The Good, Bad and Ugly from the Portland Trail Blazers' Early Season
It’s still in the early days of the Portland Trail Blazers’ season, but we have already seen a fair share of the good, bad and ugly sights a new NBA campaign can bring.
The Blazers have started the year with a 1-2 record, topping the depleted Oklahoma City Thunder on opening night before dropping two straight against the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, respectively.
Portland is currently at full health and might still be shaking off the rust, though it’s also possible there’s a few issues that need to be addressed.
It’s only a small sample size to look at, but it’s enough to see what’s right, what isn’t and what’s downright unsightly.
Let’s take a look.
The Good: The Blazers Have a Bench?
With all due respect to last season’s reserve squad, it just didn’t get the job done. Courtesy of Hoops Stats, the bench ranked No. 30 out of as many teams in the NBA in scoring and in minutes per game.
You can hardly blame head coach Terry Stotts for limiting the court time of his reserves, especially considering their lack of effectiveness.
But this season’s two newcomers in Chris Kaman and Steve Blake have already proved their worth in the early going.
As a whole, the reserve unit still ranks bad statistically. It’s up to No. 28 in scoring per game and No. 27 in minutes, though it's shooting just 41.3 percent from the field and a ghastly 27.8 percent from three-point range.
So how exactly does this fall under “the good” portion of our analysis, Rip City?
Well, it’s still the first few weeks of the season, and this group will need time to develop chemistry and come together. It won’t happen right away, let alone over the course of three games, but the signs are there that the Blazers bench can be competitive.
Will Barton and Thomas Robinson have emerged as spark plugs off the bench for Portland, with their athleticism proving to be highly valuable. Both are capable of making energy or hustle plays to get the crowd into the game (like this), which is an underrated component of the game that’s always appreciated by the fans.
C.J. McCollum hasn’t made a huge impact so far, with 0.7 points in 9.7 minutes, but will have plenty of opportunities over the course of the season.
And as aforesaid, Kaman and Blake have been terrific coming in behind the starters and leading by example.
Kaman’s 8.7 points and 6.3 rebounds haven’t allowed Portland to miss a beat, mirroring starting center Robin Lopez’s 10.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. Both play a similar style on offense, which has allowed an almost interchangeable synergy in the paint.
Let it be said that Lopez’s defense and offensive rebounding can’t quite be replicated by Kaman, but he’s performing well in his role nonetheless.
Blake’s shooting has been largely poor at 31.3 percent from the field, but he’s still averaged 5.0 assists with a 3.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, which leads the team. His three-point stroke is what he’ll probably be more valued for as a player this year, but he’s a very capable ball-handler and passer to aid running Portland’s offense, which he’s done efficiently this week.
It’s unfortunate the team hasn’t been able to execute the offense as a whole, though.
The Bad: Portland’s Offense
After running the fourth-most prolific offense a season ago at 106.7 points per game, the Blazers have been unable to find their rhythm.
Portland has averaged 96.7 points on just 42 percent shooting through three games, though the three-point line has remained a constant with 9.0 makes per game on 32.9 percent.
To be fair, the Kings and the Warriors presently rank as top-10 defensive teams in terms of opponent points per game and opponent field-goal percentage. In addition, both squads match up well with the Blazers position-by-position, but their offense has looked stagnant even considering the opposing defense.
The Blazers were able to make a brief but short-lived comeback against Golden State, but one that was only necessary after shooting 7-of-27 in the first quarter. Open shot after open shot clanged off the rim as Portland ended the night with 17 offensive rebounds.
Some of that has to do with the struggles of Damian Lillard (which we’ll get to later: spoiler alert), as his shooting and ability to drive opens up a lot of space for Portland to create shots. LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews, averaging 25.0 points and 18.7 points, respectively, have been able to shoulder the scoring load, but something must change outside of this duo.
Just a brief fun fact: Matthews is currently 13-of-16 on shots inside the three-point line. His long-range shooting is undoubtedly his strongest offensive weapon, but his work in the post and taking the ball inside has worked well up to this point.
It may be as simple as early-season jitters and players getting back into their flow, and the season is still very young, so there’s no true cause for concern.
But it’s a far cry from what the Blazers, and their fans, are accustomed to seeing offensively.
The Ugly: Sorry, Lillard
Last season, Lillard hit “The Shot.” This season, he’s been lucky to hit a shot.
All good-natured riffing aside, the All-Star point guard has struggled mightily to find his offense this season. As many anticipated a strong opening to the year following his emergence last season and during the postseason, Lillard hasn’t seen his shot fall consistently.
He’s averaging only 13.7 points on an ugly (get it?) 26.8 shooting percentage, though he’s so-so from long range at 31.8 percent.
Lillard is yet to make more than five attempts through three games, going 4-of-18 against the Warriors and 4-of-13 against the Kings.
He called his shooting woes "frustrating," per Erik Gundersen of The Columbian, before going into greater detail:
"A better rhythm for me might mean 3-0. It could be that big of a difference.
All I had to do was hit a floater off the glass, and I kind of hit it and it rolled off the rim and I’m like ‘come on, man,’ running down the court like ‘that has to go in.’ I just have to understand I’ll make those shots and not get too frustrated.
"
Golden State and Sacramento both have strong guard play, as well as the Thunder, so it may be a case of Lillard facing tough defense to start the season. It might also be an instance of teams now being more aware of what he’s capable of due to last year’s breakout performance and playing intense defense accordingly.
But the true cause may be that an abdominal strain has limited Lillard’s effectiveness shooting the ball. Per a tweet from Blazers digital reporter Casey Holdahl, the point guard is probable for Portland’s game against the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 4 due to the injury.
While it is to an area that would limit his ability to raise and shoot the ball comfortably, it hasn't really appeared to be an issue given his 13.7 field-goal attempts and 7.3 long-range attempts per game. Lillard averaged 15.9 attempts a season ago, including 6.8 attempts from deep, so the shots are still there.
They’re just not falling.
In any case, be it injury, opposing defense or Lillard simply being out of rhythm to start the year, his shooting has been awry thus far. His offense is crucial to the Blazers being successful, which will come in time as the season progresses.
Portland, and its fans, just hope it’s sooner rather than later.
All statistics courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.
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