The Portland Trail Blazers were good. The dynamic backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum with Jusuf Nurkic manning the middle and Al-Farouq Aminu and Moe Harkless on the wing, they made the playoffs every season and were fun to watch. In 2019, Nurkic suffered a season ending leg injury but Portland kept pushing, advancing past the Thunder and Nuggets and going to the Western Conference Finals. Now, they are blowing up a roster that had run its course. What happened and where can the Blazers go from here?
Let’s start with that West Finals run. After being swept in the first round in 2018 by the New Orleans Pelicans as the 3 seed, people (myself included) were wondering if Portland should split up the backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. They did not, so entering the 2019 playoffs, Portland was the 3 seed again and this time would take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Up 3-1 at home with the chance to close Oklahoma City out, Portland was set to play game 5. The game went back and forth and with the game tied with 1.3 seconds left Damian Lillard was being guarded by Paul George and he let a 37 foot jumpshot fly, it went in and Lillard waved goodbye, in one of the coldest NBA moments in history. Then in the second round, Portland would take on the Denver Nuggets, who were led by their 2 young stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. The series went back and forth and ended up in a game 7. CJ McCollum took over in game 7, scoring 37 points in a game that Lillard struggled, shooting just 3 for 17 in the game. McCollum also had a really clutch block to help seal the victory for Portland and a trip to the Western Conference Finals. What happened in those West Finals is not relevant, they lost. However, getting to a Conference Finals is not easy. Ask the Clippers what it is like to get to a Conference FInals, ask The Process 76ers, these Utah Jazz, winning 2 playoff series is not easy and Portland accomplished that, which is something that we should celebrate.
The next 2 seasons were not as successful for the Blazers, they snuck into the playoffs as the 8th seed in 2020 after Lillard had a huge 8 game bubble run. After winning game 1 vs the eventual champion Lakers, Portland would get smacked the next 4 games and be bounced in 5 games. That offseason, Portland would trade Trevor Ariza and 2 first round picks to the Houston Rockets for Robert Covington. It was a disastrous trade as Covington was bad in a year and a half in Portland, averaging 8.1 points and 6.3 rebounds on shooting splits of .39/.36/.82. The Blazers were hoping Covington could be a key 3 and D player for them but though he is a good off-ball defender, ‘RoCo’ is slow and struggles to guard on the ball. They also traded Gary Trent Jr. to the Toronto Raptors at the trade deadline for Norman Powell, another trade that Portland would likely like to undo. They would make the playoffs as the 6th seed but get bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets in 6 games. Denver would be swept in the next round by the Phoenix Suns. Over the summer Portland would undergo a full changing of the guard. Head Coach Terry Stotts and General Manager and President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshay were fired, Olshay was fired in November for reasons that don’t totally have to do with basketball but big changes were still made. In step Joe Cronin and Chauncy Billups, and this season did not start as planned as Portland has hovered around 10th in the West all season leading to big changes at the trade deadline.
I’ll be honest, I liked what the Blazers did at the trade deadline. Let’s start with Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Clippers. Could they have gotten more, maybe, but Norman Powell is on a big contract and especially with Anfernee Simons, who we will get to, playing the way he has, the Blazers needed to get off of the 5 year contract Powell just signed. Keon Johnson is the big chip Portland got in the trade. He is just 19 years old and is a rookie who has a lot of talent, not to mention Portland has done a good job with player development over the past couple of seasons including former first round picks Nassir Little and Simons. They also got Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, and a future 2nd round pick in the trade. The next deal the team made was sending CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., and Tony Snell to the Pelicans for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, a first round pick, and 2 second round picks (the team later flipped Satoransky and Alexander-Walker in a 3 team trade that got them Joe Ingles, Elijah Hughes and a second round pick). I like the New Orleans deal a lot. Now, a key factor is the New Orleans pick conveying this season, Portland gets it if the pick sits between 5-14, and that is a key factor in this as the Trail Blazers look to retool around Damian Lillard but Josh Hart is good and getting off of McCollum’s large contract was a necessity. The Blazers want to win next season with Damian Lillard on their roster, how possible is that?
Let’s start with Lillard himself, of course Portland should want to keep him, he is one of the greatest players in franchise history, and his jersey will hang in the rafters one day. He is (likely) out for the season but last season Lillard averaged 28.8 points and 7.5 assists per game on shooting splits of .45/.39/.92. They need to get him help, 2 lottery picks will help that. They also have a $20 million traded player exception which means they can acquire any player (or players) who make less than $20 million while not sending out any other salaries. The first thing Lillard may do is sign a large contract extension that would end all the trade rumors and keep him in Portland. Next, he is going to pick his own teammates, the way guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant have over the past couple of years. Portland can go a couple of different routes, they can decide to sign players using their cap space, which is likely to be around $20 million, and can get even higher. They can also operate as a team over the cap using the TPE and Eric Bledsoe’s non-guaranteed contract as pathways to acquire players in trade. Some players they can add via trade or free agency are Jerami Grant, Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma, Gary Harris, Marvin Bagley, and Kyle Anderson. There are a lot of options in a really important offseason for the Blazers.
There is some good young talent in the fold as well. Anfernee Simons has been awesome and is having a breakout season. He has scored 30+ points in 3 straight games and 29+ points in 4 straight games, all wins for Portland. Simons is really good and is an important part of the Blazers future. The question becomes can he play with Dame, and how much money is he worth as he enters restricted free agency. I think he can play with Dame and I know he has proved he is worth a lot of money. Jusuf Nurkic is also a free agent but he is unrestricted and is a player that Portland also really needs to keep. He is the anchor to their defense and is really good at scoring in the low post and cleaning up the glass. Also, shoutout too Nassir Little, who is also a very talented young player who has shown that he is an important part of Portland’s future.
The Portland Trail Blazers were good in their heyday, really good. Making the playoffs every year and making a deep run in the playoffs is not easy. They needed to retool around Lillard and the trade deadline was the start. It is sad to see a franchise icon like McCollum traded but it was a necessary decision. This is a big offseason coming up for Portland and it will be interesting to see what happens.
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