Portland Trail Blazers 2021-22 Season Review: The Early Season

ThePortland Trail Blazersjust finished a 2021-22 season unlike any other in franchise history. A single year seemed to encompass three as Portland went through a cycle of hopeful signings, organizational unrest, firings, huge trades, and ultimately a race for the 2022 NBA Lottery at the end of a season that had started with Conference Finals hopes.

坐下来回顾这个季节，我忍不住注意到几个月前日历的事件似乎是如何通过个人情感的角度来了一个世纪的时间。猜测对于读者来说是一样的，我们将把波特兰的赛季评论分为三个部分，代表了开拓者在过去十个月中通过的三个独特的“时代”。

Today we begin with the first era of the 2021-22 season, picking up with the franchise as they ramped up for a new year.

One Last Gamble

Portland’s off-season started with a whimper. They had no picks in the 2021NBA Draft在上个赛季，将其交易为罗伯特·卡温顿（Robert Covington）和罗德尼·胡德（Rodney Hood）。他们确实设法在第二轮中抓住德克萨斯州的格雷格·布朗三世（Greg Brown III）New Orleans Pelicans对于高潮。

But Brown was a project. The Blazers needed far more than that to erase the memory of a crushing first-round playoffs loss to an injuredDenver Nuggets小队在四月之前。

他们的重大举动是以8月后期交易的形式出现的，将小德里克·琼斯（Derrick Jones，Jr。Chicago Bulls在三向交换中Cleveland Cavaliers小前锋拉里娘娘腔的交易选择前进s had become a summer tradition in Portland (see also: every player mentioned in the paragraphs above). It was time to pull the slot machine handle again. Hopefully it’d work this time.

Nance, Jr. brought the Blazers height, defense, and passing ability, all prized qualities. He had once been tabbed as a possible star, progress impeded by chronic injuries. Portland didn’t need a world-changer. They wanted a solid, active defender who would slot into the rotation alongside their scorers. Nance, Jr. was a poor man’s substitute for Aaron Gordon, whom they had also coveted, but who ultimately ended up with the Nuggets.

波特兰的非国家举动被静音，比改造球队的现状更加紧张。

Their key move was locking in free agent Norman Powell to a long-term contract. That was critical, as Powell’s departure would have left them no cap space or assets to replace him...unacceptable after trading Gary Trent, Jr. the season prior to acquire him.

To Powell, whom they touted as their “big free agent signing”, the Blazers added a host of minimum-contract veterans. Center Cody Zeller—a long-time starter in Charlotte, also hobbled by injuries—was the biggest name on the list. It also included Ben McLemore and Tony Snell.

开拓者被最高的帽子分类帐（Top Heavy Cap Ledger）迫使最低合同策略。他们欠了鲍威尔，达米安·利拉德和CJ McCollum的8550万美元。他们的帽子四分之三的是三个球员，他们在本质上都在后场比赛。花名册是梨形的，帽子的状况更大。

Because of those huge contracts, Portland would soar above the luxury tax threshold for the third consecutive season, leaving them in danger of incurring the Repeater Tax penalty in future years were the situation not addressed. Under these circumstances, adding even more salary on top was near-unthinkable. So they padded their roster as cheaply as possible, hoping that their top players could carry them.

This illustrates the all-or-nothing gamble the Blazers were engaged in. They had used up every bit of reasonable cap space, all their overhead towards the luxury tax, and almost every conceivable draft pick to build this roster. It was comprised of seven proven players. Aside from those seven, they had nothing left to spend, no more assets to trade.

The Blazers had pared the rotation down to its most consolidated, concentrated essence. There was nowhere to go from here. Either these moves would work, or this was the end of the road.

Turmoil in the Wings

As the summer unfolded, turmoil rose from a couple directions.

Following the April playoffs loss, the Blazers jettisoned long-time Head Coach Terry Stotts. He had led his charges to the postseason for eight straight seasons, a front-office selling point when they wanted to demonstrate how well their plan was working. But first-round exits were becoming less satisfying, and the same front office that had praised Stotts in prior press conferences now laid the blame for the team’s failures squarely on his shoulders. They claimed the roster was viable; the coach hadn’t made enough out of it.

Portland was sure to get better defensively with the additions of Nance, Jr. and Zeller, but they’d also need a defensive-minded coach to ensure rapid progress. The search went on through midsummer before President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey settled on former NBA All-Star Chauncey Billups.

