Are The Portland Trail Blazers Legitimate Contenders?
True championship contenders are few and far between in the NBA. Few teams actually have the quality components necessary to make a deep run and challenge for a title.
Teams that seem to have what it takes but in the end prove to be fraudulent tend to pop up all over the regular season at different times.
The Portland Trail Blazers cannot go unnoticed any longer because they may have what it takes to put everything together and be a real threat in the Western Conference.
Led by LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, the Blazers have gotten off to one of the better starts in franchise history, going 26-8 to begin the season. Both Lillard and Aldridge have been absolutely spectacular on both ends of the floor, making even more improvements to their dominant play from last season.
Aldridge in particular has taken his defensive game to new heights. Sure, he is going to be known more for his efficient scoring from the midrange and his knack for being a force on the boards, but his defensive awareness and overall play has really taken a major step forward this season.
What Aldridge has improved upon this season is positioning himself to make plays on the defensive end. In seasons past, Aldridge has been way too passive when it comes to moving on help defense and recognizing where he needs to be in order to make a play or clear the defensive glass.
Aldridge has taken the time to recognize his situation better, and the Trail Blazers have been much better because of it. Now, Robin Lopez is not the only competent defensive big man in the rotation anymore with Aldridge’s improved play. With both of them being more locked in on that end of the floor, each of them can take more risks in terms of going after block attempts and switching on coverages.
Lopez and Aldridge have both built quality chemistry between one another and have gotten to know each other to the point where they know where each other is going to be on the floor, making it much easier to play off of each other and double-team opposing players in the post much more often. This is how both of them have been blocking more shots this season, and it is a big reason why the Trail Blazers have one of the best defenses in the league to this point.
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That’s right, Portland is currently second in opponent points per game at 96.5. This team did not defend at a high level last season, something that really held them back from competing at an elite level. With more of their players becoming more comfortable on the defensive side of the ball, there is no telling the kind of damage this team can do in the West.
Another improvement that has led to quality play to this point is the depth in the rotation. Last season, the Trail Blazers had to rely too much on their starters and younger, more inexperienced players to give quality minutes and play out of their minds for longer periods of time.
Portland went out this offseason and cleared that issue up with the signings of Steve Blake and Chris Kaman.
Both players are having great runs as key reserves for Aldridge and Lillard, averaging a combined 14.7 points per game, production that has helped the Blazers to have one of the better reserve units in the NBA, let alone the Western Conference. The play of young reserves C.J. McCollum, Thomas Robinson and Allen Crabbe has also been encouraging, giving the Trail Blazers a legit second unit to rely upon when the starters need rest.
This kind of depth is what a championship contender needs because the starting unit needs rest at times during the regular season. If players like Aldridge and Lillard have to play big minutes for 82 games, then who knows how many during the playoffs, they will get too burned out and as a result will be ineffective down the stretch. Having capable backup players helps to diminish the risk of this happening, and ultimately leads to a more balanced and well-established team over the course of an entire game.
Speaking of Lillard, he is developing into a true assassin with the ball.
Lillard is not afraid to take the big shot down the stretch, and continues to be one of the more efficient jump shooters in the league. I recently wrote about how he could potentially be one of the next all-time great NBA guards, and I stand by it.
Lillard has the kind of killer instinct that can change a game at any point in time and even tip the game in Portland’s favor towards the very end. Not many players have a clutch gene like Lillard’s, but boy does Portland like to rely on him with the game on the line, and luckily for the Blazers, he is at his best when the responsibility of winning the game is entirely on his shoulders.
A team with all of these ingredients deserves to be feared, even in the loaded Western Conference. With all of these things going for the Trail Blazers, combined with the fact that Wesley Matthews and Nicholas Batum have taken strides of their own on both ends of the floor, there may not be a more underrated team right now than Portland, and that is saying something given the number of quality wins this team is beginning to pile up.
Look out, NBA. the Trail Blazers are coming, and they are blazing their own path to a championship in the near future.
*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.