It’s that time of year again. Playoff time, you ask? No not quite, yet. We’re still a day away from arguably the most highly anticipated NBA playoffs since Magic and Bird were queued up for the Finals. Things have been so crazy out West in fact, that the San Antonio Spurs won 21 of 24 down the stretch before losing on the season’s final night, causing them to drop from the 2nd seed all the way down to the 6th in a matter of a couple hours. Simply put: shit’s going down this year.
But, all that’s still a day away. Today is the last day to look back whimsically at the season that was. A time to reflect on days of yore … even if some of those days were earlier this week. Yep, that’s right, it’s season review time around the NBA. Not only is it a fun way to finish out the season with oversimplified analysis, but, it’s a great way to kill some time while we wait for the NBA’s real season to begin.
So, let’s pass out some individual report cards to our beloved Blazer players. To add a little fun and suspense, we’ll go in reverse order of minutes played this season.
I should point out that these rankings aren’t necessarily meant to say who the best players are, but more to judge their individual season, taking into account expectations and intangibles just as much as performance and stats. Basically: don’t complain if/when Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge aren’t sitting at the head of the class.
On to the grades!
Tim Frazier
Played solid in limited minutes, and you can see why he dominated the D-league with his quicks and athleticism. You could also see why he was in the D-League, with all those bricks he put up when he shot the ball anywhere outside of 5 feet… and, sometimes inside of 5 feet, too.
Grade: C
Victor Claver
I was tempted to give Claver a big fat F for his lost season in Portland that ended up with getting shipped out in a deadline deal, released from his NBA contract and ending up back over in Europe. Of course, that would imply that he negatively impacted the team this season. In reality, he was more like that stoner kid who never bothered to even show up to class. Sure, you can give him an F, but, would he really even care, let alone show up to collect the report card?
Grade: INC
Alonzo Gee
Gee came via trade into a loaded wing position, and without the requisite 3-point shooting for extended minutes in Terry Stotts’ offense. Yet, as the wings started dropping like flies after his arrival, he was able to carve out a little bit of a niche as a hard-nosed defender on the wing who was able to scrap his way into a few buckets here and there. It’s never a great sign if he’s getting heavy minutes, but, he always seems to bring at least something positive to the table when he’s out there. Plus, he gets bonus points for all the corny “Gee Whiz” “Gee Unit” and “Nothin’ But a Gee Thing” nicknames.
Grade: C+
Will Barton
I’m bucking the trend here and grading Barton solely on what he accomplished personally. Primarily, that was playing just good enough and just poor enough to get himself shipped out of town. Let’s face it, as much as he was The People’s Champ (and for good reason), he was just never going to flourish in Portland. However, if you watched him play for even a few minutes, you could tell Barton possessed the natural gift of balling. He gets his grade simply for finding his way to the Nuggets where he could get real minutes and have a mini-breakout as he ripped off a nice stretch of 15+ point games after getting dealt.
Grade: A
Thomas Robinson
For as much as T-Rob gets a break for never really getting a chance at any of his 3 stops in his first 3 years in the league, at some point you just have to call a spade a spade. That’s not to say that he won’t find a place in this league, but, even with plenty of spurts of effectiveness, he never really could find his niche with the Blazers. He was given plenty of opportunity, with injuries to Joel Freeland and the com-trag-edy that was the vast majority of Meyers Leonard’s first few years in the league. Yet, he still couldn’t find a way into the rotation, and because of that, it’s on to a 5th team in three years for the former 5th overall pick.
Grade: C-
Dorell Wright
Most would say he had a disappointing first season as a Blazer, and early on this year, it looked like he was destined to ride out season number two glued to the bench, as guys like Allen Crabbe, CJ McCollum and even Meyers Leonard began taking all of his minutes.. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he found himself tossed into the rotation late in the season and gave the team some legitimately solid minutes at times. That’s the sign of a veteran who is the consummate professional, never complaining, but, always ready to go when called about. Then, just as Blazer fans were getting used to the idea of Wright being a solid bench contributor in the playoffs, a broken hand prematurely ended his season. Two months ago, losing Wright would have resulted in a shoulder shrug from most Blazer fans, but, today, it’s met with a head shake. That’s the exact kind of subtle difference that describes Wright’s season for the Blazers.
