The Portland Trail Blazers are heading into the 2018 offseason, and it may be one of their most challenging ones yet in the recent future. The Blazers finished third in the Western Conference, but got swept in the first round of the playoffs. The Portland Trail Blazers came into the 2018 NBA Playoffs with the seventh-best record in the league, home-court advantage and high expectations. They met the sixth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans in the first round and got dismantled entirely in a four-game sweep. The Pelicans did a good job taking away the Blazers’ best players on the offensive end and pushing the pace and attacking Portland when it was on defense. The Pelicans’ four best guys were the four best players in the series. It shocked a lot of people to see Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and the entire Blazers team play so poorly when the games mattered most. Heading into the offseason after a disappointing end to the season, there will be a lot of questions surrounding this franchise both on the court and in the front office. Marc Stein of the New York Timestweeted that Blazers head coach, Terry Stotts, could be on the hot seat after the team lost its 10th playoff game in a row. There will be talks that the Blazersshould blow their team up and trade one of their stars to get more assets. The fanbase in Portland is calling for and wants answers as to why their team is not more successful. Unfortunately, they won’t see anything until after the season is over. After listening to the Blazers exit interviews, it’s clear nobody has solutions just yet, and the front office is going to stay patient in its approach this summer. 1. Clear cap space The Blazers head into this summer with five playersset to be free agents: Ed Davis, Jusuf Nurkic, Shabazz Napier, Pat Connaughton and Wade Baldwin. Davis is an unrestricted free agent, and the other four guys are restricted free agents They also will head into the summer with five guys set to make $10 million or more next season, including Evan Turner (who is set to make $17.9 million) and Meyers Leonard (who is set to make $10.6 million). The Blazers need to find a way to dump either Leonard or Turner’s contract this offseason if they want to have room to keep guys like Davis, Napier and Nurkic or have room to add better players to the roster. Turner is a solid player for the Blazers, but he doesn’t do enough to warrant that type of money per season. The Blazers can find guys like Turner or maybe even a little bit better for much cheaper. Leonard has entirely fallen out of the rotation and only appeared in 33 games this season. The Blazers have found success with Jusuf Nurkic and Ed Davis and drafted two guys who play in the frontcourt, Caleb Swanigan and Zach Collins. The Blazers cannot pay a guy $10 million to sit at the end of the bench. Both guys have two years left on their deal, and it would benefit the Blazers big time for them to move on from one or maybe even both those bad contracts. 2. Add more consistent shooters The Blazers finished the season ranked 11th in 3-point shooting and 20th in field goal percentage. They had six players shoot 35 percent or better from the 3-point line. The Blazers’ best shooters are Lillard, McCollum and Napier. Everyone else, including Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu, are streaky shooters. The Blazers need to make it a priority this summer to add better shooters. They don’t have a guy who specializes in shooting like Kyle Korver, Nick Young, Marco Belinelli, or J.J Redick on their team. Besides their two guards, the Blazers do not have any significant shooters on the team. They need to go out and add some snipers. Putting better shooters around Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic will open up the offense as a result and will allow more one-on-one matchups because the defense has to keep a guy on the shooters at all teams. The Blazers would see fewer help defenses and would be able to make teams pay when do they double or trap. Some guys the Blazers could target in trades, free agency or draft this summer could be Wayne Ellington, Courtney Lee, J.R Smith, Joe Harris and Grayson Allen. The Blazers just need guys who are labeled as shooters, and that should be on the top of their priority list. 3. Improve the depth To go along with adding better shooters to the roster. The Blazers need to add better all-around role players. They have solid bench players with Ed Davis, Evan Turner and rookie Zach Collins, but after that, the team doesn’t have anyone it can rely upon to help them win games. Rip City needs to add sound, all-around basketball players to this team. Napier is a good backup point guard, but there are multiple guys just like him around the league. Connaughton is an okay player, but the Blazers could find better players on both ends of the floor to fill his role. Neil Olshey said he spoke with Paul Allen last night and the Blazers' owner said he was happy with the regular season "and the way we competed." Allen's message: "Find a way to get better." — Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) April 22, 2018 Caleb Swanigan, Jake Layman, Baldwin and Leonard do not have meaningful parts in the rotation. The Blazers are lacking a veteran presence on this team and could benefit by adding some players with experience both in the regular season and playoffs. Their lack of a bench really showed up in the playoffs when the Blazers stars went cold, and they faced some injuries. The Blazers could look to add role players like Will Barton, Wayne Ellington Jeff Green, Jameer Nelson, Jared Dudley or Garrett Temple. 