The Portland Trail Blazers are off to a decent start. They show a record of 4 wins and 3 losses, by winning 4 games by a large margin, and losing 3 games barely. So far, the team hasn’t played as good as they could by only shooting 39% to 49%. Not one game has been above 50% up to date. If they were to shoot above 50%, just think how much better their record would be? They need to improve as a team in the shooting department or they just won’t win as many games as they should.
Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez and Chris Kaman are shooting above 50%. LaMarcus Aldridge is not far behind with a 46% shooting percentage. Damian Lillard, Nicholas Batum, Steve Blake and CJ McCollum are all shooting 30-40%. The guards and small forwards need to improve and be more consistent.
The defense has improved compared to last year as a team. Nicholas Batum and Robin Lopez are the two bright spots on the team with their consistent effort. Batum is good at stopping his man with his 7 foot 4 inch wingspan and sheer relentlessness by leading the team with one steal a game. Robin Lopez is protecting the rim well and is averaging 1.9 blocked shots a game. His big body and intensity is the heart and soul of the team. What makes Portland an improved defensive team is Chris Kaman when he goes in for Lopez. Kaman does what Portland need desperately from a front court player. He almost blocks as many shots as Lopez with 1.4 per game. His big body plugs the middle and he throws shots off. The rest of the team needs to step it up if they want to stop anybody. Lamarcus Aldridge could be a great defender if he wanted to be. At times he’s stretching his long arms throwing shots off; other times he’s seen standing around. Damian Lillard needs to do a better job in stopping his opponents. Players blow by him occasionally and he looks lost. If he steps it up on defense he’ll make Lopez and Kaman’s job easier. I can’t say anything bad about Wesley Matthews defense because he always gives 110% every night. If other players on the team worked as hard as he does the Portland Trail Blazers would be a different team.
The bench is better this year than last. Chris Kaman is averaging 9 points, 8 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game. Later on in the season he has the potential to average 12 points and 9 rebounds per game. He is a perfect fit to a team that couldn’t need a back-up center more than the Blazers. Steve Blake is a perfect replacement when Damian Lillard needs a break. Blake is smart and makes decisions well handling the ball. He hits the open 3 and drives to the basket while setting up his team mates to score. He is averaging 4.3 points and 3.4 assists coming off the bench. A lot of people talked about how slow Blake has become over the years. However, he really has been playing good defense for the Blazers so far. He has been giving 110% every night and hopefully he’ll keep it up. CJ McCollum has been a decent spark off the bench by averaging 9 points per game. He only has been averaging 33.3% per game from the field though, and needs to pick it up. Joel Freeland puts in quality minutes by hitting the boards hard and playing good interior defense. Even though he gives a good effort every night, he is limited in athletic ability and can only give so much. The rest of the bench gets very limited time in the game. Then, when they are in the game, they really don’t produce that much. If they want more time, they need to make their minutes count.
What has been listed is the Blazers’ strengths and weaknesses and what they need to improve on. If no one gets injured for a long period of time, they should go deep in the playoffs. A championship is not out of the question because the Blazers have the right ingredients.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
