July 1st was the beginning of the end for the most recent era of Portland Trail Blazers basketball. Eighty percent of the starting lineup headed to new teams and the Blazers started a youth movement.
In the past few months, the roster has started to round out. The new identity of the team is yet to be seen, but no matter what, the team on the field on October 28th will look completely different from the team that was embarrassed against Memphis in the playoffs.
Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard, and CJ McCollum are the new building blocks of this team. In addition to those three draft picks of Neil Olshey, the team added Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis, Gerald Henderson, Noah Vonleh, and a host of young talent.
While this team isn’t looking like a 50-win, playoff team, they do look poised to develop into a very nice unit with a ton of room to build and grow together. The upside of this team is unreal. With an average age of only 24 years old, this is a group that has a lot to prove.
This time of year is always incredibly dead in the basketball world. Summer league has come and gone. All the major free agents have found their landing spots. The schedules have been released. Football season is here. And all basketball talk has been sidelined.
Even with basketball world being super slow right now, Blazer fans are still incredibly passionate about their team and always want to talk Blazer basketball.
When I chat with Blazer fans I get asked a lot about the new players on the team, but I get asked one question overwhelmingly more than the others.
How many wins will the Blazers have this year?
While this question is literally impossible to answer before a single minute of basketball has been played, people still love to speculate how many wins the Blazers will have this year.
How do I usually answer this question?
I think this team will win somewhere around 30 games this year. But honestly I have no idea, and really, how many games this team wins this year doesn’t really matter.
When I say that how many wins the team has this year, fans go crazy. That is blasphemy to say it doesn’t matter.
Let me break down three reasons why it does not matter how many games the Blazers win this year.
1 – It’s All About Development
The front office of the Trail Blazers did not make the acquisitions they did to rebuild this franchise in a year. With an average age of 24 years old, the majority of this team is still a couple years away from their prime. A lot of people forget that Lillard, the unquestioned leader of this team, is only entering his fourth season in the NBA. As this team grows and develops together, their chemistry and talent level will make them much more competitive. But that chemistry and talent is going to take time. Much more time than 82 games.
2 – 2016 NBA Lottery
When the Blazers traded Will Barton, Thomas Robinson, and Victor Claver to the Nuggets for Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee last season, they also send a 1st round pick to Denver. That pick is lottery-protected in 2016, which means if the Blazers miss the playoffs, they will keep their 1st round draft and draft in the first 14 picks of next years draft. That is huge for the building of this roster in for the long-term. This team needs to acquire as much talent as possible in the next couple years, and the draft is the best way for Portland to build a team.
3 – It’s Dame Time
Guessing how many wins the Blazers will have is an incredibly difficult task but it is made even more difficult by the team’s point guard. Lillard has always been in an underdog role, and he has thrived as an underdog. This season, he takes that role back on with this Blazer team that has been counter out of any kind of contention. Lillard can take over a game, and literally will a win for the Blazers. That is why I hesitatingly say about 30 games. In my mind I want to say 25 to 30 wins this season seems about right. Then I remember that Lillard is the point guard and leader of this squad. All bets are out the window at that point. Lillard has become a better leader and player every year he has been in the league and I fully expect him to embrace his role as the new Captain of the Blazers.
At the end of the day, there is no predicting how many wins the Blazers will have this season. I believe it will be somewhere north of 30, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be completely shocked if the team snuck into the Playoffs. Win-or-lose, this team is going to be a lot of fun to watch play and grow this year. Even if this team makes the lottery this season, the overall plan is the become a contender in 2-3 years when this team all enters their prime together.
How many wins do you see the Blazers having this year?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
