach, even as someone who played the game, is what they embody,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “They’re very unselfish. They take coaching. They both can be good on the offensive side or the defensive side of the ball. And I just believe that every good team needs guys like them.”

Grant’s return, on a five-year, $160 million deal, keeps the power forward spot locked up next to center Jusuf Nurkic, whose future with the team is in doubt.

Thybulle gives the team a veteran guard off the bench behind Sharpe, the likely starter at shooting guard. Henderson, as talented as he is, will likely play behind Anfernee Simons at point guard, leaving Billups the challenge of finding ample playing time for all four guards.

The only clear hole in the lineup is small forward, which could be filled via trade — maybe in the eventual Lillard trade — or through using the team’s mid-level exception worth $12.2 million.

Still, that’s a shaky lineup given the youth in the backcourt and the overall lack of veteran depth, which Cronin and Billups said hurt the team last season.

But at least retaining Grant and Thybulle is a start.

Grant, who said he was excited to return, stated at the end of last season that he sought to play for a winner. Lillard had a big influence on the Blazers trading for his good friend last year, and the pair played well together.

But despite Lillard choosing to move on, Grant elected to return. Granted, the Blazers could offer him the most years and money, but Grant insisted that he believes the Blazers have a bright future.

“He’s grown and he’s going to make his own decisions,” Grant said of Lillard. “But at the same time, I believe Joe is moving in the right direction and he’s going to figure out what we can do to still be a winning team.”

While Grant, who was an unrestricted free agent, had a choice, Thybulle, who was a restricted free agent, didn’t have much say.

“I got out of the shower and found out I was going back to Portland,” Thybulle said.

Dallas extended Thybulle, acquired from Philadelphia at the trade deadline last season, an offer sheet for a three-year deal worth $33 million that the Blazers matched. Thybulle reportedly hoped to land with the Mavericks but now is playing with the Blazers, who will be without Lillard. Both players share the same agent, Aaron Goodwin.

“My agent made it very clear that those are two very different things,” Thybulle said. “Matisse in Portland, Dame in Portland, those are two completely different things … I’m here, I’m happy to be here and I’m going to do my job regardless.”

Thybulle certainly has reason to want to remain in Portland. After languishing on Philadelphia’s bench to start last season, Thybulle started all 22 games he played with the Blazers and had the best three-point shooting stretch (38.8%) of his five-year career.

“I got here and I immediately stepped into a bigger role than what I had,” he said. “It felt really good and it was an opportunity for me to showcase a little bit more.”

Thybulle said he expects his role to continue to grow with the Blazers.

“I think that’s going to be a natural process that takes place,” he said. “So, it’s not a thing that I’m looking to create or that has to happen. I just think we’re a team, we’re a unit and as we grow together, and grow as individuals, that’s just something that happens.”

Clearly, the Blazers’ brass appear happy that Grant and Thybulle will ride along on the post-Lillard ride.

“Two critically important players to our team and two terrific guys that are not just great leaders in our locker room, great in our community as well,” Cronin said.

The reality, however, is that NBA teams rarely if ever lose their best player and improve the following season.

So, while Billups said that Grant and Thybulle have long been players the team coveted, bringing them back is merely maintaining the status quo, not improving the roster. But the hope is that their presence could help accelerate the development of players such as Sharpe and Henderson.

“We value these young guys and they fit into what we want to do,” Billups said. “So, to be able to have them back, it obviously gives me a lot of confidence and makes me very happy because we do have some pretty good young players that, I can’t be the only one raising them. Our vets have to raise them too.”

— Aaron Fentress reported from Las Vegas, Nevada.

— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts