Portland Trail Blazers: 5 big goals for 2018-19 NBA season

Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /

3. Space the floor better

Portland managed to fight its way to 49 wins and a division title last year. However, the team accomplished this without playing the most fluid brand of basketball. Basketball-Reference ranked their pace 19th in the NBA, and the Blazers averaged a league-worst 8.1 fast break points per game. The ball also tended to stick too much, as Portland had the sixth-most isolation possessions in the league last year while averaging the fewest assists.

Those numbers bear out that way because, in too many instances, Lillard and McCollum felt they needed to put the offense on their shoulders to make things work. It’s why the team shot well from 3-point range last season (11th-best), but only averaged the 19th-most attempts. As evidenced by their record, things tended to work out more often than not. However, last year’s short playoff run showed there is plenty of room for improvement.

This is what pushed the front office to make the moves they did. Curry, Stauskas and Trent are all known for their perimeter shooting prowess, while Simons has the potential to become just as good from distance. Meanwhile, the team allowed Ed Davis to walk in free agency, despite being an important glue guy, partially because of his inability to space the floor. At this juncture, Jusuf Nurkic and Evan Turner are the only two players in the rotation that haven’t shown the ability to consistently shoot from 3-point range.

Having more reliable 3-point shooting and ball movement will increase team pace and open up the lane. This will allow Nurkic to post up better on the low block and Lillard and McCollum to slash to the basket at a more efficient clip. A smoother offense should spell success for the 2018-19 Blazers.