Portland Trail Blazers: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 Media Day

Here is a list of five takeaways from the 2017-18 Portland Trail Blazers Media Day.

The 2017 Portland Trail Blazers‘ 2017-18 Media Day was held on Monday, Sept. 25, and let’s be real: it was pretty anticlimactic. There wasn’t really anything said or done that took anyone by surprise — unless of course, you count Damian Lillard revealing that vegans willingly submit themselves to a dish that vaguely reminds them of a sloppy Joe.

Basically, Blazers Media Day was a summation of everything that went on during the summer: the close trades, NBA Summer League, the players’ offseason workouts, injury rehabilitation efforts, etc. The Blazers had a quiet summer, and therefore they had a quiet Media Day.

Nevertheless, there were a number of things that caught my eye —  a handful of incredibly intriguing story lines that every Portland Trail Blazers fan definitely needs to keep an eye on as we approach the 2017-18 regular season.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from Blazers Media Day.

5. Portland is incredibly underrated

The Portland Trail Blazers are a small-market team, and the city itself just doesn’t have the same allure as, let’s say, Los Angeles or New York. Nevertheless, they’ve made due by building through the draft, and needless to say — they’ve done rather well over the past five seasons.

But that’s just it: the Portland Trail Blazers have been incredibly successful the past few years, making four consecutive playoff appearances while having one of the youngest teams in the league. They’ve proven themselves to be consistent winners, and their young core has only continued to improve.

So why is it that high-level players looking for a change of scenery (i.e., Carmelo Anthony) refuse to take Portland seriously? Why did Anthony so easily write Portland off after extending his short list of preferred destinations to Oklahoma City and Cleveland?

And then there’s this whole thing about the NBA completely ruling Portland out of contention for an All-Star game for the next three years; what’s that about? Considering that Nike is now the face of NBA apparel, you would think the league would be smart enough to hold an All-Star game in Portland — just eight miles northeast of Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton.

I’m not sure exactly what Portland did to get one everyone’s sh*t list, but I sincerely hope that changes in the near future. The city, the fans and the players deserve better.

4. Everyone is high on Caleb Swanigan

Caleb Swanigan can play. Ask any player on the Portland Trail Blazers. Ask any of the coaches, the staff…ask the media. They’ll all tell you the same thing: Caleb Swanigan is as ready to play in the NBA as any of the players in his draft class, and he’s definitely going to earn some minutes in the rotation this season.

If you don’t believe me, just take a peek at the following testimonials from Blazers Media Day:

And if that isn’t enough to get you hype about seeing him play, he took it a few steps further:

Recall from one of my previous pieces that Swanigan played a total of eight games over the course of Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 16.1 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 30.9 minutes per game.

Sure, it’s awesome that he has the ability to stretch the floor, but his knack for playing a physical game on the block and just completely enveloping rebounds is what really sets him apart. He has an edge to him — a bulldog mentality — that I’m sure his teammates (and the fans) will find absolutely contagious.

3. Jusuf Nurkic is in great shape

A small word problem: The Bosnian Beast was listed at right around 280 pounds last season. He revealed during Media Day that he lost roughly 35 pounds this summer, and he now weighs just over 270 pounds. If his weight loss story is to be believed, then how much did he actually weigh last season?

I’m bad at math and I’m sure if you’re reading this, you probably are, too; therefore I’ll make it easy and just tell you the answer: Jusuf Nurkic weighed just over 305 lbs. when he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers.

This season, he’s in much better shape and apparently much more agile. After breaking his leg prior to the 2017 postseason, the 23-year-old center is expected to be much less susceptible to injuries to his lower torso after shedding about 10 percent of his weight from last year.

And as great as that sounds, Nurkic recently posted a picture of him playing in the first day of training camp…wearing a face mask.

https://twitter.com/bosnianbeast27/status/912891793095585792

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Let’s all just be happy about the fact he shed 35 pounds and remains clear to play.

2. Meyers Leonard is inspired

If you found yourself totally astounded to see this slide, just take note that I was just as astounded to have written it.

Plus, just like every other Blazers writer that writes about Meyers Leonard, I’ll begin by saying that this may not be what you want to hear or read about, but it’s an interesting point to discuss, nonetheless. No hard feelings, however, if you’ve already lost faith in the 25-year-old big man and just want to skip to the next slide .

Long story, short: I’ve never been one to let someone’s positive mentality and obvious determination go unacknowledged, so this is me giving Meyers Leonard his due. We all knew he was working to overhaul his game and come back this season as an entirely new and improved player — we all just thought it was a load of horse sh*t.

However, judging from how Dame talked about him during Media Day, I just can’t help wanting to buy front row tickets to see whether Leonard’s offseason efforts actually paid off.

1. The starting 4 spot is wide open

Noah Vonleh is expected to be out for 4-5 weeks with a shoulder strain, so the starting 4 has yet to be determined. There are three candidates.

First, there’s veteran Al-Farouq Aminu. While he’s certainly one of the top-two candidates for the job with Vonleh sitting out, Terry Stotts mentioned that Aminu could end up playing more at small forward due to their considerable depth at power forward and lack thereof at the 3.

That said, why not bring in a fresh new face to start at power forward? Caleb Swanigan certainly turned some heads with his performances in Las Vegas. Of course, Summer League games are much different than regular season games, so possibly a more experienced player would be a safer bet in this instance.

Lucky for the Blazers, Ed Davis — who many recall having season-ending surgery to repair a shoulder injury — was cleared to play the morning of Media Day. Considering how much time he missed last summer, he fits the criteria of being a fresh face AND an experienced veteran. 

Next: Top 10 candidates for the 2017-18 NBA Rookie of the Year Award

Plus, he wants the job, and frankly, I can’t think of a good reason to deny him the opportunity to play for that starting 4 spot. According to Coach Stotts, Davis looked good in his first day back, and players like Caleb Swanigan definitely took notice. Hopefully Davis can get back on track and earn that starting 4 spot back from Vonleh permanently.