Grade: C+
Joel Freeland
After what can only be described as a disastrous rookie season, Joel Freeland was a wonderfully pleasant surprise as a self-described Nick Collison clone last year. He may not have lit he world on fire, but, he always seemed to be smack in the middle of every good play made by a generally awful bench. So, there was some hope this year would be the year he could step it up and become a legitimate rotation player that solidified an improving bench. Instead, Freeland missed more games and got passed in the rotation time and again by Meyers Leonard, Dorell Wright and even Thomas Robinson. Sure, he played ok most of the time he was in the game, showed some flashes of offensive game, and might have reached expectations had it not been for more injuries. But, that still doesn’t get you above a fairly generous C+.
Grade: C+
Allen Crabbe
While there was clearly a reason the Blazers traded to snag Crabbe at the start of the 2nd round of last year’s draft, none of that was on display during a forgettable rookie campaign that saw him spend more time in a suit than even in warmups. If it weren’t for the occasional Mike & Mike anecdote about him draining 3’s in practice, most Blazer fans wouldn’t have even known he was on the team. So, when he was called on to start early in place of an injured Nic Batum, people everywhere let out a collective “what the @%*#?” But, he was able to hold his own in those surprise minutes, showed some brief flashes of why he was the Pac-12 Player of the Year his final season at Cal, and was able to work his way from street clothes to the tail end of the rotation for most of the year. On top of that, the Blazers were a perfect 8-0 with him in the starting lineup before finally having the magic end in his 9th start in the season finale against the Mavs.
Grade: B
Arron Afflalo
As the bench scorer the Blazers desperately needed, the acquisition of Afflalo at the deadline was a godsend. He almost singlehandedly turned the Blazers from nice-little-team status into a legitimate dark horse title contender. Then, when Matthews went down for the count, he was hailed as a virtual Wesley clone who could step in and help the Blazers not miss a beat. Or, at the very least, keep things afloat.
In reality, once Matthews left the lineup, the Blazers defense has fallen off a cliff, and the team has mostly gone along for the ride. Sure, Afflalo hasn’t been the only problem, and it was probably unfair to expect him to, in a few weeks, replace a guy who had spent the better part of four seasons molding himself into the premier 3 and D guy in the NBA. At the same time, Afflalo surely hasn’t helped as much as most had hoped. And, while he has scored effectively at times, he’s also proven to be a bit of a ball stopper in the Blazers motion offense, electing to take the ball one-on-one rather than make the extra pass that has been a staple of the Stotts’ era Blazers.
Grade: B-
Meyers Leonard
They say comedy equals tragedy plus time. And, based on the transitive property of mathematics, that means that tragedy plus comedy equals time. I have no idea what that means, but, I think it describes Meyers Leonard’s first two seasons in Portland perfectly. There was certainly a lot of tragedy and definitely some comedy, too. And, somehow, it always ended up with him getting more minutes. We were just never quite sure if that was a good thing or not.
Suffice to say, it’s been a roller coaster ride with Meyers. While he’s always shown itty bitty tiny little signs of potential, it was always overshadowed by some of the most dumbfoundingly stupid plays you’d ever see in an NBA game. But, sometime around midseason this year, he finally started putting it all together. Not always at the same time, but, piece by piece, you could see where it was heading.
He developed a shockingly deadly 3-point shot, and also finally started hitting the boards with some ferociousness that we all had hoped he had in him. And, while his defense is still very much a work in progress, he’s solidified himself as a legit, honest-to-goodness prospect to where a team might legitimately overpay him or trade a real asset to get him, which is something that seemed crazy heading into this season. Plus, he became the only 7-footer not named Dirk to compile a 50-40-90 season (50% FG, 40% 3PT, and 90% FT). That’s nothing to scoff at. More bonus points for the excellent Mo-vember ‘stache he rocked earlier in the season.
