Preseason Preview: Portland Trailblazers

Preseason Preview: Portland Trailblazers

What’s good y’all and welcome back to another preseason preview video. In today’s video, we’re going over the Portland Trailblazers. In case this is your first preseason preview video of mine you’re seeing, basically what I do is give a little recap of the off seasonason and then look into the future and try to see what we can expect in this upcoming season. I’m going to be putting up videos on all 30 NBA teams. So, make sure you check out the channel for the ones that already uploaded and then subscribe so you don’t miss the ones I upload in the future. Also, I was recently on the Castles cast hosted by Aean Castles. Uh Aean had me and another friend of the channel, Finn Keiel, on there. Uh we were talking about Bucks, Spurs, just all around good basketball talk. So that’s going to be in the description. Make sure you check that out. But now for what you guys are really here for, the Portland Trailblazers. Last year was a little bit weird year for the Portland Trailblazers because early on they looked really really bad, like like one of the worst teams in the league. Bad. Uh and you know they ended up finishing at the 12th seed out west finishing 36 and 46 which you know 12 seed you look at that and you’re like eh but you look at the record that is not terrible especially when you consider how well they looked the second half of the season really like post allstar break they look like they kind of hit another gear and they’ve just been in full rebuild mode since trading away Damen Lillard a few years ago but I will say they have done a very good job at just gathering a lot of talent on the roster and I think that it could be a pretty fun season coming up for them. But let’s just jump right into it and talk about the off season of the Blazers. And before I talk about the guys they brought in, I do want to highlight some key guys that they lost. Starting off with DeAndre Aton. He was supposed to still be on the Blazers. He had one more year on his contract, about $25 million. Uh the Blazers decided though it was best for both parties that they just wave him, take the dead cap, and just move on. And after he became a free agent, DeAndre Aiden signed a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. So, he’ll be staying out west. But, uh, you know, I think it was best for both parties for him to just kind of go their own way. Ever since he got traded from the Suns to Portland. Uh, he seems like he’s just been very disappointing. uh whether that’s just his lack of play, like he’s not playing on the court. Uh he only played about 40 games last year, or when he actually is playing, uh he doesn’t seem as aggressive or as motivated on both ends of the floor. Uh so I could definitely see why Portland was just a little upset with that and decided, you know what, you could just kind of do your own thing. I’m sure the great rookie year that Donovan Klingan had last year definitely helped them, you know, be confident in this decision to just kind of move off of DeAndre Aiden. Uh they have some other centers on this roster including uh one that they brought in this off seasonason that we’ll talk about in a few seconds. Uh but I I I really don’t think they’ll be missing DeAndre Aiden. I I hope that he can kind of turn his career back around. You know, going from the number one overall pick to being waved. That doesn’t really happen too often. So hopefully the new scenery in LA can kind of just, you know, change some things for him. Another key guy the Blazers lost this off season was Anthony Simons. He was traded to the Boston Celtics. Uh, and this was kind of written on the wall if you ask me. It feels like the last like season and a half, two seasons, he uh, Anthony Simons has been on the trade block and it kind of makes sense. I think it boils down to a few key things. One, the log jam at guard. Uh, you know, you have Scoo Henderson who they drafted second overall. You have Shaden Sharp who was a pretty high overall draft pick. And then you have Anthony Simons. And, you know, those three in a three guard lineup. I don’t really like that specifically. you know, none of them have crazy size or or great defensive u you know, metrics that really make me think those three can fit in a lineup. So, Anthony was kind of the odd man out. Also, you add in the fact of his age. He’s only 25, which isn’t crazy, but those other two guys I mentioned of Scoot and Shaden, they’re like 21, 22. Uh so, you know, it kind of fits the timetable a little bit more. And then also the cherry on top that made it like real obvious that he was going to be moved was the fact that he was going into the last year of his contract. Uh he’s an expiring contract at the end of this year. Uh so you know obviously if the Blazers didn’t think that they were going to resign him, it makes sense to just try to get the best value you can. And that’s an easy transition into the guys that they brought in this off season. And the guy that they got back in this trade with the Boston Celtics was of course Drew Holiday. It is the second time Drew Holiday was traded to the Trailblazers. This time though, it looks like he is here to stay for a little bit at least and will actually play for the Blazers. From all the reports I’ve seen though, it seems like Drew Holiday at first wasn’t too happy about being in Portland, but now he’s kind of warming up to the idea. And I think that he could help his team out a lot. Uh I know he just went from the Celtics where he’s competed for championships and he might still want to do that. But Drew Holiday has been one of the best vets in the league for a few years now. He’s a two-time champion, so he knows how to carry himself on and off the court to become a winner. And I think that he could really set some foundation in the culture here in Portland for a lot of these young guys, especially with his defensive first mindset. We all know that Joe Holidayiday for years has been one of the best guard defenders in the league. And I think that he’s still going to be able to bring that in Portland. And uh we’ll talk about their team defense in a little bit, but I think he could be a huge addition to that. And we also might see him go back to his roots of being more of a true point