The Blazers are a mess right now, which is crazy since they're .500 at 8-8, but they've also lost to the Pelicans and Knicks in the last week. They've lost four of five and the defense is ranked 20th, and has been as low as 29th this year.
Their biggest issue is rim protection. They are 30th in points allowed per possession in cuts, and 21st in cut points allowed per game. They're 28th in defending pick and rolls including passes. Basically, they can't contain off-ball action at all, and they can't defend the rim. These are kind of big deals.
Now, ESPN's Zach Lowe, in his most recent column says that the Blazers could look for a trade:
Portland looks ripe for a trade. Neil Olshey, the team's one-step-ahead GM, chased Hassan Whiteside in free agency, and has a well-documented fondness for old-school low-post brutes like Brook Lopez, Greg Monroe, Nikola Vucevic and others. (It's tempting to pitch a Crabbe/Lopez swap since the Nets lavished Crabbe with a massive offer sheet, but Brooklyn cannot acquire Crabbe until the offseason -- at least under current league rules.)
Portland has long been my favorite Vucevic landing spot, though the Magic should probably just stop taking Olshey's calls after gifting him Harkless for nothing. Just about everyone is overstocked with centers. Portland might call Denver about Jusuf Nurkic, and it wouldn't stun me if they expressed some interest in Tyson Chandler -- even though Chandler is a decade older than some core Blazers, with two years left on a bloated contract. (Related: It still looks unlikely that the new collective bargaining deal will include an amnesty provision, though you never know what crazy stuff might happen in those addled final hours of negotiation.)
Someone should be trying to steal Kosta Koufos from the Kings. As for another popular suggestion, let's just say the league doesn't quite know what to make of Nerlens Noel.
Source: Zach Lowe on Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum - NBA.
Now, one one hand, Lowe isn't actually reporting if the Blazers are actively looking for a trade. There's no "sources say," or "the team is actively..." it's more of a hunch. On the other hand, Lowe is one of the most connected guys in the league and he's not prone to suggesting these kinds of things out of the blue. If Lowe smells smoke, there's usually fire.
Portland had big expectations coming in. The thought was that it would build on last season's 45-win performance that netted the Blazers the 5th seed in the West last year. And that's still on the table, there's a lot of season left. But these issues look significant and could put a major concrete ceiling on what they're capable of.
So what can they do as far as trades?
Here's the problem. The most available high-production, significant-impact players available in trades, from a "this makes sense" standpoint, are all centers who do not protect the rim. Greg Monroe, Al Jefferson, even, to a degree, Brook Lopez, and of course Nikola Vucevic as mentioned above. Kosta Koufos is the best option. The Kings continue to try and win with this dysfunctional miasma, so they'll take trades for guys who are falling out of the rotation.
Vucevic would give the Blazers a third serious weapon, and honestly, his defense has been the best of his career this season under Frank Vogel, but he's still behind Bismack Biyombo on that front.
Jusuf Nurkic in Denver is interesting. He's currently starting, but the team remains hugely invested in Nikola Jokic. Portland would have to part with one of those wings for Nurkic, and likely a pick thrown in. Nurkic is a best-and-worst player. He has stretches where he's a dominant beast inside who controls the glass, and stretches where he goes into the tank if he's pulled for minutes. In Portland, that wouldn't be a problem, but it comes with the territory. Those same maturity issues exist with Noel in Philadelphia, which is what makes it so difficult to pull the trigger on a high-value target.
Portland's still missing Festus Ezeli, but asking him to fix all its problems is a bit much. Likewise, Al-Farouq Aminu's absence is glaring. There's time for them to adjust and get right, to work through the pick and roll issues that Lowe pointed out. Better communication and awareness will improve much of this. If Portland can just get to "not terrible," then things will be right themselves on their own.
Is the situation dire enough to give up on a young asset or pick? Can they afford to waste the opportunities of this year? The best thing may be to stay the course, and also to recalibrate expectations. Portland has a good squad in terms of talent; Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are great, the rest of the roster is "OK-to-good." They can be a playoff team in the West this year. But barring an unforeseen turn in trade or development, expecting them to make any sort of serious run may be too much.
