Blazers: Past, Present & Future
May 26, 2020 14:05:05 GMT -5
billy, Theodore Duncan, and 5 more like this
Post by Jackie Kong on May 26, 2020 14:05:05 GMT -5
THE TRAIL QUESTION MARK
by Jackie Kong & Theodore Duncan
by Jackie Kong & Theodore Duncan
“ I hope one day I can come into a training camp and not say someone is out for the season."
- Nate McMillan
- Nate McMillan
THE EARLY DAYS
Many believe GM Duncan is one of D720's OGs but Blazers' journey actually began in the 14-15 season with Duffman. It would not be till late in 15-16 when Theo came in.
Duffman's 1st selection in D720's Inaugural Draft was a prime Chris Paul so it appeared that Portland would be able to compete right away but then they made the fatal mistake of picking Nerlens Noel 2nd leaving the team in no man's land not being able to compete or rebuild. The rest of the draft went in line with that and so did the trades that came after. As a consequence the inevitable happened and Blazers finished the season 36-44 with the 9th record in the West behind the Seattle SuperSonics.
In his 2nd season Duffman went full Rebuild mode. Problem was he did it by trading for less value so he did pick a definitive direction for his team but he also set them back considerably. Duffman was known to have a drinking problem due to his previous job promoting alcoholic drinks so many believe his conduct back was erratic because of things outside basketball. Things truly went downhill late in 2015 when he created a fixation trading with Raptors GM Brian Scalabrine. Between August 2015 and March 2016, him and Brian made a total of 5 consecutive trades (1 rejected) with Duffman constantly sending pieces back and forth. Maybe alcohol made him feel like it would be a funny thing to do or maybe he developed a sick love relationship with Brian but any chance of learning the truth ended the moment Duffman went missing after his last trade. What happened to him is still a mystery but Portland PD never gave up so the case is still pretty much open.
Exactly 1 month after Duffman's last post, Theodore Duncan took over the TrailBlazers. Portland finished the 15-16 seasons with a 22-60 record that was 2nd worst in the West and 4th in the League.
On Duffman's defense, he did one thing right that was drafting Devin Booker at 13th that year. Before disappearing, he tried to move him to Toronto but that move was never completed so the selection still counted as a victory.
THE REBUILD
After Duffman, a rebuild was a must but as in any other rebuild its duration would be determined by the quality and potential of the players Duncan would pick. It wasn't, however, as simple at 1st as one would imagine for Theo.
Duncan took the Blazers in 15-16 but it was almost past deadline so his 1st actual test was during the 2016 Draft. 2016 draft class wasn't really good but Blazers had the 3th pick so they had the chance to go with Jaylen Brown but opted for Kris Dunn instead. What's more, they also had the 48th pick so they missed Pascal Siakam by 3 spots.
Still, 2016 Off-Season did bring Duncan the rebuilding pieces he needed. After all the trades Duffman made, he was left with 1 player with value other than Booker and that was Klay Thompson but Thompson really didn't fit the rebuild so it made perfect sense when Theo moved him for Blake Griffin. Most significant move though was the next one when Blake Griffin was dealt to Memphis for Kristaps Porzingis. Back then, people looked at that trade with skepticism but time proved that was the right trade to make.
The TrailBlazers finished the 16-17 season 28-54 and with the 7th worst record in the league that eventually led to the 7th pick in the upcoming draft.
Biggest news that season was that Porzingis and Booker elevated their game to the point where Blazers found themselves with 2 potential stars to build around.
THE CONTENDER
Setting up a contender is one of the hardest things to do specially after finishing in a bottom position the previous season but everything that needed to occur happened for the TrailBlazers in the 2017 Off-Season.
Obviously, Lottery didn't favor Portland because they finished with the 7th pick but soon after they pretty much traded #7 for #2 so it all worked out for them plus they avoided Markelle Fultz and everything that went wrong for him afterwards.