guard instead of what he’s been doing in Boston. In Boston, a lot of times he was playing like an undersized small forward. Basically, he would be spotting up in the corners where he’s elite at or he’ll be like down low at the dunker spot. Uh, you know, he kind of played a lot more off ball because of the Boston Celtics, you know, load of onball talent that they had here in Portland. though I do think he’s going to be more running the show, setting up some guys, being more of an onball guy. Another big addition that they made was drafting Hansen Yang with the 16th overall pick. I will be honest, I don’t know if it’s Yang Hansen or Hansen Yang. I don’t know what’s going to be on the back of his jersey. He is from China, so that’s why it makes the name a little ambiguous. Is that the correct word? I don’t know if it’s Yang Hansen, Hansen Yang. once he plays on the NBA basketball court and he plays a few games, I’ll listen to the announcers and definitely hammer that in. But, uh, regardless, I do think that he could be a big addition to the Blazers this year. For those of you who don’t know, Yang is a 20-year-old 7 foot1 center from China. And honestly, he reminds me a lot of the Blazers first round draft pick of Donovan Klingan from last year. They’re not exact carbon copies of each other by any means, but both guys are super big. Like I mentioned, Yang is 7 foot1. Uh but also Yang like Donovan has a solid body. He’s not a lanky 7-1. He’s a solid 71. Uh he’s also a solid shot blocker, rim protector, a great rebounder. Uh both guys have really good uh touch inside specifically, you know, on some of those hook shots or little flip shots from the uh you know, close post. Now, while I definitely think Donovan Klingan is a much better rim protector and overall defender compared to Hansen Yang, I do really like Hansen Yang’s offensive upside, I already mentioned his soft touch around the basket. You know, he’s got the size where he’s able to go through contact and, you know, post up a little bit, create his own shot from the post. Uh, but also what has really been like one of the key highlight points that I’ve seen a lot of people talk about is his passing. uh in summer league he he was kind of turning the ball over a little bit and I do think that it’ll take him some time to kind of adjust to the NBA speed because the NBA is probably the fastest league in the in the whole world. So once he gets more accustomed of that and kind of just grows more, I think he’ll be a real big problem out of the post, not only scoring wise, but playmaking wise. I don’t want you to get your hopes up too much because another real key reason why I see a lot of similarities between Hansen Yang and Donovan Mlingan is because I think Hansen Yang is going to have to be uh not babyed in, but he he’s very raw right now and I think that it would be not very fun if they just were like, Hansen Yang, go out there and and give us 25 minutes a game. I think he’s going to have to be eased in a little bit. Uh get, you know, like I said, more accustomed to the speed of the NBA. Uh, but I I really do like him. Even though he’s very raw, he projects to be a amazing basketball player and a super talented center. And I’ll be honest, I was burying the lead here a little bit. One of the biggest moves for the Portland Trailblazers was they resigned Damen Lillard. The hometown hero is coming back to Portland. And I’m just so happy for Dame. Obviously, with his Achilles injury, he’s going to be out for this entire season, but he did sign a three-year, $42 million deal. That last year is a player option, but for the next three years, he’s under contract in Portland and only for $14 million a year. Again, with his Achilles injury, we don’t know what he’s going to come back to. But if you tell me that you’re signing Damen Lillard for only $14 million, amazing deal, great value. And now that we know what the offseason looked like in Portland, let’s take a look at a potential rotation we could be seeing. In the starting lineup, we have Drew Holiday, Shaden Sharp, Denny Aia, Tumani Kamara, and Donovan Klingan. Then off the bench, we have Scoot Henderson, Matise Styel, Jeremy Grant, Robert Williams, and Hansen Yang. I mentioned at the top of the video how I thought the Blazers were doing a really good job at gathering talent. You know, I’ve said it many times on this channel that if you’re a rebuilding team, first off, as soon as what you want to do, the first thing you want to bring in as much talent as possible. Once you have enough talent, then you can kind of sift through, see what you got, get your core, and then, you know, go on to go to the playoffs, yada yada yada. You guys know the deal. Um, the Blazers, they’ve done a really good job at gathering. I will say the one thing they’re kind of missing is that standout guy that is their 1A their championship guy like their their cornerstone. I don’t think they really have that when I look at this roster. But when you talk about just surrounding pieces and a lot of of young guys that have room to grow, they have plenty of that. I’ve talked a little bit about Donovan Klingan and Hansen Yang, their centers, but also Denny Abdia last year had a breakout year. A lot of people are marking him down as a MIP candidate this year. I could definitely see it happening just because he’s so versatile and he kind of is their best player as of now. Is he a 1A type of guy? Me personally, I don’t think so. I haven’t really seen that from him yet. But I mean, I guess we never know what could happen. You know, he is geared up, like I said, to be a most improved candidate. Tumani Kamar, their other starting forward, had also an incredible year last year. made all defensive team even though the Blazers weren’t even a playoff team. That’s pretty hard to do, but that’s how good of a defender Tummani is. He’ll guard one through four. Then they have their young guards of Scoo Henderson to kind of set everyone up at that point guard Shaden Sharp to be one of their main scorers. I really do like this team and all of their young talent, but the number one thing that jumps out to me is I think that this Blazers team could be a really good defense next year. I don’t know if it’ll lead to many wins, but I do think that other teams are going to come to Portland and really