Portland Trail Blazers – Salvation Lies Within

If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.  The Portland Trail Blazers didn’t have a draft pick, lacked the cap space to add a significant free agent, and the ones they did bring in are more glue than substance.  But this team’s future success isn’t dependent on outside talent, but more so on the current personnel getting better.

I’m talking to you CJ McCollum.  You too Thomas Robinson and Will Barton.  And Meyers Leonard … it’s now or never, bro.  Portland had one of the league’s least productive benches last season and if this team’s going to improve upon their 2^nd round exit in last year’s NBA Playoffs, they’re going to need McCollum, Robinson, Barton, and Leonard to graduate beyond “potential” and “athletic,” to “productive” by means of both individual and team productivity.

Last year’s starters played entirely too many minutes.  While nice to have healthy talent on the floor in the short-term, long-term success is significantly hampered by the type of minutes LaMarcus Aldridge, Damian Lillard, and Nicolas Batum logged trying to sustain leads or comeback from second-half deficits. It’s important over an 82 game regular season that bench contributors allow starters the necessary rest to remain energized throughout games, the long regular season, and ultimately a post-season by which the upcoming campaign will be defined.  There’s a reason Gregg Popovich sits starters the way he does.  It wasn’t a fluke Dwayne Wade played in just over 50 games last year.  And the Boston Celtics of a few years back routinely sacrificed games by means of sitting aging stars in an effort to preserve them for when it mattered most.  Good teams and good coaches understand the benefit of fresh legs come playoff time, and the optimum way to assure such is by means of a second unit worthy of performing in lieu of the star players used to doing the heavy lifting.  Portland didn’t have that luxury last season, and this season’s opportunity will likely rest on the shoulders of the aforementioned reserves taking a step forward in the maturation process any productive NBA player eventually needs to make.

McCollum needs to get a more consistent shot and improve significantly on the defensive end of the court.  Thomas Robinson needs to polish his offensive game and regularly bring the type of energy he shows in spurts.  Will Barton needs to harness his athletic prowess and use it in a more efficient manner.  And Meyers Leonard desperately needs to … well … simply improve.  It’s been more than 2 years since Portland used a 1^st round pick on the project out of Illinois, and while sufficiently athletic and amply sized to contribute on the glass and defensively in the paint, Mr. Leonard has disappointed to say the least and with every passing day ekes closer to another in a long line of disappointing big men to play in the Rose City.

The Blazers will likely never make a splash with a major free agent and are hopefully far from the type of lottery pick capable of making a real difference.  While they’ll benefit from additions like veterans Steve Blake and Chris Kaman, their fate will ultimately be decided by legitimate improvement by players whose job it is to do just that.  Enough with growing pains, it’s time for these guys to simply grow as players and in the process help this franchise grow as a viable player in a Western Conference unmerciful to the weak.  This roster needs help, and as currently constructed that help is going to have to come from within.