1st big move was when Duncan dealt a package of future picks and assets that included previous draft 1st round pick Kris Dunn for superstar DeMarcus Cousins. Getting Cousins did not only make the TrailBlazers a better team but also a legit FA bidder which leads to the 2nd big event. A week after the trade, highly coveted all-star FA DeMar Derozan announced he was moving to Portland.
Then, 2 more weeks went by and Blazers seemed like they were finished for the Off-Season but that was when they announced their 3rd big move that would take their status to true Contender. They reached an agreement with the Magic to send #2 pick Lonzo Ball and Evan Fournier for Chris Paul.
As expected, Portland took the West by storm as soon as the season started with a 23-5 record and that was only before Duncan announced his 4th and last big move. It was announced that Blazers would send Devin Booker and Jeff Teague to the Lakers in exchange for former Blazer Klay Thompson and Kyle Lowry. Booker had some solid potential back then but he wasn't as good yet as both of the players Portland received plus Thompson fit the 3-D role perfectly. Derozan is great but he is not a shooter so someone like Klay was exactly who he needed to play with.
After all the trades, Portland probably saw some of its best basketball ever as team went 19-2 for an impressive .905 winning percentage. Unfortunately and as in many previous Portland TrailBlazers stories, joy went down the harsh way.
THE CURSE
The team with Thompson looked unstoppable and for a moment it was as if the 17-18 title was Blazers to lose but things changed when it was announced on a January 26 that DeMarcus Cousins was out for the season with a Torn left Achilles Tendon; And it didn't stop there because only 10 days later Kristaps Porzingis was also down with a Torn ACL in his left Knee.
Generally speaking, a trailblazers is someone who shows the way for others and like everything that is unknown several obstacles can be expected in his path to completion. Now, with Portland it is different story because ever since they won the 1977 Championship they have been literally cursed when it comes to injuries with a long list that included notable names such as Bill Walton, Sam Bowie, Brandon Roy and Greg Oden; So what happened couldn't really take Duncan by surprise and like every other TrailBlazer that came before him, he picked the only option available that was to look ahead and turn the page.
Completing the season wasn't easy but Portland still managed to finish with a league best record of 69-13 followed by a Western Conference Semi Finals 5 games defeat in the hands of the Phoenix Suns that later on made its way to the Finals only to lose to the New York Knicks.
One trade that made things easier was moving Lowry for 2 old Blazers Kris Dunn and Nemanja Bjelica. Bjelica obviously was no Porzingis but between him and Dewayne Dedmon they somewhat managed to fill the void left in the team's frontcourt.
At the end, results proved that Portland remained pretty much competitive even after the injuries but one could wonder what would have happened if they were able to keep that team that went 19-2 healthy.
THE RETRY
18-19 started with optimism as Blazers was able to re-sign to short term deals Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins and Nemanja Bjelica and they moved Klay Thompson for Draymond Green with the idea of giving the team a more defensive orientated shape.
Soon after though, it became clear to Duncan that Cousins was not going to return as the player he once was so he was moved in a queued trade for Jakob Poeltl. Poeltl obviously was not on par with the concept of who Cousins was as a player the previous year but that didn't mean the TrailBlazers would stop trying to win games so with that in mind they also went for Shabazz Napier and some more players to add to their depth.
Before the trades, Blazers started the season with a 28-8 record and a .778 winning percentage and afterwards they climbed to 66-16 and .805 that was good enough for 2nd best record in the West behind the Warriors. Unfortunately though the final result was the same as in 17-18 with the team losing in the Conference Semi Finals only that this time it was in 6 games and against the Lakers.
One can imagine that management was waiting for Porzingis to return so he would give the team the extra push they needed but he remained sidelined for the rest of the season. It was reported however that he was fully recovering so that was good news moving forward.
ALL HAIL PORZINGOD!
