There's no rationalizing LaMarcus Aldridge's free agency departure -- he was their best, most important player who had spent his entire career in Portland. The Trail Blazers aren't better off without him, even if they aren't upset about his departure, either.
Portland Trail Blazers 2015 roster: Blazers begin search for a core around Damian Lillard
With LaMarcus Aldridge leaving in free agency, Portland let its three other starters walk to focus around its star point guard.
Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports
Damian Lillard presents a silver lining, though -- hope for another draft pick to ascend to Aldridge's spot this season. Portland won't repeat as division champions and is predicted to finish several spots out of the playoffs, something which it knows very well. Instead of signing veterans and hanging onto their core, Portland went young, shipping away Nicolas Batum and not attempting to re-sign Wesley Matthews. Now, the Blazers have a roster with just one player over the age of 27 (Chris Kaman) and plenty of opportunities to develop their next core, one that can surpass the Aldridge-led group that never made it past the West semifinals.
It’ll take this year of transition and perhaps another one after that, but given their youth, Portland has that time to answer any questions they might have.
LAST YEAR
RECORD: 51-31 (4th in Western Conference)
PLAYOFFS: Lost 4-1 to Memphis Grizzlies
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 105.5 (8th)
DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: 101.4 (10th)
ROSTER
No. | PLAYER | POS | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | AGE | COLLEGE |
| 0 | Damian Lillard | PG | 6-3 | 195 | 25 | Weber State |
| 3 | C.J. McCollum | SG | 6-4 | 200 | 24 | Lehigh |
| 4 | Maurice Harkless | SF | 6-9 | 215 | 22 | St. John's |
| 5 | Pat Connaughton | SG | 6-5 | 206 | 22 | Notre Dame |
| 8 | Al-Farouq Aminu | SF | 6-9 | 215 | 25 | Wake Forest |
| 9 | Gerald Henderson | SG | 6-5 | 215 | 27 | Duke |
| 10 | Tim Frazier | PG | 6-1 | 170 | 24 | Penn State |
| 11 | Meyers Leonard | C | 7-1 | 245 | 23 | Illinois |
| 17 | Ed Davis | PF | 6-10 | 240 | 26 | North Carolina |
| 21 | Noah Vonleh | PF | 6-10 | 240 | 20 | Indiana |
| 23 | Allen Crabbe | SF | 6-6 | 210 | 23 | California |
| 24 | Mason Plumlee | PF | 6-11 | 235 | 25 | Duke |
| 26 | Phil Pressey | PG | 5-11 | 175 | 24 | Missouri |
| 34 | Cliff Alexander | PF | 6-8 | 240 | 19 | Kansas |
| 35 | Chris Kaman | C | 7-0 | 265 | 33 | Central Michigan |
Coach: Terry Stotts
Assistant coaches: Jay Triano, David Vanterpool, Nate Tibbetts, Kim Hughes, Dale Osbourne
OFFSEASON CHANGES
IN: Noah Vonleh, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ed Davis
OUT: LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez, Arron Afflalo
Losing Aldridge was rumored all season and it became increasingly obvious toward free agency, so Portland completely blew up its roster, replacing the previous core with young veterans.
DEPTH CHART
POINT GUARD | SHOOTING GUARD | SMALL FORWARD | POWER FORWARD | CENTER | |
STARTER | Damian Lillard | Gerald Henderson | Al-Farouq Aminu | Ed Davis | Meyers Leonard |
RESERVE | Tim Frazier | C.J. McCollum | Maurice Harkless | Noah Vonleh | Mason Plumlee |
RESERVE | Phil Pressey | Allen Crabbe | Cliff Alexander | Chris Kaman | |
RESERVE | Pat Connaughton |
THE KEY QUESTION
How many years before the Blazers contend again?
Ultimately, this is the real question, isn’t it? No one expects the Blazers to return this year as a legitimate threat in the West the way they were this past season. For the moment, their focus is on developing talent and keeping one eye on their long-term goals. If they can’t be a playoff team now, they should instead aspire to be one in... two years? Three?
I’m going to be an optimist about this. While the Blazers don’t look like a competitive squad on paper right now, they have a handful of players who are on the verge of being solid NBA starters - they just need the minutes to prove it. McCollum, Leonard and Plumlee all fall into this category. Maybe in their first year together as core players, they aren’t ready to make that leap into playoff basketball, but they may surprise some people by 2017. This is a young, raw, unproven collection of talent in Rip City at the moment, but it may not be as far away from relevance as the average fan thinks. Slowly but surely, the Blazers are building something real. -- BlazersEdge
PREDICTIONS
BEST CASE: Losing Aldridge can’t be rationalized, but Portland’s young roster is successful without him, playing staunch defense. They stay competitive in the Western Conference through the All-Star break thanks to Lillard’s career year and finish in the top-10.
WORST CASE: It turns out that Lillard needs another scorer to take the load off him, regressing slightly under an abnormally difficult workload. Vonleh doesn’t show any signs of becoming a real NBA player, Leonard’s shooting comes back down to Earth and Aminu struggles outside of the Dallas system that treated him so well.
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