Portland Trail Blazers head into an offseason full of questions after first-round playoff exit
Just minutes prior, Lillard had walked off the Moda Center court after a 126-115 loss to the Nuggets in Game 6. Though he didn’t have answers about the future, he made it clear that the present simply isn’t going to cut it.
“We didn’t do what was necessary to win a series,” Lillard said. “Obviously got to keep the fight, got to keep working and keep coming back to battle. Regardless of how it ended, we’re going to always have our heads held high and we’re going to have class and go about it like no real warriors. We lost. They were the better team. Congratulations to them. And it’s back to the drawing board for us.”
But what could that look like? A series of small doodles, or a bright, blank new canvas that could be developed into a complex tapestry of change.
The Blazers enter an offseason as uncertain as any in the Lillard era, which began in 2012-13. For the first time in nine seasons, it appears that coach Terry Stotts’ job is in jeopardy. The backcourt duo of Lillard and CJ McCollum clearly is not good enough to get the team to the NBA Finals. Norman Powell has a player option worth $11.6 million, so he could become a free agent. So will Carmelo Anthony. Jusuf Nurkic has one year remaining on his contract. Cap space will be limited, and the team clearly needs help.
“We didn’t win a championship, so obviously where we are now isn’t good enough,” Lillard said.
The Blazers made the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season this year. That’s nothing to take for granted. But at this point in the Lillard era, making the playoffs is no longer an accomplishment, especially losing in the first round for the third time in four years.
LILLARD’S CHAMPIONSHIP WINDOW
Lillard’s NBA biological clock is ticking. He will turn 31 on July 15. To put that in perspective; Lillard was 23 in 2014 when he hit the game-winning three in Game 6 against Houston at the Moda Center to earn the Blazers their first playoff series victory in 14 years.
The Blazers have had two moments since that measure up: Lillard’s game-winning three against Oklahoma City in Game 5 of the first-round series win in the 2019 playoffs, and the subsequent second-round series win over Denver that pushed the Blazers into the Western Conference finals, where they were swept by Golden State.
Time is flying by, and two more years of not being good enough would leave Lillard approaching 33. Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls in 1998 at the age of 34 with six NBA titles. For a more modern comparison, the Miami Heat gave up on Dwyane Wade and let him leave as a free agent at the age of 34.
Lillard likely only has a handful of prime years left. The Blazers’ time is now to give Lillard a fighting chance to win a championship before it’s too late.
But what would any of that look like? Even Lillard’s not sure.
“To come up short in the first round and for our season to end on our home floor is disappointing,” Lillard said. “That’s as far as I am with it right now. I’m not really thinking about other (stuff), change or whatever. We’ll see what happens. I haven’t thought that far out.”
WILL STOTTS RETURN?
First on the docket will be Stotts. Assuming president of basketball operations Neil Olshey is retained — and there have been no indications that his job is in jeopardy — then Olshey must decide whether Stotts is the right coach moving forward. The team’s defense did not improve year to year, and Portland finished 29th in defensive rating despite key additions such as Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr.
The Blazers made the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season this year. That’s nothing to take for granted. But at this point in the Lillard era, making the playoffs is no longer an accomplishment, especially losing in the first round for the third time in four years.
LILLARD’S CHAMPIONSHIP WINDOW
Lillard’s NBA biological clock is ticking. He will turn 31 on July 15. To put that in perspective; Lillard was 23 in 2014 when he hit the game-winning three in Game 6 against Houston at the Moda Center to earn the Blazers their first playoff series victory in 14 years.
The Blazers have had two moments since that measure up: Lillard’s game-winning three against Oklahoma City in Game 5 of the first-round series win in the 2019 playoffs, and the subsequent second-round series win over Denver that pushed the Blazers into the Western Conference finals, where they were swept by Golden State.
Time is flying by, and two more years of not being good enough would leave Lillard approaching 33. Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls in 1998 at the age of 34 with six NBA titles. For a more modern comparison, the Miami Heat gave up on Dwyane Wade and let him leave as a free agent at the age of 34.
Lillard likely only has a handful of prime years left. The Blazers’ time is now to give Lillard a fighting chance to win a championship before it’s too late.
But what would any of that look like? Even Lillard’s not sure.
“To come up short in the first round and for our season to end on our home floor is disappointing,” Lillard said. “That’s as far as I am with it right now. I’m not really thinking about other (stuff), change or whatever. We’ll see what happens. I haven’t thought that far out.”
WILL STOTTS RETURN?
First on the docket will be Stotts. Assuming president of basketball operations Neil Olshey is retained — and there have been no indications that his job is in jeopardy — then Olshey must decide whether Stotts is the right coach moving forward. The team’s defense did not improve year to year, and Portland finished 29th in defensive rating despite key additions such as Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr.
But the team’s best defensive player was center Jusuf Nurkic, who missed 35 games.
Offensively, the team ranked among the best in the NBA. But no defense usually means no ring.
“Our expectations were high,” Stotts said.
They were, and despite the injuries during the season, the team was pretty much whole for the playoffs. Yet the Blazers fizzled against a Nuggets team that was without injured All-Star guard Jamal Murray.
Does all of that fall on Stotts? That’s for Olshey to decide. But Stotts has been the coach for nine seasons. Even if firing him for performance is unfair, especially given the injury-filled season, it could be decided that the franchise needs a new voice.
When asked about his job security, Stotts pointed out that he has two years remaining on his contract. He signed an extension in 2019 that pays him $5 million per season.
“Just like at the end of every year, we’re all evaluated. Players, coaches, management, we’re all evaluated,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
IN SEARCH OF ANOTHER ALL-STAR
New coach or not, the main problem for the team has been finding another All-Start talent to pair with Lillard.
CJ McCollum is a star in his own right, but he isn’t an All-Star. And as a 6-foot-3 guard, McCollum is not the best pairing defensively in the backcourt with Lillard.
The Blazers had an opportunity to possibly trade McCollum to Houston for James Harden after the former MVP listed Portland as one of five desired destinations. Ultimately, Harden ended up with Brooklyn.
But a Lillard-Harden pairing could have been enough to push the Blazers past Denver, and maybe beyond. With the defending-NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers losing to Phoenix in the first round, the Western Conference is wide open.
Lillard said he believes that Denver with Nikola Jokic has a chance to win it all in such a wide-open field.
“I think if there was any year where a guy like him and what he does for that team could lead a team to a championship, it will be this year because of how open it is,” Lillard said. “There’s no favorite, in my eyes at least. I feel like anybody could get beat and anybody could go get it done. That’s why it’s even more disappointing to me because I felt like if any year you could shoulder the load and go get one, it was this year.”
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