2019 Off-Season started with the big decision of re-signing Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian native entered negotiations after a year and a half of not playing professional basketball so signing him to a lucrative contract was a big risk but there was also that promise that he once made about getting the Blazers to the next level. At the end, GM Duncan took the leap of faith that was needed and locked him down for 4 seasons with a 25% Max contract.
Some months happened between the signing and Season Opening so on top of everything else there was anxiety but the day finally came and Porzingis stepped in as nothing ever happened. Blazers were also able to acquire veterans Thaddeus Young and Trevor Ariza so things looked rather promising early on. In fact, Portland started 24-13 just behind the Timberwolves in the West.
Situation was not all wonderful though as Chris Paul, Draymond Green and other veterans kept a declining trend from previous seasons; And most were expiring which is why management decided to do a bit of retooling for the future trading Green, Paul and DeRozan to Mavericks, Bulls and Hawks respectively. Then again, Blazers do not own their 1st for the upcoming draft so they also wanted to stay competitive and moved Dunn to Lakers for Ricky Rubio.
Portland now stand 5th in the West 36-24 so their chances of having a deep Playoffs run should be low but they will still probably make it for a 3rd season in a row; And their 2020 selection is gone but they own Mavs' and Celtics' with the last one being a Lottery pick. Plus, they own a 24 years old Porzingis to build around so they have a lot to look forward to. Who knows? Maybe, the Blazers are back competing for that title before you know it!
Many believe GM Duncan is one of D720's OGs but Blazers' journey actually began in the 14-15 season with Duffman. It would not be till late in 15-16 when Theo came in.
Duffman's 1st selection in D720's Inaugural Draft was a prime Chris Paul so it appeared that Portland would be able to compete right away but then they made the fatal mistake of picking Nerlens Noel 2nd leaving the team in no man's land not being able to compete or rebuild. The rest of the draft went in line with that and so did the trades that came after. As a consequence the inevitable happened and Blazers finished the season 36-44 with the 9th record in the West behind the Seattle SuperSonics.
In his 2nd season Duffman went full Rebuild mode. Problem was he did it by trading for less value so he did pick a definitive direction for his team but he also set them back considerably. Duffman was known to have a drinking problem due to his previous job promoting alcoholic drinks so many believe his conduct back was erratic because of things outside basketball. Things truly went downhill late in 2015 when he created a fixation trading with Raptors GM Brian Scalabrine. Between August 2015 and March 2016, him and Brian made a total of 5 consecutive trades (1 rejected) with Duffman constantly sending pieces back and forth. Maybe alcohol made him feel like it would be a funny thing to do or maybe he developed a sick love relationship with Brian but any chance of learning the truth ended the moment Duffman went missing after his last trade. What happened to him is still a mystery but Portland PD never gave up so the case is still pretty much open.
Exactly 1 month after Duffman's last post, Theodore Duncan took over the TrailBlazers. Portland finished the 15-16 seasons with a 22-60 record that was 2nd worst in the West and 4th in the League.
On Duffman's defense, he did one thing right that was drafting Devin Booker at 13th that year. Before disappearing, he tried to move him to Toronto but that move was never completed so the selection still counted as a victory.
"When I joined the league as GM of Blazers, it felt really overwhelming with all the rules and understanding the balance of power in the league. Although being a massive NBA fan since late 90s, I didn't have any experience of being any kind of GM before. Luckily there was few months time before the first off-season to get used to everything. It was still very exiting times, as the race for the bottom 4 spot came down to a last game. Looking back at it now, a team with Arron Afflalo and CJ Watson as starters should have been able to tank even harder and get to the bottom." - Theo
THE REBUILD
After Duffman, a rebuild was a must but as in any other rebuild its duration would be determined by the quality and potential of the players Duncan would pick. It wasn't, however, as simple at 1st as one would imagine for Theo.
Duncan took the Blazers in 15-16 but it was almost past deadline so his 1st actual test was during the 2016 Draft. 2016 draft class wasn't really good but Blazers had the 3th pick so they had the chance to go with Jaylen Brown but opted for Kris Dunn instead. What's more, they also had the 48th pick so they missed Pascal Siakam by 3 spots.