Like many of Olshey’s hires, Billups had a long-term connection with the Portland executive. Their roots ran back to Olshey’s days with theLos Angeles Clippers。Billups在NBA，大学或任何地方都没有任何主教练经验。这引起了眉毛。鉴于波特兰的处境，提供新秀教练的职位是一个艰巨的任务，更不用说拥有多年保证合同了。

When the franchise also failed to address questions regarding Billups’ past—a settlement for sexual assault followed him from his playing days—the atmosphere around his hire curdled.

Further stirring the toxic mix were mutterings from franchise superstar Lillard that the Blazers needed to improve quickly. The semi-implied, “or else” dangling from the edges of that demand left many openly wondering if Lillard was, or would soon become, discontent and demand a trade. Lillard disavowed the impulse on multiple occasions, but this was still a far cry from the eternal, undying loyalty he had expressed in seasons prior. Crafting Lillard trades became a cottage industry among national pundits during the closing weeks of the off-season and throughout most of November.

Summarizing: The Blazers entered the 2021-22 season having made no blockbuster moves, all their chips riding on Larry Nance, Jr., and half their roster making the veteran-minimum salaries. Their top three players occupied the same two backcourt positions. They were integrating a new coach who carried no head coaching experience. The franchise lay under a storm of controversy. They also had no options left except to make this work...not just to their usual, slightly-better-than-average level, but to leap directly into contention for the Western Conference crown.

The Season

Portland’s season did not start in promising fashion. They went 10-10 in their first 20 games. Most of their losses came to teams that would later prove playoffs-worthy. Losing to good teams was understandable, but it also made clear that the Blazers were not yet one of them.

A pair of losses to theSacramento Kingsin those opening 20 games added hot sauce to the burrito of mediocrity. The Blazers were not clicking. Despite the promises, additions, and strategies, their defense had not improved significantly...or at all, really. Powell scored just fine, but was overmatched at the small forward position. Nance, Jr. either blended into the background or stuck out in odd ways.

在这一切之中，不可想象的事情正在发生。利拉德（Lillard）在职业生涯的第一个低标准赛中转身。“低于标准”是一个相对术语。通过波特兰的前20场比赛，利拉德平均得到21.5分。但这比他上一年的平均水平超过7。他的投篮命中率不低于40％，三分球的投篮命中率不到30％，前往了急剧的职业生涯。

Without their leader excelling, the Blazers had no shot at ascending to the upper echelons of the conference. They languished in limbo, circling in muted frustration. Oddly enough, this period of uncertainty would be thehighpoint of their year. The season was about to go south faster than ducks on amphetamines.

It started with Lillard taking an extended break, due to recurring abdominal issues. This helped explained the rough performance, but it also left the rotation listing towards the waterline. McCollum would follow soon after. He would miss 18 games in December and January due to a collapsed lung suffered in a game against theBoston Celtics在December 4th.

Running the Blazers without Lillard and McCollum was like running the Enterprise without Kirk and Spock. No matter how much you liked the supporting characters, this mission was going nowhere.

The Transition

That’s the situation the Blazers found themselves in when the opening stanza of their season came to a crashing halt. The trigger event wasn’t anything happening on the court, though.

In November, the uncharacteristic turmoil surrounding what had been the most stable franchise in the league finally caught up with lead executive Neil Olshey. For several weeks, Olshey stood under investigation, the result of Blazers employees complaining about a toxic and bullying atmosphere at franchise headquarters. On December 3rd, 2021, the Blazers announced that they were terminating Olshey for violating the team’s code of conduct, the end of his ten-year reign at the top of the organization.

Whatever plans the Blazers might have had went out the window at that moment, along with all of their continuity. The prior April, the Blazers featured three long-tenured officers in their main positions: Olshey as GM, Stotts as Head Coach, and Chris McGowan leading business operations. By early December, all three were gone. (McGowan resigned in November, looking to pursue other options.) A team once stuck in inertia now had an institutional memory that extended no further than lunch.

来自组织内部的高管加紧担任角色：长期工作人员乔·克罗宁（Joe Cronin）担任临时总经理，市场营销大师dewayne Hankins担任首席营销官，比卢普斯（Billups）担任教练。克罗宁（Cronin）和汉金斯（Hankins）在短期内可能会提供缺失的连续性，但是他们的降临也标志着方向的巨大变化，这将在日历年初发生。

Next Up: Season Review, Part 2... The Trade Deadline Looms