The Portland Trail Blazers defense is bad

The Portland Trail Blazers overcame significant roster turnover last season to finish with a 44-38 record and make it to the Western Conference Semifinals. It was an entire season of what seemed to be playing above their heads and with Evan Turner and Festus Ezeli as the only significant additions this season, a regression to the mean this season was expected by many. They’ve certainly regressed, however, the way it has happened in the early part of the season is definitely troubling.

After being essentially James Harden’s personal turnstile in Thursday night’s 126-109 loss to the Houston Rockets, Damian Lillard put it candidly by saying, “we kind of suck right now.” At 8-7 through 15 games, the Trail Blazers are still in the middle of the Western Conference playoff picture, but their defense has been atrocious.

While Portland is middle of the pack in terms of offensive efficiency (11th), but dead last in the league in defensive efficiency, allowing 111.5 points per 100 possessions.

For the Blazers to be successful this season, they will have to play to their strengths like they did last year, which means scoring well and leaning on the talents of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. However, there is no way they can survive in the playoffs with the worst defense in the league.

Lillard has never been a defensive dynamo since coming out of Weber State in 2012. It’s understandable that the team would reflect their best player’s on-court strengths and weaknesses. Lillard’s been especially bad this season, ranked as one of the worst defensive point guards in the league by ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus. He can be better but even if Lillard never becomes an above average defensive player, a balanced roster can help compensate.

For Portland to really challenge in the Western Conference, they will need to be explosive offensively in the backcourt and stout defensively in the frontcourt. That hasn’t worked out so well. The Trail Blazers are rebounding terribly and fouling a ton, their rim defense has been surprisingly effective but overall they’re struggling to contain penetration and the fallout from when their defense is broke at the point of attack.

Though Allen Crabbe and Maurice Harkless are solid defensive players on the wing, they are really missing Al-Farouq Aminu who has missed a couple of weeks with a lingering calf injury. Portland’s defense has been about five points better per 100 possessions with Aminu in the starting lineup, and when he and Plumlee have played together they’ve been quite good. Ezeli, who has yet to play a minute for Portland because of injury, was rated as one of the best rim protectors in the league over the past two years.

Essentially, the construction of this roster yields a razor-thin margin for error on the defensive end of the floor. To conjure an above average defense, this team needs it’s good defensive players to be healthy, particularly in the frontcourt where they are thinner. And they need everyone else to be playing at the top of their defensive games.

The good news for Portland is that it is early in the season. This will allow Terry Stotts to have some time to sort out many of these defensive deficiencies out. The best thing Stotts can do is slowly work Aminu back into the rotation and then into the starting lineup. This will ensure that Aminu will be able to commit himself defensively every minute he is on the floor. Getting Ezeli back at some point could help, but his timeline is murky. In the meantime, the effort and execution from everyone else needs to jump a level.

While Lillard’s comments after Thursday night’s loss to Houston were troubling, maybe it was the honest assessment the Trail Blazers needed to have early in 2016-17? For them to get back to good, they first must accept that they might not be as great as they were last year.

Portland has the talent to be a top 10 offense. The Trail Blazers probably need to get to top-10 as well defensively to have any shot at contention. But that level of a defense dominance feels too distant at this time. Maybe top-half is a reachable ceiling for this team defensively, but will that even be good enough? In re-signing Crabbe and McCollum, adding Turner and Ezeli, this team locked itself into a path of internal development. It’s hard to see how this roster ever grows naturally into an elite defense.

Either way, Portland has to understand that dead last in defensive efficiency will likely keep them out of the playoffs. Will Lillard, McCollum, and company rise to the occasion? Can they get Aminu and Ezeli healthy enough to make a difference?

The ball isn’t in the Trail Blazers court. They will have to defend like crazy to get it back.

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