At 4-9, the Portland Trail Blazers are starting to look more like the team most expected before the 2015-16 season began. The Damian Lillard–C.J. McCollum tandem has wasted no time in becoming one of the best scoring backcourts in the league, Al-Farouq Aminu is living up to his big new contract and these young Blazers play with an energy that’s impossible to ignore.
And yet, as losers in five straight games, Rip City’s glaring issue has once again come to the forefront: defense.
Of course, this was to be expected. Losing committed defenders like Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez over the offseason was bound to have this kind of effect on last year’s 10th ranked defense. But even with Aminu holding things down on the wing, the Blazers don’t have the kind of rim protection to make up for one of the league’s most porous backcourts in Dame and McCollum.
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Through the first 13 games of the season, the Blazers are the league’s 23rd-ranked defense, surrendering 104.5 points per 100 possessions. According to Basketball-Reference, the Blazers are 4.0 points better defensively per 100 possessions with Lillard off the court and 4.9 points better with McCollum on the bench.
What’s unfortunate about that is the Blazers are outscoring opponents by 12.8 points per 100 possessions with Lillard in the game, and 6.3 points with McCollum on the floor. But even with the backcourt being a net positive, their defense is not the only problem, and not even Aminu’s wingspan has made much of a difference when it comes to keeping opponents out of the lane.
According to NBA.com, the Blazers were surrendering 43.5 points in the paint per game, the eighth highest mark in the league, before their meeting with the Houston Rockets Wednesday night skewed the numbers in their favor. Portland was also allowing opponents to shoot 45.3 percent from the field (23rd) before a bad night from the Rockets improved their numbers.
Rip City Project
The reason? Opponents are hardly intimidated by the prospect of Mason Plumlee guarding the rim. Though Plumlee is averaging 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, he has the second-worst defensive rating of anyone on the roster and according to NBA.com, opponents are shooting 63.4 percent on shots from less than six feet contested by Plumlee — the second worst mark of any “rim protector” who challenges at least five such shots per game this season.
For this young team, defense is quite clearly their biggest hurdle to improving in the win column.
There’s no question Rip City already has a potent offense. Lillard has stepped up in his new role as undisputed leader, averaging 25.1 points, 6.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game on .432/.373/.857 shooting splits. McCollum is averaging 20.3 points per game on 37.1 percent shooting from three-point range and the Blazers rank ninth in field goal percentage (45 percent) and 11th in three-point efficiency (35.7 percent).
But until an increased, more consistent effort comes on the defensive end, this Rip City team will continue to be branded with that dreaded “rebuilding mode” label. That’s not the worst thing in the world for a team full of young players that just lost four of five starters from the season before, but based on this team’s offense, the Blazers are capable of so much more.
Perhaps it’s a matter of personnel. Maybe it’s a matter of developing team chemistry. It could even just be a matter of a young team taking its lumps and going through growing pains. But until the day comes when everyone commits to the defensive end, the Blazers will remain a fun team without real substance.