4. Bring back Ed Davis and Jusuf Nurkic Of the five free agents who can hit the market in free agency, the Blazers should look to only bring back Ed Davis and Jusuf Nurkic. Davis expressed in his exit interview that he would like to return to the Blazers and Nurkic said it’s no secret that he wants to be in Portland and he has found a home there. The free agency market for big men is somewhat thin this season, and the Blazers do not have enough cap space at the moment to sign a guy like DeMarcus Cousins, Brook Lopez or Julius Randle. They can bring back their starting center and arguably the best backup center in the league. Nurkic is still just 23 years old and is developing his game. He has shown flashes of greatness and then there are times when he just disappears from the game. Nurkic didn’t have the season that he or the Blazers were expecting him to have. The Bosnian Beast averaged 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 63 percent from the free throw line. The Blazers are a better team when Nurkic is engaged and playing at a high level. He needs to become a more physical player on both ends of the floor and needs to play smarter. Nurkic will be having a great game, and then all of a sudden will commit two dumb fouls in a minute. But the Blazers can’t afford to let a young, talented guy like Nurkic leave for nothing. Because the market isn’t good for centers, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nurkic bet on himself and accept the one-year, $4.1 million qualifying offer from the Blazers and hit free agency next summer but as an unrestricted free agent. Besides Damian Lillard, Davis might be the heart and soul of this Blazers team. He is physical rebounder on both ends, an energizer bunny off the bench and one of the leaders in this young Blazers locker room. Davis has had the best seasons of his career in Portland, and at almost 29 years old, he probably doesn’t want go to his fifth team. He said he wants to stay in Portland and maybe he will take a discount to stay. The Blazers franchise loves Ed Davis, but if he is asking for a significant amount of money, they could let him walk. However, it would be in the team’s best interest to bring Davis back for a couple of seasons. 5. Try to add a third star to pair with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum To go along with adding better bench players and some shooters, the Blazers have to find a third star to play next to Lillard and McCollum or a guy close to being a star. They have Nurkic right now, but depending on the matchup, he could be entirely taken out of a game. The Blazers need to find a wing or power forward that can score the basketball at a high level in today’s day in age. Last summer, the Blazers were linked to Paul Georgebefore he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder and were also linked to Carmelo Anthony before he too got traded to the Thunder. This summer, the Blazers need to go after the same type of players. They may be tight in cap space, but if an opportunity arises to get a star player, they have to find a way to make it work. Damian Lillard on the narrative that he and CJ McCollum need to be split up: "I don’t agree with it. I think it’s that simple. I think it’s the easiest thing to say. I don't agree with it." — Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) April 22, 2018 In the series against the Pelicans, the Blazers struggled to find offense with Lillard and McCollum being defended so tightly and they had to deal with double-teams pretty much the entire series. The Pelicans were allowing anybody else besides Lillard and McCollum to beat them and it worked. If the Blazers had a third guy who could handle the ball, create offense and score the ball at a high rate, it might have been a different series. Aminu shot well in the round, but he is not known as an offensive weapon and can’t be relied upon to create offense in a one-on-one matchup. Turner isn’t a good shooter, so he had to dribble into a crowded paint area to try and get a shot off in his range. Nurkic was down low, and the guards had a difficult time getting him the basketball since cannot space the floor or handle the ball at the top of the key. Some notable names to pair next to the Blazers two stars are Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, DeMarcus Cousins, Harrison Barnes, Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris. The Blazers — either through trade or somehow through free agency — need to go after a high caliber player to help take the stress of Lillard and McCollum and help this team take the next step toward winning an NBA championship. Portland cannot make a run in the playoffs with the way its roster is currently constructed. https://hoopshabit.com/2018/04/24/portland-trail-blazers-5-goals-2018-offseason/
Its a sizing issue. I had to resize the photo to fit and i made it too small. I think its time to change mr potatofuckhead anyhow. Ill look for something REALLY good this time.