2016 DRAFT TOP 5 PICKS
1 Hawks Ben Simmons
2 Jazz Brandon Ingram
3 TrailBlazers Kris Dunn
4 Kings Jaylen Brown
5 Nets Dragan Bender
Still, 2016 Off-Season did bring Duncan the rebuilding pieces he needed. After all the trades Duffman made, he was left with 1 player with value other than Booker and that was Klay Thompson but Thompson really didn't fit the rebuild so it made perfect sense when Theo moved him for Blake Griffin. Most significant move though was the next one when Blake Griffin was dealt to Memphis for Kristaps Porzingis. Back then, people looked at that trade with skepticism but time proved that was the right trade to make.
The TrailBlazers finished the 16-17 season 28-54 and with the 7th worst record in the league that eventually led to the 7th pick in the upcoming draft.
Biggest news that season was that Porzingis and Booker elevated their game to the point where Blazers found themselves with 2 potential stars to build around.
"As I don't watch NCAA at all, scouting for players for my first draft was really a pain in the ass. For a long time, Dragan Bender was on top of my board for the 3rd pick. Porzingis had just had a great rookie season, and as I'm myself also European, maybe finding the next Dirk was something I really wanted to do. Only a few days before the draft, I started to get a bad gut feeling about him and decided to move on. Basically, it came down to a coinflip between Murray, Dunn and Brown, and in the end I went for Dunn as a last minute decision as I thought he could become the next John Wall and would fit better next to Booker. But Dunn was also much older, at that time I did not understand the value of having younger prospects. Should always pick the best prospect available instead of fit. Dunn was great during summer league and it looked like a great pick, but during the season it all went wrong. Still thinking that under a good development coach, Dunn could have turned into an all-star, but Thibodeau ruined him.
For the off-season free agency, I had quite a lot of cap space but no chance of actually going for premium FAs. I did manage to snatch Fournier in RFA from Orlando and got Ed Davis. But I guess the best move was the signing I didn’t make. Luckily I did not go all the way on Aminu, Bazemore and Myers Leonard sweepstakes. Those contracts turned out to be one of the worst in D720 and I was getting caught also in the bidding wars almost until the end.
Looking back, I have to say I’m really proud of the Griffin Porzingis move. Not just I made a right read on the potential of KP, but that trade really also opened up the salary situation to make big moves next off-season." - Theo
For the off-season free agency, I had quite a lot of cap space but no chance of actually going for premium FAs. I did manage to snatch Fournier in RFA from Orlando and got Ed Davis. But I guess the best move was the signing I didn’t make. Luckily I did not go all the way on Aminu, Bazemore and Myers Leonard sweepstakes. Those contracts turned out to be one of the worst in D720 and I was getting caught also in the bidding wars almost until the end.
Looking back, I have to say I’m really proud of the Griffin Porzingis move. Not just I made a right read on the potential of KP, but that trade really also opened up the salary situation to make big moves next off-season." - Theo
THE CONTENDER
Setting up a contender is one of the hardest things to do specially after finishing in a bottom position the previous season but everything that needed to occur happened for the TrailBlazers in the 2017 Off-Season.
Obviously, Lottery didn't favor Portland because they finished with the 7th pick but soon after they pretty much traded #7 for #2 so it all worked out for them plus they avoided Markelle Fultz and everything that went wrong for him afterwards.
1st big move was when Duncan dealt a package of future picks and assets that included previous draft 1st round pick Kris Dunn for superstar DeMarcus Cousins. Getting Cousins did not only make the TrailBlazers a better team but also a legit FA bidder which leads to the 2nd big event. A week after the trade, highly coveted all-star FA DeMar Derozan announced he was moving to Portland.
