LAS VEGAS-- The Portland Trail Blazers were in a unique position at NBA Summer League. The Blazers spent the week in Vegas with five contract players on their roster, but they didn't have a high draft pick to showcase or anyone likely to play heavy minutes next season.

It's not necessarily a bad sign that the Blazers summer league team didn't include crucial parts of the rotation. The team doubled down on free agents this summer, re-signing Allen Crabbe and Meyers Leonard while adding Festus Ezeli and Evan Turner.

Even with restricted free agent Moe Harkless' situation still in limbo, the Blazers have a nine-man rotation that is very unlikely to include anyone from the summer league roster.

Noah Vonleh, Pat Connaughton, Luis Montero, Shabazz Napier and rookie Jake Layman will be hard pressed to find regular playing time. So for that group, this week was about developing and learning the Blazers system.

"Especially for these players, who may or may not be rotation players during the regular season, you still (want to) play fundamental basketball," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said, following Portland's 80-75 win over Boston in its summer league finale Friday night at Cox Pavilion. "You still play the way we want to play and get the shots in the context of our offense."

The Blazers wrapped up summer league 2-3. It was an up and down week, but a valuable one for the young Blazers in need of game experience.

"Obviously we would've like to have a little bit of a better record, but, at the end of the day, it's a learning experience and a growth experience," said Connaughton, who had his best game (23 points) Friday against the Celtics after struggling to find his shooting stroke for most of the week.

"I was glad to see Pat make some shots at the end of the game," Stotts said. "What I like most is he got a lot of good looks. Obviously, he didn't shoot the ball as well as he would have liked. (The key) for him is to be in a position to get those shots."

The Blazers coaching staff got their first look at the team's lone rookie this week and Layman, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Maryland, showed why he's an intriguing prospect.

"It looks like he has a good feel for the game," Stotts said. "He knows where his shots are going to come from. He's athletic. Certainly, he has a lot to learn about the NBA game and what we want to get accomplished, but I thought he had a very solid summer league."

Layman's week included a few highlights, a poster dunk in the opening game and a crucial block late against the Celtics in the finale. But he didn't shoot the ball well and that will be his focus for the rest of the summer.

"We shoot a lot of threes," he said. "I have to get good at it."

Vonleh didn't play in the final game against Boston and ended his summer league averaging 12.0 points and 8.8 rebounds. He was frustrated with his performance in Vegas and vowed to 'get in the gym and get right' in the months leading up to the regular season.

"Noah is the type of player that I think can be good at a lot of different things," Stotts said. "He's going to find his niche. He's 20 years old."

Montero and Napier were the biggest puzzles for the Blazers this week. Napier barely played, getting just 30 minutes in parts of two games. He had to leave his debut early get to stitches on cut on his head. Then his summer league ended for good on Wednesday when he sprained his left shoulder.

"It was disappointing that Shabazz didn't get to play a little bit more," Stotts said. "I liked what I saw from Shabazz the short time that he was out there."

Montero mixed flashes of brilliance followed by mind-numbing miscues. He showed some great court vision at times, but also had stretches of terrible decision making, turnovers and questionable fouls.

Montero benefitted from summer league just by playing in an organized five-on-five setting. He got very little on-court opportunity during his rookie season and playing in games with NBA coaches watching and instructing is key for his development.

"Certainly, he has room to grow but that's what summer league's for," Stotts said.

--Mike Richman

mrichman@oregonian.com

@mikegrich