2023-24 NBA Season Preview: Portland Trail Blazers
The 2023-24 NBA season is officially here! Since the start of training camp, we have conducted previews for all 30 NBA teams. Today, we take a look at the Portland Trail Blazers, who made a swift change in its franchise direction this offseason!
What happened last year?
Last season really did feel like the death knell of the Lillard-era Blazers. After knocking on the door of contention so many times, the team had to make moves. Over the past few seasons, C.J. McCollum was moved; Terry Stotts was replaced by Chauncey Billups as Head Coach; none of it worked. The Blazers remained, at best, 2nd round fodder for the best of the West.
A flawed roster combined with another extended Lillard absence saw the club win 33 games. It was an improvement of a horrid 2021-22 campaign, though nowhere near worthy of a player with Lillard’s offensive gifts.
On the positive, Anfernee Simons continued to impress, averaging a career-high 21.1 points a night, plus rookie Shaedon Sharpe showed tantalizing glimpses of his potential and Jerami Grant was very good in his first season in Portland.
Offseason recap: A tumultuous offseason, to say the least.
After re-upping Grant to the tune of $160 million over five years – a clear message to Lillard that the team wanted to compete – the star guard rocked the club by finally submitting a trade request. This one, though, came with a twist: Lillard only wanted to go to the Miami Heat (An aside, this writer is thrilled that the Blazers moved Dame elsewhere for a significant return. Whilst all for player empowerment, this was a step too far).
The Blazers and Heat engaged like two kids at a school dance who can’t stand each other: They had to dance together, but they’d be sure to make the other know they weren’t putting any effort in. After seeing Lillard’s agent reprimanded by the NBA for effectively tampering, Dame was eventually moved to Milwaukee as the headliner in a greater trade involving Phoenix for quite a haul, the return featuring All-Defense guard Jrue Holiday. He was quickly forwarded to Boston for Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon, the latter of whom should avoid putting down roots in Oregon.
The net return for Lillard? Deandre Ayton, Williams, Brogdon, Toumani Camara, three 1st round draft picks and a pair of pick swaps. All in all, a hearty yield.
Projected Starting Five?
Scoot Henderson, PG – The future of the franchise. Portland had to be utterly thrilled when the consensus 2nd best player in the draft fell to them at pick three. The 6-foot-3 powerhouse is some sort of unholy hybrid of Russell Westbrook, John Wall and Derrick Rose. If he ever learns to shoot, the sky is the limit.
Anfernee Simons, SG – The 24-year-old Simons has been the primary beneficiary of Lillard’s injury woes of the past two seasons. He was clearly ready to become a starter – thus the Blazers comfortably moving on from McCollum – but became the de facto offensive hub of the team in Dame’s absence. He responded with 21.1 points per game on 45/38/89 shooting splits.
At 6-foot-3 and not much defensive presence, the Blazers might be falling into Dame/CJ 2.0 with Scoot and Simons in the backcourt. To that end, Simons might become expendable if Sharpe’s development accelerates.
Matisse Thybulle, SF – There is a microscopic chance that Billups decides to start Sharpe at SF, running out an all-offense small ball line-up. However assuming that the US-born Aussie starts, he’ll naturally draw all of the toughest defensive assignments, whilst being tasked with nothing more than filling lanes (good) and hitting open jumpers (bad) on offense.
After being increasingly frozen out in Philadelphia, Thybulle thrived with the change of scenery, posting 7.4 points with – importantly – 38.8 percent shooting from deep on almost four attempts a game. Even if that drops to somewhere around 36 percent, it becomes very difficult to play the defensive ace off the floor.
Jerami Grant, F – Grant, somewhat unfairly, became the poster boy for Dame’s exit, given the star’s trade demand came literally a day after the club re-signed the veteran forward to a long-term extension. Whilst it’s reasonable of Dame to doubt if Grant could be the man to get the Blazers over the top, he’s no dud.
The versatile 29-year-old averaged 20.5 points, shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc and averaged close to a steal and a block per game, whilst routinely doing excellent work when guarding the opposition’s best wing and/or power forward.
He could prove a valuable veteran leader for the young Blazers. He could also be moved on by Christmas.
Deandre Ayton, C – Are you ready for DOMINAYTON, Portland!!!
Notable Reserves:
Shaedon Sharpe, SG – This young man could be absolutely anything. Sharpe, who won’t be able to legally buy a drink in a bar until after the upcoming season (assuming that the Blazers don’t make an unlikely playoff run), is an otherworldly athlete. He’s still figuring out how to play basketball but when you have these types of physical gifts and can shoot a basketball, what’s the worst outcome? J.R. Smith? The median case? Maybe… Zach LaVine? Absolute best-case scenario? A man well known in these parts: Clyde Drexler.
Robert Williams III, C – Williams was a defensive game-changer in the Celtics run to the 2022 NBA Finals, his rim protection, aligned with his switchability, unlocked the Celtic’s full defensive capabilities. Not coincidentally Williams appeared in 61 games that regular season, the only time he’s passed the 60-game threshold.
Overall, Timelord has missed 201 regular season games – an astonishing 49 percent of Boston’s schedule. Ultimately it’s for that reason that the Celtics were prepared to alter course from Williams to the very different and somehow slightly more available Kristaps Porzingis.
The Blazers will be hoping that playing in a platoon system with Ayton will help keep the 26-year-old healthy…or at least healthier.
Malcolm Brogdon, G – Maybe Brogdon, soon to be 31-years-old, will embrace being the fatherly figure to Portland’s young pups. Then again, he complained about not seeing the ball more on a team with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. He chaffed against having to let Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis get theirs. He left Milwaukee because he thought Giannis freaking Antetokounmpo should have deferred to him more. But, yeah. Maybe Brogdon will embrace being a mentor.
Biggest X-Factor? Deandre Ayton
Cringe-worthy soundbites aside, Ayton could thrive in his new surroundings. As a Sun, Ayton’s development was perhaps stunted by the expectations that contention implicitly generates. Whilst he did – when motivated – become an excellent rebounder and rim runner, a breakdown with former coach Monty Williams saw Ayton clearly decide that sacrificing for the team wasn’t something he was all that interested in anymore.
At his best, Ayton is a defensive force, able to vacuum up rebounds, protect the rim and hang with just about any guard on the perimeter. With the ball he has quick feet and soft hands with the power and agility to make his way to any spot on the floor he wishes. At his worst, he’s a lazy defender who avoids contact at both ends as if every man he faces has the plague.
With a new start, the Blazers are hoping for more of the former.
Season projection?
At long last, the Blazers are embracing the rebuild. Whilst there are some solid veterans augmenting their youth brigade, expecting Brogdon or Grant to be Blazers at season’s end is risky. Expect the Blazers to start well but fade into a 26-win campaign.
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