Then, 2 more weeks went by and Blazers seemed like they were finished for the Off-Season but that was when they announced their 3rd big move that would take their status to true Contender. They reached an agreement with the Magic to send #2 pick Lonzo Ball and Evan Fournier for Chris Paul.
OPENING NIGHT STARTING LINEUP
CE DeMarcus Cousins #0
PF Kristaps Porzingis #6
SF DeMar Derozan #10
SG Devin Booker #1
PG Chris Paul #3
As expected, Portland took the West by storm as soon as the season started with a 23-5 record and that was only before Duncan announced his 4th and last big move. It was announced that Blazers would send Devin Booker and Jeff Teague to the Lakers in exchange for former Blazer Klay Thompson and Kyle Lowry. Booker had some solid potential back then but he wasn't as good yet as both of the players Portland received plus Thompson fit the 3-D role perfectly. Derozan is great but he is not a shooter so someone like Klay was exactly who he needed to play with.
After all the trades, Portland probably saw some of its best basketball ever as team went 19-2 for an impressive .905 winning percentage. Unfortunately and as in many previous Portland TrailBlazers stories, joy went down the harsh way.
"It’s really fun when a plan comes together perfectly. Planning and making small trades for the off-season started already months before the season ended. At some point I realized if I could move a few average players for expiring money, I could have very close room to have two 30% max contract slots in a year when also superstars like Curry, KD and Westbrook were all FA’s. If even one of them would have taken a small discount in the first year, a real super team could have been built without even giving any assets. Unfortunately all the 1st tier FA’s stayed with their original teams, but getting an all-star like Derozan still felt great.
In the draft I was actually quite happy originally with the 7th pick as it looked sure that Lauri Markkanen would be available there. As a Finn, I had followed his career intensively and was sure that he was gonna be really good. But as Fox ended up falling to 7th and I had a good trade set-up for him to get Lonzo, I had to make a business decision and pick Fox (Lonzo) over Lauri, as I was sure that Lonzo could be flipped also to a superstar level talent. I still think sometimes if it would have been better to take the slower rebuild route instead. Now having Porzingis, Booker and Lauri as a core could be great for the long term success.
Well, easy to speculate, and with all the trades the team turned out great of course, and in the peak I had one of the most stacked teams of all time.. Too bad the fun didn’t last long though. sigh..." - Theo
In the draft I was actually quite happy originally with the 7th pick as it looked sure that Lauri Markkanen would be available there. As a Finn, I had followed his career intensively and was sure that he was gonna be really good. But as Fox ended up falling to 7th and I had a good trade set-up for him to get Lonzo, I had to make a business decision and pick Fox (Lonzo) over Lauri, as I was sure that Lonzo could be flipped also to a superstar level talent. I still think sometimes if it would have been better to take the slower rebuild route instead. Now having Porzingis, Booker and Lauri as a core could be great for the long term success.
Well, easy to speculate, and with all the trades the team turned out great of course, and in the peak I had one of the most stacked teams of all time.. Too bad the fun didn’t last long though. sigh..." - Theo
THE CURSE
The team with Thompson looked unstoppable and for a moment it was as if the 17-18 title was Blazers to lose but things changed when it was announced on a January 26 that DeMarcus Cousins was out for the season with a Torn left Achilles Tendon; And it didn't stop there because only 10 days later Kristaps Porzingis was also down with a Torn ACL in his left Knee.
STANDINGS BEFORE THE INJURIES
1 WEST TrailBlazers 42 - 7
2 SuperSonics 40 - 10
1 EAST Knicks 38 - 11
2 Pistons 35 - 15
Generally speaking, a trailblazers is someone who shows the way for others and like everything that is unknown several obstacles can be expected in his path to completion. Now, with Portland it is different story because ever since they won the 1977 Championship they have been literally cursed when it comes to injuries with a long list that included notable names such as Bill Walton, Sam Bowie, Brandon Roy and Greg Oden; So what happened couldn't really take Duncan by surprise and like every other TrailBlazer that came before him, he picked the only option available that was to look ahead and turn the page.
