The Portland Trail Blazers received stomped by the Milwaukee Bucks by a rating of 127-108 on Monday. That’s nothing new for a Portland crew that has not often sniffed true rivalry over the previous decade. During the Damian Lillard period, the Blazers have completed above .500 towards groups with a report of .500 or higher solely as soon as, throughout the 2018-19 season, which additionally occurs to be the final time this crew gained a playoff collection.
It’s a becoming statistic for a frustratingly mediocre period of Blazers historical past. Having Lillard has saved the Blazers afloat for years. He’s helped them make the playoffs eight instances. Once there, he is greater than held up his finish of the discount with plenty of stellar performances. But finally, when the Lillard-era Blazers run up towards true championship-caliber competitors, they lose.
Lillard has by no means shied away from the Sisyphean activity the Blazers have laid earlier than him. Every yr at this level on the calendar there are groups making an attempt to pry him away from the one NBA house he is ever identified, and yearly, he makes it clear that he isn’t interested by going anyplace. The 2023 deadline has been suspiciously quiet on that entrance. Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reported in January that the Blazers are nonetheless making an attempt to enhance the roster round Lillard. Josh Hart is seemingly on the desk. Jerami Grant could or could not signal an extension. Such rumors would possibly maintain grander stakes for a greater crew. For Portland, they could be the distinction between 38 wins and 43.
For the time being, Lillard does not appear to thoughts pushing that boulder up the hill, and the Blazers have by no means been inclined to cease him. NBA groups not often think about transferring stars of their prime who wish to keep put. It’s simpler to transform every thing round them and hope the most recent beauty adjustments are sufficient to distract from the rotting basis. Maybe a brand new coach will repair this? No? How a couple of redesigned, wing-heavy roster? Surely that’ll get issues again on observe.
Thus far this season, it hasn’t. Since beginning 9-3, the Blazers have gone 17-25. They have the NBA’s ninth-worst internet score since then and its fourth-worst protection for the season as a complete. Swapping out smaller guards like C.J. McCollum and Norman Powell for heartier wings like Grant and Hart has to date executed little to resolve this crew’s underlying defensive flaws. There’s not a lot proof to counsel at this level that Chauncey Billups is a greater coach than Terry Stotts, and lest you consider there’s a blockbuster commerce on the horizon that might repair this, keep in mind that Portland owes a first-round decide to Chicago that has protections that final till 2028. Therefore, in the meanwhile, The Blazers cannot even commerce a first-round decide with out eradicating these protections. Doing so means handing the Bulls a attainable lottery decide in June.
There will most likely be extra lateral adjustments within the coming days and the approaching months. Portland will seemingly substitute Hart with their mid-level exception in July. Perhaps the Blazers will commerce for a middle extra cell than Jusuf Nurkic. It’s arduous to take the thought of such strikes too critically within the better context of Lillard’s profession. He’s performed on virtually each sort of crew at this level. He was a part of a standard guard-big star tandem with LaMarcus Aldridge early on earlier than transitioning into an offensive juggernaut with McCollum for the majority of his prime. Now the Blazers have tried to strike extra of a stability between offense and protection, and it has to date yielded uninspiring outcomes. Lillard has now performed for 2 coaches, two common managers and two house owners. The outcomes have by no means actually modified. The solely untouched variable within the equation is Lillard.
Lillard is not at fault for what’s gone fallacious in Portland. He’s one of many few issues which have held the Blazers collectively regardless of years of poor administration, and the stakes to protecting him for all of those years have been comparatively low. He’s blissful in Portland. Blazers followers are blissful to have him in Portland. There’s nothing essentially fallacious with profitable 45 video games yearly when higher choices do not current themselves, however the longer they do it, the tougher it is going to be to alter course. Sooner or later, it will most likely behoove the Blazers to actively select a route for his or her franchise.
Behind Door No. 1 we now have the definition of madness. The Blazers can hold making an attempt to place a winner round Lillard. Maybe they strike gold on an under-the-radar transaction. Maybe they’ll pool their younger gamers into an affect veteran. Maybe Lillard convinces a star to affix him in Portland. It’s not inconceivable. Kevin Durant has a well known fondness for Lillard and requested for a commerce eight months in the past, in any case. Sometimes all it takes is being on the proper place on the proper time. The Toronto Raptors weren’t dissimilar to the Blazers a couple of years in the past. Kawhi Leonard gained them a championship.
But counting on such fortune as a small-market crew with restricted commerce assets carries its personal dangers. Lillard is 32 and can seemingly start to say no quickly. He’s underneath contract by 2027, and if that decline comes as scheduled, that deal may hamper the following half-decade of Portland roster-building. It’s far likelier that the Blazers spend the remaining years of Lillard’s prime as they’ve spent the majority of it to date. A Grant right here, a Hart there. Good gamers that do not make sense with out one other nice one. Doing the identical factor over and over and anticipating totally different outcomes.
Behind Door No. 2, we now have the unpopular unknown. Portland’s second-best participant might be the 23-year-old Anfernee Simons. Shaedon Sharpe continues to be an adolescent, and contemplating it took Simons 4 years simply to achieve a double-digit scoring common, he most likely has some uncomfortable developmental years forward of him. The flashes of upside are there, simply as they’ve been for younger ahead Nassir Little. Move Lillard now and the Blazers may nonetheless get a haul for him to pair with these kids. A few years within the lottery would not harm both.
There’s no certainty to that path. Maybe Simons and Sharpe, with higher supporting infrastructure, can develop into a greater model of the Lillard-McCollum backcourt that got here up actually and figuratively brief. Maybe freely giving Lillard results in a decade within the wilderness because the Dwight Howard commerce did for the Orlando Magic. The solely option to discover out is to make the leap.
Doing so would imply ignoring the very publicly expressed needs of a franchise icon. No government desires to be remembered as the person who traded one of the best participant in franchise historical past. But NBA historical past favors groups that strikes stars proactively. Oklahoma City and Utah are positioned fairly effectively transferring ahead because of the star trades they’ve made in current offseasons. The longer you wait, the much less worth you may extract. Lillard continues to be a star at 32. He might not be at 34.
And if he is round at 36? He’s most likely going to be taking on photographs, minutes and {dollars} that might be higher utilized maximizing Simons and Sharpe. Throwing away one period out of sentimentality is one factor. Letting it drip into the following is considerably extra harmful. The Lillard period began at an inherent drawback given the veteran-laden roster he initially joined. Once Aldridge and a number of other different key Blazers left, Portland merely lacked the instruments to rebuild adequately. Lillard was too good to tank, however with out getting something again for the departed veterans, the Blazers had no approach of changing what was misplaced. It’s a cycle the Blazers shouldn’t be desirous to repeat.
Yet it more and more appears like their future the longer they faux that there is a viable path to placing a championship crew round Lillard. They’ve spent a decade making an attempt and failing to take action. Lillard would possibly wish to spend one other decade pushing that rock up that hill, however ultimately, the Blazers must acknowledge that one of the best pursuits of the franchise should not be outdated by the desires of a single participant. The Lillard-centric model of the Blazers are by no means going to have the ability to compete with the Bucks of the world. Separating has all the time been Lillard’s greatest path to doing so, however the longer this drags on, the extra evident it turns into that it’s Portland’s as effectively.
