Portland Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers made a lot of noise last season in the NBA bubble when they won 6 of their 8 regular season matchups to make the NBA Playoffs. They ultimately lost 4-1 to the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, in the first-round, but Portland was missing a lot of players in that matchup. Not only was C.J. McCollum playing at a high-level with broken bones in his back, but Jusuf Nurkic was working his way back from a brutal broken leg injury from two seasons ago, Trevor Ariza never joined the team in the NBA bubble, Rodney Hood was out with an Achilles injury and Zach Collins was out with a foot injury.
That was too many injuries for the Trail Blazers to overcome the firepower of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Terry Stotts has been with Portland for 8 seasons now and they have been a playoff team for 7 of those years. They have made the Western Conference Finals just once and the Western Conference Semifinals three times, but seem to be missing key pieces to the puzzle to finally get over the hump and make the NBA Finals.
This offseason, management addressed the needs this team has had over the years and turned the Portland Trail Blazers into a legit Top 4 team in the Western Conference. Damian Lillard looks like a legit MVP candidate for the 2020-21 NBA season after averaging 30.0 points, 8.0 assists, 1.1 steals and shooting 46.3% from the field and 40.1% from deep. The biggest need for the Blazers was to surround Dame and C.J. with legit scoring threats and they did just that by bolstering the team’s shooting and building depth at the big man position.
Although it seems like Hassan Whiteside will not be coming back for the Blazers, they did bring back 10x All-Star Carmelo Anthony, as well as Rodney Hood, who is returning from an Achilles injury. They then traded for former Blazer, Enes Kanter, and sharpshooting power-forward, Robert Covington, from the Houston Rockets. In free agency, Portland signed high-flying wing, Derrick Jones Jr., and Harry Giles III, who has had his career stalled by knee injuries, but possesses a load of potential.
Injuries will define this Portland Trail Blazers team for the 2020-21 NBA season, but they have all the makings of being a threat in the Western Conference. Damian Lillard is one of the best pure scorers in the NBA and with the abundance of shooting talent and scoring talent around him, Blazers fans should expect their team to be one of the best offensive teams in the NBA.
