The start of the new year represents new opportunities to improve upon everything that happened last year. For the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, this is a make-or-break month. The Blazers only have four games on the road in January. Six-time All-NBA and All-Star guard Damian Lillard will be 33 years old in July and the clock is ticking on championship chances. Let’s review where the Blazers are at and where they need to be.
Starts and Ends with Damian Lillard
This is what he signed up for. On the one hand, Damian Lillard is now statistically the greatest player in Portland Trail Blazer history. Lillard just passed Hall-of-Famer Clyde Drexler for the most points in Blazer history. The future Hall-of-Fame point guard was announced as one of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. The prestigious honor is reserved for the most legendary players in the sport’s history. Lillard will leave behind a legacy of dominance on the court and humbleness off of the court. Perhaps that is enough.
Lillard has reiterated time and again that he wishes to stay in Portland. He feels that winning a championship there would mean more to him than being a hired gun elsewhere. While that thinking is admirable, it does leave him vulnerable to several rebuild attempts while he burns away his prime years. Staying with one team does have financial perks, but legacy goes a long way too.
How are the Trail Blazers Doing?
On the other hand, the Portland Trail Blazers has spent the last ten years built around Lillard and has little playoff success to show for it. The Trailblazers missed the playoffs last year and the furthest they have been with Lillard is the conference finals in 2019. In which they were swept by Golden State.
Right now, the Blazers are in 8th place with a .500 record. This is the part of the season that can go in either direction. All of their main players should be fully healthy by the end of the month but they have had most of them all year. Young guard Gary Payton II is set to make his return from injury soon. The 24-year-old is the only player on the roster with an NBA championship (from last year’s Golden State Warriors roster).
Roster as it Stands
Rookie draft pick Shaedon Sharpe has just been selected to participate in the dunk contest for NBA All-Star weekend. The athletic guard is oozing potential but is still catching up after not playing a game in his only college season.
Anfernee Simons is by all accounts the future of this team. This is his fifth year in the league and he is younger than Sharpe. Simons’ numbers this season compare favorably to former Blazer guard CJ McCollum who was traded to the Pelicans last season.
The Trail Blazers traded for gold medal Olympian Jerami Grant last offseason in hopes of boosting the talent level among win-now players on the roster. Grant is the nephew of four-time NBA champion Horace Grant. He is also due for a massive contract extension.
The roster feels well-balanced with lots of young talent. However, it is difficult to see where the upward mobility is for this team if they don’t make a run right now.
Where Do the Trail Blazers Need to Be?
The Portland Trail Blazers have lost three out of the four games they have on the road this month. However, home is where you can build momentum and they have a solid home record both currently and historically. Upcoming games include back-to-back home games against superstar Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks as well as future Hall-of-Famer LeBron James and the LA Lakers. Head coach and Hall-of-Fame nominee Chauncey Billups needs to prove to management that he is capable of winning games. He has a .329 winning percentage in his two seasons as a head coach in the league. Former head coach Terry Stotts was fired presumably so the team can win immediately. Win-now teams generally seek win-now coaches. Portland is choosing to lean on Chauncey’s pedigree as a winning player, but the results have not been encouraging.
The Blazers’ best chance for success has to be this month. If they are in the top half of the Western Conference standings by the All-Star break, they have a chance for something special. If they are still toiling around .500, it will just be another season of mediocrity.
Catch up on all the NBA teams here with my New Year’s resolutions for the Western Conference teams and the Eastern Conference teams.
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