On brink vs. the Warriors, Blazers' rebuild still nothing short of amazing

Before the Golden State Warriors inevitably take care of business against the Portland Trail Blazers and advance in their quest to crown themselves perhaps the greatest basketball team of all time, let's take a moment to marvel at the remarkable story of their opponent.

Portland may not match the Warriors for 48 minutes a game over a seven-game series. The Trail Blazers may not have the Warriors dazzle, their raining 3-pointers, their brush with greatness. Portland may not win even a single game this series. But what they have accomplished this season is nevertheless nothing short of remarkable.

After last season, they lost superstar free agent LaMarcus Aldridge to the San Antonio Spurs -- as well as Nicolas Batum, Robin Lopez, Wesley Matthews, Arron Afflalo, Steve Blake, Chris Kaman and Will Barton. Four of five starters, if you're counting, gone.

Last year, Damian Lillard led the team in minutes played per game. Those first seven guys were Nos. 2-8. Will Barton, a sixth-man-of-the-year candidate this season in Denver, turned out to be pretty important, too.

Then this depleted and utterly different team turned that turnover into the only team in NBA history to make the postseason after returning only one player who'd logged 1,000 or more minutes the year before.

How did they do it?

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...ers-rebuild-still-nothing-short-of-remarkable

 

They had a plan, and a superstar, and they believed in those two things. Then they did the thing that the greatest success stories -- and so many filatures -- must do: They bet big on their future selves.

Exhibit A: CJ McCollum.

In 2014-15, much of the league considered McCollum a bust. This season -- because Portland had the guts to believe they had drafted the right guy, McCollum helped turn the Trail Blazers backcourt into one of the best in the game.

Consider McCollum's numbers this season: 20.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game. And a Player Efficiency Rating of 17.7.

Now compare that to what the Blazers had next to Lillard last year, starting with Afflalo: 16.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and .4 steal per game. PER: 14.8.

And Matthews: 15.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. PER: 16.1.

Even if we expand our comparisons, McCollum compares favorably with Batum, who last year put up 9.4 points, 5.9 rebonds, 4.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. His PER was 13.1

In short, McCollum was the second-best perimeter player the Blazers had coming into this season, though they were the only ones who knew it. Whatever Terry Stotts, Neil Olshey and the rest of that organization saw in practice and over McCollum's scattered minutes last season (he was ninth in minutes for that team with 15.9 per game), they bet the farm they were right. And they were.

 

If I were an NBA GM, I'd take note how almost every player who leaves Portland does so better -- and richer -- than when they arrived, and I would think long and hard about Leonard as another high-ceiling, soon-to-break-out star.

Across the board, when most teams would have panicked at the top star's exit, Portland cooly changed course. They bet big on a radically different, untested approach than the Portland teams with Aldridge embodied. And it worked.

Lillard is the superstar who helped bring it all together on the floor. In Aldridge's absence, he has pushed himself to a career high in points (25.1) and assists (6.8) per game, player efficiency rating (22.2) and usage rate (31.3 precent -- eighth highest in the league).

This team worked a turnaround no one (including me) thought possible because they found value where others didn't, went young, didn't panic, and believed in what they had -- and then mixed it together with one of the game's great competitors and rising stars.

Portland may not win another game this season. But in the high-stakes chess match that is NBA culture-building and decision making, they're on fire.

 

He does look lost out on the court.

 

I don't know who this superstar is the article mentions. Maybe Skip Bayless can help figure it out.