Here at Vendetta Sports Media the articles written about the Portland Trail Blazers have often been overly optimistic and filled with generic praise. But it’s time for a reality check for the Trailblazers fans and for the Trailblazer’s organization. This current iteration of the Portland Trail Blazers led by their high-scoring backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J McCollum reached their peak in the 2018-2019 NBA season where they lucked their way into the conference finals only to be steamrolled by the Golden State Warriors losing four straight games. But even before that happened I always felt that this team honestly has overachieved and eventually reality would set in.
I don’t believe that would have won the first round series in 2015 if the Clippers weren’t missing half their core to injury. I also don’t believe they have a shot at making it out the first round this season. The Trail Blazers have been eliminated in the first round four times in the last six years with two of those series ending as sweeps. It’s been clear for a while now that there needs to be a change in Portland and their reality check will come in this years playoffs.
Just as Damian Lillard sent the Oklahoma City Thunder into a rebuild with his game winning buzzer beater, there will be a team or moment in this year’s playoffs that will finally convince the Portland front office to blow this roster up. That’s if they actually make the playoff’s as they are trending downward in the standings at the moment which is even more of a sign that it’s time to move on.
Damian Lillard Can’t Carry This Franchise Alone
The NBA season is winding down and many teams are starting to kick it into high gear preparing for the Playoffs like the Los Angles Clippers who are looking like the best team in the league at the moment. Meanwhile, in Portland, they have lost five straight games and this is coming after Damian Lillard promised a fan who may have bet his entire livelihood that the team would win 42 games this year that it was a surefire bet. Lillard has struggled the entire month of April only shooting above 40% from the field twice, and since he returned from injury during his last three games his play and shooting has only gotten worse.
The Blazer’s Front office has failed to build a contending team around Lillard and that put’s a very low ceiling on what this team can accomplish. Lillard spoke to the media saying that he needs to perform better if this team has a chance to compete. This team hinges on Lillard to perform like a superstar on a nightly basis and if he isn’t bringing it there is no hope for success.
He is always among the league leaders in fourth quarter scoring and the Blazers are always in close games which Lillard has found a way to secure the win time after time this season. But now Lillard is Struggling and reality is starting to set in that the Blazers just aren’t good enough to compete with the upper echelon of elite teams in the NBA. The Blazers are stuck in a ditch as Lillard said and they are out of time to figure things out, It’s time to blow it up.
The Sad Reality For the Portland Trail Blazer’s
The Blazers are spiraling downward in a very critical moment of the NBA season. For the majority of the season they have held on to the 6th seed which excludes them from the Play-in Tournament but after their five game losing streak things aren’t looking good. They are now entrenched separated by only two wins between the 6th and 10th seed which is dangerous territory. The Blazers may miss the postseason entirely if they aren’t able to string together some wins. Since the All-Star Break, the team has the second worst defensive rating in the NBA and their remaining games feature some of the top offensive in the NBA like the Suns, Nets, Lakers, Celtics, and Jazz. So these wins that they desperately need may not be easy to come-by.
So once again the Blazers are relying on Lillard to sneak them into the Playoffs like he did last season during their play-in game versus Memphis only to be mostly likely swept in the first round. This cycle is starting to get old and each season trade rumors for both Lillard and CJ come up more and more because everyone knows that the Blazers need to blow it up. Who cares whether or not Jusuf Nurkic is lazy when he has only been healthy for 33 games over the past two seasons and his contract expires after this one. The Robert Covington offseason acquisition has done nothing to fix their defensive woes and trading for Norman Powell at the trade deadline was a lateral move.
There’s no chance the Trail Blazers win anything of meaning with this current core so in the best interest of the organization and their franchise star, It’s time to blow it up.