Completing the season wasn't easy but Portland still managed to finish with a league best record of 69-13 followed by a Western Conference Semi Finals 5 games defeat in the hands of the Phoenix Suns that later on made its way to the Finals only to lose to the New York Knicks.
One trade that made things easier was moving Lowry for 2 old Blazers Kris Dunn and Nemanja Bjelica. Bjelica obviously was no Porzingis but between him and Dewayne Dedmon they somewhat managed to fill the void left in the team's frontcourt.
At the end, results proved that Portland remained pretty much competitive even after the injuries but one could wonder what would have happened if they were able to keep that team that went 19-2 healthy.
"I gotta say that after the Cousins injury my reaction was more in the explicit category. After hearing about Porzingis bit over a week later, I was just staring at the computer screen in silent disbelief for quite a long time. It was quite tough to think that all the moves where I sacrificed long term success over going all-in now seemed to be done for nothing.
In the coming weeks I went through all the stages of grief and loss, until soon the acceptance came and I could focus on finishing the season strong.
What many people probably didn’t realise was that we had also a very deep bench and although the guards needed to pick up most of the scoring, Dedmon was a great fit as rebounding and blocking big man. And also Bjelica was turning out to be a great low-end starting stretch PF to replace KP.
Before injuries we were a 72+ win team, but even after losing two superstars I was still way over 60+ win pace for the rest of the season, and finishing top of the conference felt really good. Maybe I was still a slight favorite to win the west playoffs, but obviously everything needed to go right for it to happen as margins were so little.
It was super disappointing to lose already in the second round, but the end of the season definitely taught me a lesson of the importance of good depth and also that sometimes role players work almost as well as stars if everyone's roles complement each other perfectly. That gave some confidence to start planning moves for the next season." - Theo
In the coming weeks I went through all the stages of grief and loss, until soon the acceptance came and I could focus on finishing the season strong.
What many people probably didn’t realise was that we had also a very deep bench and although the guards needed to pick up most of the scoring, Dedmon was a great fit as rebounding and blocking big man. And also Bjelica was turning out to be a great low-end starting stretch PF to replace KP.
Before injuries we were a 72+ win team, but even after losing two superstars I was still way over 60+ win pace for the rest of the season, and finishing top of the conference felt really good. Maybe I was still a slight favorite to win the west playoffs, but obviously everything needed to go right for it to happen as margins were so little.
It was super disappointing to lose already in the second round, but the end of the season definitely taught me a lesson of the importance of good depth and also that sometimes role players work almost as well as stars if everyone's roles complement each other perfectly. That gave some confidence to start planning moves for the next season." - Theo
THE RETRY
18-19 started with optimism as Blazers was able to re-sign to short term deals Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins and Nemanja Bjelica and they moved Klay Thompson for Draymond Green with the idea of giving the team a more defensive orientated shape.
Soon after though, it became clear to Duncan that Cousins was not going to return as the player he once was so he was moved in a queued trade for Jakob Poeltl. Poeltl obviously was not on par with the concept of who Cousins was as a player the previous year but that didn't mean the TrailBlazers would stop trying to win games so with that in mind they also went for Shabazz Napier and some more players to add to their depth.
Before the trades, Blazers started the season with a 28-8 record and a .778 winning percentage and afterwards they climbed to 66-16 and .805 that was good enough for 2nd best record in the West behind the Warriors. Unfortunately though the final result was the same as in 17-18 with the team losing in the Conference Semi Finals only that this time it was in 6 games and against the Lakers.
One can imagine that management was waiting for Porzingis to return so he would give the team the extra push they needed but he remained sidelined for the rest of the season. It was reported however that he was fully recovering so that was good news moving forward.
"Running back the same core for another run at the championship was of course the only reasonable thing to do. But with the new luxury tax rules looming, it became quite quickly clear also that next off-season the team would be too expensive to keep together as Klay and KP were looking to get their max deals, and Cousins was probably also demanding a significant contract even post-injury.
