The Portland Trail Blazers are simmering. Sensitive bankruptcies, a negative balance sheet, a laid-off GM, plus the constant rumors of a trade by superstar Damian Lillard – after years of constancy, the signs point to changes in the northwest. The question is what these will look like.
A change of coach can have different effects and different motives. Sometimes a relationship with the players has worn out, sometimes it just doesn’t fit and sometimes it’s just the last lifeline for a situation that may simply not be salvage.
In Portland, there are many indications that Gate 3 is the right answer. After nine years, Terry Stotts finished with the Blazers in the summer, with Chauncey Billups the much-needed breath of fresh air into the organization. The pressure on the franchise is enormous, with Damian Lillard (31) the Blazers have one of the top ten to 15 players in the league and yet Portland has only won four playoff series in these nine years.
Already in the summer, after the disappointment about the recent early exit against the decimated Denver Nuggets, there were numerous rumors about a possible Lillard trade, the 11-13 start including all problems behind the scenes about the employment of billups and the allegations of bullying against the GM Neil Olshey, who has since gone, are fueling this further.
What’s Going Wrong in Oregon? What are the roots of the messy situation and what does this mean for the future of the Blazers (and thus also a possible Lillard trade)? We are now dealing with these questions.
Portland Trail Blazers: The Current Issues
The fourth quarter of the 117-145 defeat by the Boston Celtics was a single performance, the guests simply ridiculed the Blazers. Hometown hero Payton Pritchard met litter after litter, the Celtics Bank celebrated it so provocatively that Celtics coach Ime Udoka even apologized to the hosts after the game.
For Portland it was a new low this season, which is why Billups started a (again) all-round blow. No pride, no will, no passion, that was the devastating verdict of the former finals MVP about his team. Rarely do you hear such clear words from a rookie head coach.
It was already the ninth double-digit bankruptcy for the Blazers, for the fifth time the difference was at least 22 points. Lillard was absent from three of these defeats, but it was mainly the manner that was questionable. Defense in particular remains a bottomless pit, meanwhile the Blazers are by far the last in this category (1.1 points more than 29th place).
Blazers: Too small every night
Defense was one of the reasons the Blazers parted ways with Stotts that summer. Billups, one of the best players in this discipline, should change that, but the 45-year-old has not achieved much. The plan was to play more aggressively, to put more pressure on the opponent. However, there is simply no staff for this.
The Blazers are among the worst five teams in the NBA in the defense of the ring as well as in the approved corner three-a-side, there is no more toxic combination. The fact that opponents of the Blazers sink almost 40 percent of their triples doesn’t help either, but should at least balance out a little over the season.
But where is Defense supposed to come from? The Blazers start their games with Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Norman Powell, all of whom are no more than six feet tall. “Every evening we are significantly smaller than our opponents”, is how Billups is aware of the problem. “We have to find ways how we can compensate with more commitment.”
But that’s exactly what Billups has been criticizing for weeks and the coach never tires of criticizing his players publicly. Billups openly admitted that Robert Covington is not the chain dog that Portland saw in him when they relinquished two first-round picks to Houston for his services in the 2020 offseason.
Blazers: “Deepest team” of the Lillard era a misconception
Covington is excellent as an auxiliary defender, but not in direct duels and certainly not against fast guards. Billups did not seem to be aware of this, there is no other explanation for his public regret that RoCo would not operate on the level of a Mikal Bridge from the Phoenix Suns.
Larry Nance Jr. should also help on the wing, but is needed more often as a small center, as Jusuf Nurkic’s performance has fluctuated massively for years – also due to injuries.
Olshey described the squad as the “deepest team” in the offseason for years, but little of it can be seen. There is no suitable backup for the Star Guards, Anfernee Simons or Dennis Smith Jr. are no solutions. Sophomore Nassir Little recently drew attention to himself on the grand piano, but the 20-year-old will still need time, but his athleticism is still the best fit for the style that Billups wants to play.
For years it has always been said that the core should be meaningfully supplemented by Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic. However, none of the many different wingers proved to be a long-term solution. Perhaps the trio itself is the problem, as the high salaries make it difficult to add the appropriate parts to the equation. Despite everything, Portland has a top 5 offense again, but it still lags far behind the claims (again).
But where exactly did the Blazers take a wrong turn, why is this team stuck in the quicksand of mediocrity and not making any progress for years? We are going on a little journey through time.
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