Portland Trail Blazers: 2015-16 Season Outlook

It’s been a rough summer for Portland Trail Blazers fans. The 2014-15 season seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Blazers to finally prove they weren’t just another “good” team in the Western Conference, but any hopes of title contention shattered as quickly as Wesley Matthews‘ Achilles, condemning Portland to a quick first round playoff exit and a myriad of questions.

Would LaMarcus Aldridge really leave after saying he wanted to be the greatest Blazer ever just a year before? Would Matthews ever be the same after a scary injury that’s altered and ended the careers of so many NBA greats before him? And even if Aldridge returned, would it even be worth it to keep this current core together in the brutal West?

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After a summer that featured more departures than a Game of Thrones wedding, the Blazers lost and/or jettisoned four of their five starters, with general manager Neil Olshey opting to press the rebuild button sooner rather than later. Only Damian Lillard remains, all but guaranteeing Rip City a spot in the draft lottery next summer.

The LaMarcus Aldridge era is over. The question now is whether new, young additions like Noah Vonleh, Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu and Mason Plumlee will pan out to be long-term fixtures in Portland as the Blazers try to build an elite team instead of another great one.

2014-15 Vitals
51-31, 1st in Northwest Division, 4th in Western Conference
102.8 PPG (9th)/98.6 OPPG (11th)
108.2 Offensive Rating (5th)/103.7 Defensive Rating (10th)

Team Leaders
Scoring: LaMarcus Aldridge, 23.4 PPG
Rebounding: LaMarcus Aldridge, 10.2 RPG
Assists: Damian Lillard, 6.2 APG
Steals: Wesley Matthews, 1.3 SPG
Blocks: Robin Lopez, 1.4 BPG

Honors
All-NBA Second Team: LaMarcus Aldridge
NBA All-Star: LaMarcus Aldridge
NBA All-Star: Damian Lillard

Next: 2015-16 Roster