The Portland Trail Blazers started a rebuild after they traded away franchise legend Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. However, they only spent a couple seasons as cellar dwellers and returned to the playoffs last season.
Thanks to a core of Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan, and veterans like Jrue Holiday and Robert Williams, the Blazers had a nice mix of experience and youth on their roster.
Lillard came back during the summer of 2025, but was recovering from a torn achilles, so the team essentially added him and Ja Morant to the mix this season and one thing has become clear about this Portland team.
The Blazers are going to be a tough out in the West once again
A big reason why Portland was able to return to the playoff picture last season was because of their tenacious defense and their relentlessness on the glass. When you have Jrue Holiday, Camara, Clingan, Williams, and even Avdija, it is tough to score on the perimeter.
The Blazers’ issue was their offense and scoring in the halfcourt, a deficiency that was exposed in the playoffs against the Spurs. So far this season, thanks to head coach Micah Nori, Portland’s offensive process has looked a lot better and they are third in offensive rating so far.
He has figured out the perfect way to stagger Lillard, Morant, Henderson, and Holiday. Morant, before he went down with a hamstring injury, looked very comfortable in a simplified role offensively, and was getting a ton of open and easy looks. Lillard’s gravity is also helping this team a lot, and giving Avdija a lot more spacing to drive to the basket, which is his best skill.
Clingan has been just as steady on both ends of the floor in the paint and has been hitting the occasional pick and pop three. Overall, the Blazers’ offense is just much smoother, and their defense is still just as elite. They absolutely suffocated the Jazz and Keyonte George on that end, while being methodical offensively.
The West is going to be tough once again and Portland has the depth and coaching to compete with basically anyone in the conference. Their big weakness from last year seems to be shored up in the early part of the season, and that is a scary development for the rest of the West.
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