So, goals for both of those deals were done mostly out of financial long term planning. Although the team got talent wise slightly worse, it was still apparent that even without Porzingis returning, we could still be in top5 teams of the league. Rest of the season went boringly waiting for playoffs and checking on any update on KP's return date. Even a few games of him at the end of the season would have made him eligible for the playoffs. There were also few blockbuster trades in line for trading Porzingis for 3&D wing that could raise the team to a favorite, but in the end I was waiting before pulling the trigger too long, and the trade deadline snuck up on me.
Without KP everything would have had to click in the playoffs for us to win a championship. Lakers, GSW and Cleveland were all bad matchups for us. So it wasn’t too surprising when the exit came on the second round." - Theo
So, goals for both of those deals were done mostly out of financial long term planning. Although the team got talent wise slightly worse, it was still apparent that even without Porzingis returning, we could still be in top5 teams of the league. Rest of the season went boringly waiting for playoffs and checking on any update on KP's return date. Even a few games of him at the end of the season would have made him eligible for the playoffs. There were also few blockbuster trades in line for trading Porzingis for 3&D wing that could raise the team to a favorite, but in the end I was waiting before pulling the trigger too long, and the trade deadline snuck up on me.
Without KP everything would have had to click in the playoffs for us to win a championship. Lakers, GSW and Cleveland were all bad matchups for us. So it wasn’t too surprising when the exit came on the second round." - Theo
ALL HAIL PORZINGOD!
2019 Off-Season started with the big decision of re-signing Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian native entered negotiations after a year and a half of not playing professional basketball so signing him to a lucrative contract was a big risk but there was also that promise that he once made about getting the Blazers to the next level. At the end, GM Duncan took the leap of faith that was needed and locked him down for 4 seasons with a 25% Max contract.
Some months happened between the signing and Season Opening so on top of everything else there was anxiety but the day finally came and Porzingis stepped in as nothing ever happened. Blazers were also able to acquire veterans Thaddeus Young and Trevor Ariza so things looked rather promising early on. In fact, Portland started 24-13 just behind the Timberwolves in the West.
KRISTAPS PORZINGIS' STATS
G MPG PPG RPG BPG FG% 3P% FT%
59 33.3 23.1 8.1 1.6 .46 .36 .76
Situation was not all wonderful though as Chris Paul, Draymond Green and other veterans kept a declining trend from previous seasons; And most were expiring which is why management decided to do a bit of retooling for the future trading Green, Paul and DeRozan to Mavericks, Bulls and Hawks respectively. Then again, Blazers do not own their 1st for the upcoming draft so they also wanted to stay competitive and moved Dunn to Lakers for Ricky Rubio.
"Moving away from the stars that helped the team to a two consecutive over 66 win seasons was definitely a hard thing to do, but with new teams emerging to the top of the league, and slowly declining team just slightly under the hard cap with no flexibility, it felt like it was the only reasonable thing to do. Maybe there was a few percent chance to win it all this year, but the experiences of past two playoffs exits even as favorites, made the management take the more safe route and start the retooling process one year early.
Team is definitely not going back to the full tank mode like in the past, but looking just a quick 1 or 2 season turnaround by drafting complementing pieces and using Free Agency to find a co-star for Porzingod before he enters his prime." - Theo
Team is definitely not going back to the full tank mode like in the past, but looking just a quick 1 or 2 season turnaround by drafting complementing pieces and using Free Agency to find a co-star for Porzingod before he enters his prime." - Theo
Portland now stand 5th in the West 36-24 so their chances of having a deep Playoffs run should be low but they will still probably make it for a 3rd season in a row; And their 2020 selection is gone but they own Mavs' and Celtics' with the last one being a Lottery pick. Plus, they own a 24 years old Porzingis to build around so they have a lot to look forward to. Who knows? Maybe, the Blazers are back competing for that title before you know it!
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