18. Portland Trail Blazers 2010s all-decade starting lineup
- Damian Lillard
- CJ McCollum
- Brandon Roy
- LaMarcus Aldridge
- Jusuf Nurkic
We’ve seen the lethal backcourt combo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum for the Portland Trail Blazers as well as the added inside presence of Jusuf Nurkic. We’ve even been given a glimpse of what Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge can do together.
What the NBA hasn’t seen in a long time and what many casual fans probably never have is the talent that was Brandon Roy.
Even though injuries took away his career in the early stages of the decade, Roy still spent the 2009-10 season an All-Star averaging 21.5 points, 4.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. Of course, he’d have to grow accustomed to playing off the ball, if but Lillard and McCollum could find harmony, it’d be a safe bet to assume they could integrate Roy.
Aldridge never shot the three well in Portland, but he was nearly automatic from the elbow, affording Lillard and McCollum a pick-and-pop weapon they’ve only sparingly played with.
The closest thing these Blazers have to a defender is Nurkic, who has been a serviceable rim-protector for Portland and averaged 1.4 blocks in just 27.4 minutes a night in 2018-19.
Other than the Bosnian Beat, the Blazers will have a tough time stopping anyone. They might have a plethora of offensive options to overcome those lapses at times, but every top-tier team needs to rely on their defense when the inevitable misses begin to pile up.