Grade: A-
CJ McCollum
Like Meyers, CJ had a bit of a slow start to the season and struggled to find consistent minutes early on. Then, just as he was starting to get his rhythm, the Blazers made their big trade deadline move and brought in Afflalo to steal back all the minutes. At that point, things seemed pretty bleak for McCollum, and many began to think that maybe he’d have to find his way to another team before he could truly put his mark on the league.
Fast forward a few weeks, and the Blazers backcourt is ravaged with injuries, but, McCollum is making the most of it. He’s finally turning into the bench scoring combo-guard that Blazer fans had hoped for when he was selected with the 11th pick in the 2013 draft. And, while all these injuries may have all but ended any chance for the team itself to make an impact on the NBA Playoffs, the same can’t be said for CJ. If he can continue to build off of a great finish to the season and contribute in clutch playoff minutes, we might be getting to witness the emergence of the next great bench scorer.
Grade: B+
Chris Kaman
The simple fact that he isn’t Spencer Hawes secures Kaman to at least get a B. That’s how terrible Hawes has been this season and how lucky the Blazers were that he never agreed to take the Blazers mid-level exception in the offseason. And, I’m not even taking into consideration that awful samurai hair he’s been sporting lately.
Of course, Kaman has done a lot more for this team than simple not be Spencer Hawes. He has almost singlehandedly turned one of the league’s worst benches into a somewhat respectable unit, simply by being a steady scoring threat in the low post night in and night out. Not only is the consistent go-to bench option the team has been searching for the past few years, but, play in the post has the added bonus of opening things up for the Blazers young perimeter scorers to get more open looks than they’ve ever seen before.
All this isn’t to say that Kaman doesn’t have his weaknesses, he does. But, if you would have described Chris Kaman’s season to a Blazer fan this past summer they would have shouted “I’ll take it, no take backs!” within the first three sentences.
Grade: A
Steve Blake
Full disclosure: I’m an unabashed Steve Blake groupie. I think he brings way more to the table than he takes off, and a lot of it can’t be described in statistics. The best way I can describe it is by saying his effect on this Blazer team is perfectly analogous to his affinity for hoisting up half-court heaves at the end of just about every quarter.
See, one of my biggest pet peeves in the NBA is the godawful trend of taking an extra dribble in the final seconds of a quarter, allowing the clock to run out just before you throw up a shot that no longer counts, all in the name of saving your field goal percentage. It’s the single most selfish thing a player can do, as it’s putting your stats ahead of your team.
Meanwhile, Steve Blake doesn’t give a rip about no stats. All he cares about is winning games. And, while he has yet to hit one of these near impossible shots, by golly he’s going to get that shot up, just on the off chance those are the three points that win you the game.
That’s exactly how he plays every minute of every game. He scraps, claws, and fights his way for everything, and he does whatever is asked of him. He’s come up with big steals, big stops, big shots and big assists, all season long. And, he’s brought a steadying hand to a bench full of youngsters in dire need of one. Like Kaman, he is far from perfect, but, he always seems to bring exactly what is needed at any given time.
Grade: B+
Robin Lopez
It’s been an up and down year for the lovable RoLo. In a lot of ways he’s been as steady as ever, providing the inside presence on both ends of the floor that helped propel the Blazers from also-rans to Western Conference powers. He’s also, kept up (or even ratcheted up) the playful weirdness that helped endear him to the city of Portland almost instantaneously last season by waging a season long war against the mascots of the NBA.
Yet, as much as there is to like, it’s hard to declare this season too much of a success Sideshow Rob. He lost a big chunk of time to a broken hand which really slowed down the team’s hot start. And, while he’s still provided a lot of the same in the middle for the Blazers, you can see he just hasn’t seemed to find his rhythm since returning just after the All-Star break. His shot has been just hair off (as have his free throws) and he you can see his hand still bothering him at times on both ends of the floor. That being said, the team is vastly superior when he is on the court, and there is little doubt that Neil Olshey and company will do whatever it takes to get him back next year.
Grade: B-
Wesley Matthews
Oh, Wesley, what could have been.
