Portland Trail Blazers Power Rankings: Who's Most Important for a Title Run?
The Portland Trail Blazers surpassed expectations in 2013-14 by knocking the Houston Rockets out of the first round of the playoffs. Portland found a way to make it to the second round for the first time since 2000, but it failed to get past those pesky San Antonio Spurs—the eventual NBA champions.
With the 2015 postseason around the corner, Portland is hoping to exceed expectations once again. The Blazers are considered borderline contenders around the league, but they have a better roster in place than they get credit for at this point in the process.
With 18 games to go in the regular season, the Blazers have a strong grasp on the Northwest Division. That means a top-four seed, which fans hope translates to better odds toward reaching the Western Conference Championship.
Portland is likely considered a second-tier contender after Wesley Matthews' season-ending Achilles injury, but the team has excelled throughout much of the regular season. The Blazers aren't going away, but certain players will have a stronger role with the playoffs in sight.
The Bench
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13. Allen Crabbe
Allen Crabbe's season has come full circle. He began the year as a rotation afterthought, transitioned into a part-time starter and now hasn't seen meaningful minutes since the beginning of January.
Crabbe has enough experience at this point to be trusted in a pinch. It would have to be quite the pinch, though, as his production is a distant memory with the postseason looming.
12. Joel Freeland
Without the emergence of Meyers Leonard, Joel Freeland's role would be far more crucial moving forward. Instead, he'll be the next in line in case Leonard or Chris Kaman gets in foul trouble (or worse—deals with injuries).
11. Alonzo Gee
Alonzo Gee has the opportunity to earn stints during the playoffs with his defensive intensity and energy in full-court situations. Unfortunately for him, he'll be competing with Dorell Wright, who has earned the bulk of consistent backup wing minutes late in the year.
10. Dorell Wright
Although Wright should earn backup wing minutes over Gee, a shooting slump could be enough to knock him back a spot in the rotation. How competent he proves to be with the long ball will earn him time, but he's certainly not irreplaceable, with other distance shooters scattered across the roster.
9. C.J. McCollum
Although C.J. McCollum doesn't earn much recognition, he's a player who can create for himself and take pressure off the starters. The catch is that he's not expected to do those things at this time.
Any production from McCollum is considered a bonus—but it will be a bonus well earned when he's shooting 40.2 percent from the three-point line, as he is this season.
8. Meyers Leonard
Leonard is the kind of player who won't earn a spot on the stat sheet every night. What he will do, however, is earn the respect of fans everywhere, as long as those fans appreciate hard work.
So far on the year, Leonard is averaging just 5.6 points per game, but he's shooting 52 percent on the season (44.6 percent from the three-point line).
Although Leonard is playing center for the Blazers, he's also playing a de facto stretch 4. His role has increased substantially over the past two seasons, and he's part of the reason fans aren't as worried when the second unit sees the floor in 2014-15.
7. Steve Blake
Steve Blake may not be the flashiest player on the Trail Blazers roster, but he's someone who can back up both Damian Lillard and Arron Afflalo. Blake is a veteran who will make his impact felt not just on the stat sheet, but when it comes to intangibles as the season winds down.
6. Chris Kaman
As much as Leonard has improved, he's also finding his place as a backup power forward. Kaman's time behind Robin Lopez is going to be invaluable when it comes to consistency off the pine, and his ability to score both at the rim and in the mid-range will help diversify the offense for a second unit that desperately needs a boost.
5. Arron Afflalo
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Just because Arron Afflalo is fifth on the list of five starters, don't think he's not important to this championship quest.
With Matthews out for the year, Arron Afflalo's impact on this roster means even more than it did when the team sent away Will Barton, Thomas Robinson and Victor Claver for his services. His numbers are down in almost all major categories since the trade, but they're up in one category that makes up the difference for the Trail Blazers: three-point shooting.
| MPG | PPG | FG% | 3PT% | RPG | APG | |
| Denver Nuggets (53 Games) | 33 | 14.5 | 42.8 | 33.7 | 3.4 | 1.9 |
| Portland Trail Blazers (11 Games) | 28.9 | 10.8 | 39.2 | 41.3 | 2.5 | 1.2 |
Simpy put, Portland doesn't need Afflalo to be a 20-points-per-game player. The Denver Nuggets were fighting just to stay alive, while the Blazers are riding the talent of their starters to Western Conference contention.
