Portland Trail Blazers end 2017 as middling, but progressing, team

The end of December sees the Portland Trail Blazers hanging around .500. However, it’s actually a better place than they were the past two Decembers.

The Portland Trail Blazers have stumbled their to the end of 2017. Though there have been plenty of great performances, the luster of that March run for the playoffs has long past. The Blazers are now 18-17, capping the month with a 104-89 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. They ended the month with a 5-8 record, eighth-worst in the NBA.

Plenty went wrong last month. The team’s already-stagnant offense somehow got worse. Through Nov. 30, the team’s 102.6 points per 100 possessions was ranked 23rd in the NBA. Their 101.3 points per possession in December was 27th in the league.

The team’s defense also regressed in December. Portland ended November as the second-best defense in the NBA, allowing only 99.5 points per 100 possessions. It was truly impressive to see such a historically offensive-minded team suddenly become a lockdown defensive team over the course of a summer.

Unfortunately, the defense dropped back to around league-average in December. The Blazers allowed 106.4 points per 100 possessions during the month, 14th-best in the league. In December, Portland gave up 100 or more points eight times in 13 games. By comparison, they did the same thing 10 times in 22 games the previous two months.

The team has collectively struggled this December, but the star players also didn’t align in December to be the formidable trio they have proven to be at times.

Damian Lillard has continued to lead the charge for the Trail Blazers, but not with the same efficiency as last season. He was already struggling with his shot, going 42.0 percent from the field through the end of November. Lillard ended up shooting 41.5 percent in December. On the bright side, he also went 38.6 percent form 3-point range on the month.

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But the Blazers have had to go it without their floor general for the past four games. Lillard has been out with a right hamstring strain, falling injured around the same time he has the past two seasons. The team is 2-2 in his absence.

Big man Jusuf Nurkic has been gravely inconsistent. Already struggling with foul trouble early in the year, he has only shown flashes of his abilities as a finesse big this season. Nurkic shot 58.8 percent at the rim in December and 29.0 percent elsewhere on the floor.

C.J. McCollum also struggled with consistency in December. He shot 45.1 percent from the field and a blazing 47.2 percent from 3-point range in October and November. This past month, he shot 42.5 percent from the field while his 3-point shooting plummeted to 29.4 percent.

But even with the disappointing results that December produced, the Blazers find themselves in a better place than they’ve been in previous years. Portland is 18-17 after New Year’s Eve, a step up from the 14-21 records they sported at the same time in 2016 and 2015. Also, while a 5-8 December record is discouraging, the Blazers were 4-11 last December.

December also saw the rise of Shabazz Napier. While most of the team has struggled, he has stepped up and looked to contribute where the team needs him. He was already impressive in his backup role through the first two months, averaging 7.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

However, he really kicked things to another level in December. Napier averaged 13.8 points (third on the team), 3.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game on the month. He enters 2018 on a six-game double-digit scoring streak and a three-game 20-plus scoring streak.

Napier scored a season-high 23 points in the team’s 114-110 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Fifteen of those points, as well as three steals, came in the fourth quarter. That production allowed the Blazers to rally late in the game and eventually win.

Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft: End of 2017 edition

It wasn’t a pretty December for the Portland Trail Blazers. However, the team still seems to be on pace for a better record than they had last year. In order to have a better January, they will have to improve their consistency and efficiency on both ends of the floor.