This was setting up to be the season where Wesley Matthews finally got his due. He got his invitation to the 3-Point Shootout at All-Star Weekend, he was finally being discussed as one of the premier shooting guards in the league, and he was on the cusp of getting the big-time 8 figure deal that he had worked his entire life to prove he was worth. But, alas, his Achilles heel was… well, his Achilles heel. It gave out on him at the worst possible time, right as the team was starting to hit their stride.
The irony of the situation is that in his absence, the team has faltered down the stretch, finally serving notice to the rest of the league exactly how important he is. He is the heart and soul of the Blazers, and that isn’t even accounting for all he does on the court. While this may end up being the season of what-could-have-been for Matthews, there is little doubt how huge of an impact he had on this team and this season, both good and bad. Of course, as always with Wesley, the good far outweighed the bad.
Grade: A-
Nicolas Batum
Even through the rosiest colored glasses, this has been a tough season for Nic Batum. After showing steady improvement through his first six seasons, Batum’s field goal and three-point percentage fell through the floor after an early-season wrist injury on a cheap shot from the Bucks’ Larry Sanders. So, while he gets major bonus points for toughing his way through a torn ligament in his shooting wrist, one of the sneaky-worst injuries a perimeter player can have, it’s hard to call this anything but a lost season for Nico.
From that point he was sent sprawling to the floor until the All-Star break Batum was a shell of his former self, basically refusing to put up anything but the most open and necessary of shots. He became the highest paid decoy in the league for a few weeks, before people started to figure out his aversion to any shot that wasn’t a layup. Still, he continued to find ways to contribute, and gamely played in a managed to make it through a majority of the season, despite his body trying its hardest to let him down.
Grade: C
LaMarcus Aldridge
Aldridge set a career high for points per game this season, while playing less minutes and taking less shots than he did when he set his previous high just a season ago. He improved his field goal and free throw percentage and added a new wrinkle to his game by blowing away his career highs in 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage. So, it’s fitting that he was selected to his fourth straight All-Star Game, getting his first start in the mid-season classic (even if it was as an injury replacement).
All that by itself would be worthy of a glowing grade for a guy who is quickly becoming 1b next to Clyde Drexler in the discussion of greatest Blazers of all time. The fact that he played most of the year with a torn ligament in his thumb, missing only one game after being declared all but lost for the season, makes what he’s done downright incredible. His 25-10 games may often seem a bit ho-hum at this point, but, when it comes down to it, this was the easiest grade to hand out, and it wasn’t really even close. Simply put, the Blazers don’t even sniff the playoffs this year without LaMarcus’s badassery.
Grade: A+
Damian Lillard
In the eyes of even the casual NBA fan, Damian Lillard blew the F up this year. From releasing his own signature shoe, to taking over social media with his #4BarFridays, to winning his first Player of the Month award and making his 2nd straight All-Star appearance, Lillard did everything he could to ascend to full on superstar status. He cemented his status as one of the most feared late-game scorers and one of the deadliest of long-range bombers. By all accounts, he tore the league up.
Yet, at the same time, I feel like it could have been better. Maybe I’m falling for the hype a bit and expecting too much from the third year guard, but, that’s the bar that he’s set for himself. Don’t get me wrong, Lillard has been fantastic all season, and, like LaMarcus, the Blazers wouldn’t even sniff the playoffs without him. At the same time, as we’ve come to expect more consistent greatness from him, this has been a season of peaks and valleys for Dame. While his defense has improved dramatically from his rookie season (and, don’t let anyone tell you it hasn’t), he’s still mostly a liability on that end. And, while his 3-point shot is one of the deadliest in the game, he can fall in love with it at times to the detriment of his overall game.
Sure, I might be being a little tough of ol’ Dame, but, not any tougher than he is on himself. If the Blazers do as expected, and fall to the Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, I pity the league who will have to feel the wrath of Lillard coming of a disappointing season. And, if he once again leads the team to the opening round upset… well, then we can probably go ahead and bump this grade up a few notches. I sure won’t argue.
Grade: B
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