What Portland needs is someone to knock down three-pointers with efficiency. Having that perimeter scorer not only gives Aldridge an outlet when double-teams come, but it also gives Lillard a drive-and-kick option on the outside when defenses collapse.
Although Afflalo may not have the impact of his co-starters, he believes this team can go far. How far, exactly?
"Championship team," he recently stated, per James Herbert of CBSSports.com. "No question."
That's the kind of confidence the Blazers need, and that's what fans want to see with Matthews sidelined.
4. Robin Lopez
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Robin Lopez has been instrumental in Portland's improvement over the past two seasons. His placement on this list is far from an indictment on the impact he'll have down the stretch—it's a testament to the quality starting lineup general manager Neil Olshey has assembled.
One of Lopez's best attributes is his ability to impact shots without fouling. He commands space with two hands straight up, and he commits just 2.3 fouls per game while remaining an excellent rebounder and earning 1.6 blocks each night.
If Portland were still without a reliable backup center, as it was in 2013-14, Lopez might be a spot higher. This season, however, he has a much-improved Leonard, the ever-reliable Kaman and the brute force of Freeland behind him in the rotation.
The Trail Blazers' improved roster gives them the luxury of playing Lopez just 28.4 minutes per game. That's 3.4 fewer minutes than a year ago, which takes the pressure off of him to be the only guy in the paint having an impact from start to finish.
3. Damian Lillard
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Damian Lillard is the future of this franchise. He's not only an All-Star point guard, but he's the one Portland counts on most when it's time to score with the game on the line.
In 2014's postseason run, Lillard proved doubters wrong by boosting his numbers in his first-ever playoff appearance. He also hit the shot that advanced Portland to the second round for the first time in 14 years.
"That's definitely the biggest shot of my life," Lillard said, per Sean Meagher of The Oregonian, following the walk-off three that did Houston in. "So far."
The tail end of that quote is the part to keep an eye on. "So far."
Lillard isn't done—not by a long shot.
While Lillard isn't the only one who beat the Rockets in 2014, he's the one who is reaching the highest toward his own ceiling in 2015. He's improved his numbers to 21.3 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting, and he's also collecting 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds per night.
Although the Blazers would still have talent without their point guard, they wouldn't be anywhere near contention. Portland is ready to break out, and there's no question Lillard will have a monumental impact on this team's short- and long-term success.
2. LaMarcus Aldridge
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If you want to make LaMarcus Aldridge your choice as "most important" in a championship run, you won't hear many arguments. After all, the team is just 3-4 without the big man in the lineup. Furthermore, he made the ultimate sacrifice by playing through a torn ligament in his non-shooting thumb that could have sidelined him up to eight weeks back in January.
However, one thing is going against him in this argument. As counterintuitive as it might sound on the surface, his consistency is what keeps him from occupying the No. 1 spot.
Like Lillard, we know what we're going to get from Aldridge. Chances are, the superstar power forward will break out for at least one big game this postseason, as he did with 46 points and 18 rebounds in Game 1 of last year's first round.
But while a big game will certainly set the tone, it won't be unexpected. The real surprise will come in the form of a signature game from one of the league's quietest, often passive stars (more to come later).
Nothing Lillard or Aldridge does will be truly unprecedented. Aldridge is going to be a double-double guy down the stretch, and he's going to do it while averaging 20-plus points per contest.
Unforeseen greatness will come from someone who is ready to step up as the team's biggest X-factor. That won't be Aldridge.
1. Nicolas Batum
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Nicolas Batum isn't going to be the best player in Portland's title run. He's likely not going to be the most consistent player, either.
What makes Batum the most important player is the Grand Canyon-sized gap between his highs and lows. When Batum is playing to the best of his abilities, he's an efficient shooter who can stuff a stat sheet on a nightly basis.
Take his performance against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 4. He recorded 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting (4-of-8 from downtown), and he collected seven rebounds, eight assists and two blocks in the 98-93 overtime victory.
Then again, he scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting (0-of-4 from the three-point line) and had four rebounds and five assists one game earlier against the Sacramento Kings.
How good can Batum make the Blazers when he's on his game? This is where we refer back to Aldridge.
"He makes us elite," Aldridge recently said of his 26-year-old swingman, per The Oregonian's Mike Richman. "He's our X-factor."
Portland's ceiling is high with Aldridge and Lillard leading the way, but the team is right alongside the championship contenders when Batum is a contributing member of the team's Big Three. The Blazers need the starting small forward to step up more than ever with Matthews sidelined, and if he does, the sky is the limit for this hungry franchise.
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