struggle to put the ball in the basket. I am really really high on Donovan Klingan. Uh, and just the fact that he’s able to take up so much space in the paint. He has I don’t even know how long arms, but sometimes they look like they’re 9 ft long where he could just swallow up shots. Him anchoring the defense and then again Hansen Yang backing him up still being a sevenfooter. I think both of those guys are going to do great just, you know, kind of protecting the paint. And then good luck getting around Tumani Kamar or Matis Styel. Jeremy Grant. He’s kind of slowed down his defensive intensity as he’s gotten older in Portland, but you know, he still has length and really competes. Same thing with Danny Abia. He has great length and size for his position. Uh so, you know, obviously Drew Holiday at the head at that point guard spot. They have plenty of highlevel elite defenders. Robert Williams, I I forgot to mention him, too. As long as he stays healthy, he can hold it down at center, at power forward. They just have a lot of length, a lot of athleticism, a lot of size, and a lot of really gritty defenders. Uh, and again, I don’t know if that’s going to lead them to have some, you know, crazy looking record, but I will say it will be very difficult to score on this team. I don’t know if it’ll be top 10, but I do think they will have an above average top 15 defense. It’s really just if they can get that offense to a high enough level that can win them games and they can grind those out. Uh like I mentioned at the beginning of this segment, they don’t have that cornerstone key 1A type of guy to make that offense not easy, but you know, someone they can fall back on on offense. So, I think that that can make it become a little bit sluggish when you look at the rest of their creators. Uh that could be their one kind of fall back and and something that’s holding them back as a team. Defensively though, this team got it. And for the notable reserves, I only have one right now on the Blazers, and that is Chris Murray. He played almost 70 games for the Blazers last year and was solid. You know, he’s he’s a wing with size. He competes defensively. The three-point shot hasn’t really fallen for him just yet. Hopefully, he can eventually add that to his game and and shoot a little bit more like his brother Keegan, but you know, I digress. Uh he still is a solid player, still pretty young, too. If Robert Williams, for whatever reason, is unfortunately not healthy for majority of the season, I could see them slotting Chris Murray to be that backup power forward. Or maybe Hansen Yang isn’t as ready and they just kind of slot Rob Will down a little bit. Then Chris Murray plays. Uh he’s kind of like the first man out of the rotation. So I I did want to give him a little bit of shout out. And now it is time for the ceiling floor and my expectations for the Portland Trailblazers. Starting off with their ceiling, I could see them being as high as the ninth seed and making the play in tournament. Uh this would be in a situation where they’re really relying on their defense. Uh you know, it’s more of a top 10, maybe top sevenish level. Uh and that kind of allows them to grind out some of those games and sneak into the playing tournament. I’ll be honest though, once they get to that playing tournament, I do think their lack of the guy will hold them back. Also, the fact that there’s maybe 12 really, really good Western Conference teams. I can’t see them winning two winner go home games uh to make the actual playoffs through the player tournament. So, for that reason, at their ceiling, they are a play-in loser. At their floor, I can see them being as low as the 14th seed. We got to still realize that again, the West is super super deep and this team is still super super young. When you compare those two together at their floor, yeah, the Blazers could freef fall in the standings. Uh, one team though I think that is kind of gapped to everyone else in the Western Conference. I’m sorry if you’re a fan of this team, but the Utah Jazz in my mind are just by far the worst team in the West. Uh, so spoiler alert, by the time we make their preseason preview, they’ll probably be the 15th seed. But at their floor, the Blazers, they are staying above the Utah Jazz and they would be the 14th seed in the lottery. And when you’re talking about my expectations for the Portland Trailblazers, I do have them repeating as the 12th seed. Uh, and I could see them still repeating as the 12th seed, but still having an overall better year where they consistently for the course of 82 games look like a better team and some of their young guys look like better players. Uh, you know, for the Blazers in this point of their rebuild, it’s not really based on wins and losses. If they have a successful season, it’s more about their internal growth from players and as a team. Uh, so even though I have the markdown as a 12th seed missing the postseason, I still think that that could be a successful season depending on how the, you know, process and the outcome looks. I will say though, me having them at the 12th seed, uh, I do think that they will be close to the playing tournament. Uh, I I don’t think that it will happen. Obviously, my expectations are the 12 seed. Uh, but it is really really close for them. I do think that good things are coming for the Trailblazers. What about you guys though? Let me know in the comments below how good you think the Blazers are going to be. Let me know where you think they’ll finish in the standings and do you think they’ll make the postseason? Will it be the playing tournament, the playoffs, or not at all? Let me know in the comments below. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you did, make sure to leave it a like, subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. In the description, there’s links to all my social medias, so make sure you follow me on all those to keep up to date with me. Catch y’all.

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During my Preseason Preview series I will be covering all 30 NBA teams, recapping their offseason, assessing their roster, and predicting what to expect from them in this coming season. In this video, I cover the Portland Trailblazers.

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