NBA Power Rankings Preseason Edition: Lakers moves lead the way
Last Season: 42-30, 6th in Western Conference
The Portland Trail Blazers seemed to be at a crossroads of sorts this offseason, navigated it clumsily, but perhaps made it out of there alive? Another disappointing season finish, a six-game loss to the short-handed Denver Nuggets, led to the firing of head coach Terry Stotts. When the team hired Chauncey Billups to replace him, a maelstrom of outrage and opinions over Billups’ past seemed to push superstar guard Damian Lillard to the brink of demanding out.
As the season is about to begin, however, Lillard again seems ready to go to battle with the Trail Blazers. That means another year of Portland trying its best to be a player in a Western Conference where contenders are better built for success, not trying to survive with two small guards, no matter how dynamic they are. To their credit, the Blazers did rebuild their bench with solid contributors like Cody Zeller, Ben McLemore and Tony Snell.
Key Offseason Move: Trading for Larry Nance Jr. The final bench piece that Portland added was versatile forward Larry Nance Jr., formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nance is athletic and incredibly smart defensively, and he has grown from a below average player on both ends to a reasonable shooter and an exceptional defender. He can play alongside Robert Covington as two absolute wreckers defensively, or at the 4 replacing Ro-Co and giving the Blazers a very different look than they got last season with Carmelo Anthony as the bench 4.