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Strengthening bench and improving defence are top priorities for Portland Trail Blazers in off-season

Portland Trail Blazers

Among the most common predictions for the Portland Trail Blazers’ 2013-14 NBA season were that they would fail to register a winning record for the season and that they would be unable to make it to the Playoffs. But fast forward eight months, and clearly the team has flipped the script, surprising many with their performance not only in the regular season but also in the post-season.  

Tied with the Houston Rockets for fourth seed in the West with a record of 54 wins and 28 losses at the end of the season, the Blazers entered the Playoffs as the fifth seed due to Houston’s better head-to-head record. Winning the series with the Rockets 4-2, Portland went on to lose to the eventual NBA champions the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the second round of the Playoffs.

Although they were contending for the top spot in the West around Christmas and at one point held the best record in the league, their momentum gradually wore out. Injuries, fatigue and inconsistency saw the team follow a 25-7 start to the season in the first two months with a 23-20 record the next three months.

Their slide was stopped with a 6-1 April record which helped them enter the post-season as the fifth seed and no lower, but at the same time it was their slide through the months of January, February and March that highlighted a couple of glaring concerns that the team must address before the commencement of the next season in October.

Their first aim this off-season must be to incorporate a system during the training camp that would prevent a near massacre like their three-month inconsistent period this season. Here’s an analysis into Portland’s weaknesses that they must deal with this off-season:

Bench production

The Blazers bench-an inefficient second unit

The Blazers’ second unit stands last in the league in offensive efficiency, minutes and scoring while being 26th in field goal percentage. It is going to take more than one off-season move to fix and get rid of Portland’s biggest weakness – their bench production.

The void left by the reserves meant that the starters logged in excessive minutes early on in the season. The trio of LaMarcus Aldridge, Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum averaged more than 40 minutes for the season while guard Wesley Matthews and center Robin Lopez registered average playing times of 38.7 and 33.4 minutes respectively.

The starters as a group have played a total of 1373 minutes over the course of the regular season, second only to the Indiana Pacers, which indicates the lack of trust in their bench. Their second round elimination was primarily due to the fatigue felt by their stars who failed to bring the same energy in the second round as they had in their first round encounter.

Mo Williams, the back-up guard off the bench, has a player option this summer for next season but has already stated his desire to opt out and return to the team for a longer contract. He has been the only player off the bench who has delivered relatively consistently.

Portland’s reserve big men Joel Freeland, Thomas Robinson and Meyers Leonard are young and inexperienced, with the latter two being picks in the 2012 NBA Draft. Given the kind of form their starters are in, the Blazers need immediate contributions and do not have the time for these youngsters to develop their game.

Judging by their financial status the team must look for veteran big man contribution by splitting the remaining non-taxable money and choosing from the likes of Jermaine O’Neal, Emeka Okafor and Elton Brand if they intend to offer Williams a longer contract.

Alternatively, the team could take another path by using the entire non-taxable fund on a young rising dependable player off the bench like a Spencer Hawes, DeJaun Blair or Jordan Hill and letting go of Williams while grooming their rookie point guard C.J. McCollum.

All of the big men listed above not only fit in well with Portland’s style of play but would also give depth to the team’s front court reserves.

Defence

The improvement for the Blazers on defence must be brought about by their starting 5

Getting past the first round of the Playoffs was a matter of luck for the Blazers as they met a team stronger on offence than defence, just like their own; in the battle between the two offenses the Blazers came out on top.

However their sub-par defence was taken advantage of by the Spurs in the second round and with their only hope – their offence – also struggling, the team bowed out in the 4-1. Their defensive rating of 107.49 leaves them right at the middle of the pack at 15th in the league which is not satisfactory if they are looking to be a consistent force to reckon with in the West in the next 4-5 years.

Struggles on the defensive end this season could be credited to the fatigue that the starters of the team accumulated through the first three months. Their heavy minutes all season long did not allow them to be fresh and ready to play 48 minutes of outstanding championship level defence.

The current team is certainly capable of playing good defence with the likes of Lillard and Batum on the perimeter and Lopez in the paint but once again their bench fell short of continuing the effort the starters had put on the floor.

Although their defence was an issue throughout the season, it could be resolved along with the many other minor changes which need to be made if the franchise could assemble a balanced team where players from 1 to 10 or 11 can contribute whenever the team needs them to.

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