The Portland Trail Blazers will enter the 2018-19 NBA season with a goal of making their mark once the playoffs start. For the past two years, since the departure of LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers have ridden the coattails of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. While their regular season record had them as one of the top three teams in the Western Conference, they have failed miserably in the playoffs.
But it doesn’t stop there. While teams such as the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, and Los Angeles Lakers have improved, the Blazers have stood their ground hoping for a miracle.
The offseason is about making the proper moves to improve from the prior season. This is one area where the Portland Trail Blazers have failed. Are they talented? Yes. Could they use more help? Yes. So what has stopped general manager Neil Olshey from improving? For starters, the Blazers are not that stacked in terms of tradable assets.
While Lillard and McCollum have been mentioned in possible trade rumors, besides them, the only other player a team will want is Jusuf Nurkic. However, with Portland unwilling to trade one of their backcourt scorers, they have pretty much handicapped themselves in terms of growth.
For the Blazers to be contenders this season, they will need more scoring from role players.
Here are 3 X-Factors for the Portland Trail Blazers 2018-19 NBA Season.
Next Up: No.1
