Portland had a 15-win improvement from 2023-24 to 2024-25 as they went from winning 21 games to winning 36 last season. This is obviously immediately great news but it is especially good news because a lot of those wins happened during the second half of the season as they went 23-18 on their last 41 games of the year, while being the #3 defense in the league during that stretch.
A huge contributor for this great run was the emergence of rookie center Donovan Clingan, who was one of the best rim protectors in the league while seeing his playing time improving considerably during the second half of the season. Toumani Camara also became one of the best perimeter defenders in the league while Portland also made one of the most underrated trades in the season by acquiring Deni Avidja from the Wizards. When these three players shared the court, Portland had a respectable +6.64 net rating in 429 minutes of action.
With such a great defensive foundation, Portland’s problem was clearly on offense. Scoot Henderson had a better sophomore than rookie season, but he was still too erratic and got demoted to the second unit. It is yet to be clear if he will ever show the ability to be the team’s franchise PG. It seems like Portland doesn’t trust him too much as they traded for Jrue Holiday this season (while sending Simons to the Celtics) and let’s not forget Lillard is also back in Portland even though he won’t play this season due to injury.
With Jrue Holiday, Portland will surely be one of the best defensive teams in the league but the team’s problems on offense won’t be solved by the veteran. Portland’s biggest hope on offense will rely on Shaedon Sharpe, who showed some good flashes on offense last season, but he is yet to show that he can be consistent from long range.
Portland’s second unit could be their biggest obstacle to achieve a successful season. Their lack of perimeter shooting seems obvious, especially after the Blazers decided to draft big man Yang Hansen with the #16 pick instead.
The Blazers’ blueprint could be what the Rockets did last season: be an elite offensive rebounding team that is also aggressive at attacking the paint in order to mitigate their lack of shooting. If that works, combined with an elite defensive unit, Portland might end up being in playoff contention…