Impressions After a Shaky Trail Blazers Preseason

ThePortland Trail Blazersare now in the dead zone between the end of the preseason and the start of their 2023-24 campaign next Wednesday night. A shaky, 1-3 preseason performance left more doubts and questions than celebration, a condition that just might last through the coming year. That’s the subject of our Blazer’s Edge Mailbag today.

Dave,

I’ll admit the pre season left me confused about our team identity. I’m not sure if it’s a coaching thing or just how the team is, but I can’t tell what they’re going to be. I think we have a chance to be a lot better than the experts think. After all the pre season games, what do you think?

Lyle

They’re young. That’s the overwhelming impression.

A young NBA team has a certain flavor. We haven’t seen that around here for quite a while, but it’s oddly familiar if you watched the team between 2004-2006.

They’re going to look brilliant in isolated snapshots. When you see Shaedon Sharpe leaping over two defenders or Deandre Ayton dunking over none, your heart is going to palpitate. Watching Portland on a fast break attack is going to be appointment basketball.

You’re also doing to love the aggressive defense and the quick shooting. Generating turnovers should become a staple for this team. Ditto opportunistic threes and pull-ups. There’s going to be way more energy, and far less predictability, than you’ve seen in recent years.

Also a bonus: every one of these players is talented. Scoot Henderson is a firecracker in the making. Ditto Sharpe, except he’s the one you lit the fuse on and you’re not sure if it’s burning. It could be a dud, but if it goes off...BLAM! Ayton, Jerami Grant, and Anfernee Simons are all stars when viewed from the right angle. Even guys like Malcolm Brogdon, Matisse Thybulle, and Robert Williams III appeal. There won’t be many bad options.

Having said that, this team is going to wear on you. Every second play from Sharpe and Henderson is going to be a gamble, half of which will turn out poorly. In a league that values efficiency, that’s anathema.

Team continuity is going to sink them too, especially on the defensive end. The same eager gambling that produces turnovers is going to leave the defense vulnerable Many of Portland’s defenders won’t get the point-of-attack defense right. The players behind them aren’t going to be able to read them well enough to compensate...mostly because these mistakes can’t be anticipated. That’s going to leave rotations coming late. Foul trouble is sure to follow for the bigs, easy buckets for the other team otherwise.

No doubt Chauncey Billiups will try to compensate with zone schemes. If you recall last year, the Blazers morphed through zone variations, employing several in the same game. The current group is going to have trouble keeping even one together at first. Opponents are going to eat up whatever basic sets the team can hold together.

The constant leak from defensive miscues is going to more than offset whatever turnovers and extra opportunities the Blazers get from their newfound opportunism. It’s the price of doing business. By about the 30th game, it’s going to grate.

连续性也会困扰offensi波特兰ve end. Turnovers will be a constant companion. “Ill-conceived pass” might as well be the season motto. Bail-outs to Simons and Grant will be frequent. That’s likely to eat into their efficiency, eroding even more surety.

This isn’t accidental. Competent, veteran NBA opponents will see Portland’s cracks immediately and will spend all day putting pressure on them. The league has seen teams like this before. Most of its players have been on teams like this before.

The key to the season will be enjoying the youth movement without depending on it. What happens, happens. We’re watching for seeds that will blossom in 2-3 years, paying for the privilege of getting in on the ground floor of the start-up. Blazers fans will inherit all the promise and pain of that scenario. That’s going to be the story of Year 1 of the post-Damian-Lillard era.

When this starts to get to you, remember that the default position for a rebuilding team is starting from nothing, looking disastrous. If the Blazers are anywhere north of that—and they should be, easily—they’re doing fine. Just remember, it’s not happening because they’re bad, it’s because they’re young.

Thanks for the question! You can send yours to blazersub@gmail.com and we’ll try to answer as many as possible!