After escaping the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000, the Portland Trail Blazers ran into the eventual champs and were felled by the San Antonio Spurs' exceptional offensive ability and defensive versatility.
Blazers must add depth to build on promising 2013-14 season
They have zero draft picks and little cap space, but the Trail Blazers are still trying to build around last season’s playoff squad.
Chris Covatta
Still, the Trail Blazers have the benefit of a pretty young roster. Damian Lillard excels at point guard with the quickness and agility to drive into the paint and a solid jump shot to keep defenses honest. LaMarcus Aldridge, who put in back-to-back 40-point games in the opening games of the playoffs, has terrific scoring instincts from midrange. Nicolas Batum's versatility as a shooter, passer, defender and slasher make him a particularly fun player to watch. They also have a pretty good shooter in Wesley Matthews to help space the floor. Robin Lopez's arrival helped make them much better defensively and on the glass.
But their second unit still lacks the depth, especially on defense, to help propel them to the next level. Their recent draft picks outside of Lillard haven't panned out well, though injury has hindered the development of C.J. McCollum, their No. 10 pick last season.
With that in mind, they still have youth to develop, which can add to the core they’ve molded over the past few years. However, they don’t have draft picks to work with, and if much is to happen this year, it will have to be via trade or free agency.
The assets
Picks: Zippo. Zero. Nada.
Free agents: Mo Williams, Earl Watson
Cap space: $0.9 million
Depth chart
PG: Damian Lillard, Mo Williams (UFA), C.J. McCollum, Earl Watson (UFA)
SG: Wesley Matthews, Will Barton (unguaranteed), Allen Crabbe
SF: Nicolas Batum, Dorell Wright, Victor Claver
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge, Thomas Robinson
C: Robin Lopez, Meyers Leonard, Joel Freeland
Team needs
The Trail Blazers’ starting unit is more or less set as-is. They’d love to add an elite player at center, but have little flexibility to do so. As such, they’re probably going to look to their bench for improvements.
With McCollum in their backcourt reserves, Portland has a guard who can handle the ball next year. They could use a dynamic wing at shooting guard or small forward off the bench to add some efficient scoring, or perhaps a reserve big to add some dynamic defense to help contain bench units.
Targets
Without draft picks, any thoughts about the Trail Blazers’ offseason is pretty much purely speculative. Their cap space is expected to be minimal and they still have plenty of holes to fill. McCollum has terrific scoring instincts and experience handling the ball, so I’m comfortable with him as the reserve point guard over free-agent-to-be Mo Williams. But the backup shooting guard and center spots aren’t cemented in Portland’s rotation.
Sign-and-trade deals could be the sweet spot for Portland's financials, but it remains to be seen what would be sent in a prospective transaction. Throwing caution to the wind, Channing Frye could be a good fit. His length, mobility and shooting ability could make him a versatile frontcourt option on offense and defense.
Portland’s tradeable assets include McCollum, Meyers Leonard, Will Barton and possibly a future first-round pick. McCollum’s future is the brightest, but even then we’ve only seen him for 38 games this year. The other players have considerably less talent (no offense) and will garner less in a trade market. But put together, maybe they could add up to something. It probably wouldn’t add up to much of anything without a draft pick, however. Whether Portland wants to mortgage its future a bit by dealing a draft pick is up for debate.
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