I'm just gonna throw this in here. Nothing really new in it, but maybe interesting just to remind us what a tough place we are in. Here are some choice tidbits:
"Portland pulled up to the 2016 offseason in a Lexus SC 430 convertible,
looked at the camera, and said “Get in loser. We’re going shopping.” With money to spend and an unwillingness to let several homegrown players leave for nothing, the front office signed Evan Turner, Allen Crabbe, Meyers Leonard, and Maurice Harkless to four-year deals worth a combined $228 million. They signed C.J. McCollum, 2015-16’s Most Improved Player, to a four-year, $107 million extension. And Festus Ezeli, the defensive center Portland needed, was brought in for a bargain: two years and $15 million, with only $8.4 million guaranteed.
What general manager Neil Olshey was looking for was security. What he got was a straightjacket. Turner, Leonard, even Harkless—20-something rotation players with upside—made it immediately clear they wouldn’t earn their keep. Ezeli missed the entire 2016-17 season because of a knee injury and was waived using the stretch provision without ever playing a minute for the Blazers. Portland, originally responsible for paying Ezeli for only one season, now has him on the books until 2019-20 along with most of that summer’s regretful deals. Crabbe, perhaps the best player of the bunch, was traded to the Nets—the very team that had extended an offer sheet to him in 2016, only for Portland to match—the following July for Andrew Nicholson, who was waived for tax relief. (The Trail Blazers will be sending Nicholson direct deposits until 2024.)"
"New Orleans eliminated Portland with one of the most basic defensive concepts: ruthlessly doubling their most important player. Swarmed, Lillard couldn’t penetrate, find a decent shot, or keep the ball safe. (He averaged four turnovers per game during the series, the worst of his career in either the regular season or the playoffs.) The offense went limp without him at full strength. McCollum is at his best when kept off the ball, but he couldn’t provide playmaking relief. Help also didn’t come from Jusuf Nurkic, whose confinement to the post was exposed by Anthony Davis and Nikola Mirotic. Lillard and McCollum’s defensive deficiencies were exacerbated. It was carnage.
The gaping holes in the frontcourt and on the wing are Olshey’s scarlet letter to wear, but the shortcomings in Stotts’s game plan were unignorable.
Stotts doesn’t have the spacing threats, the self-shot creators, or the paint options to thrive without sharing the ball. The problem is—yes, we’re not to the root of the problem yet—he doesn’t have passers, either."
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/...land-trail-blazers-damian-lillard-cj-mccollum
