Blazers have optimism for future with Big 3 of Nurkic, Lillard and McCollum

Less than 24 hours after having their season ended in an epic sweep by the mighty Golden State Warriors, the Portland Trail Blazers, one by one, used the same descriptors to summarize their mediocre season. Frustrated and disappointed were repeatedly mentioned, highlighting the overarching theme for their 41-41 record and first round exit.

“This was a difficult season,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “This was the first year that we didn’t exceed expectations and, by virtue of that, it makes it a little bit disappointing, a little frustrating.”

This sentiment was echoed by Blazers star Damian Lillard.

“I think you are frustrated with the way the season kept [going] up and down, up and down,” Lillard said. “You are frustrated because you know you could’ve performed better as a group. I know that what frustrates me the most. But on the positive side, you see that you can win.”

This line of thinking was radically different from the start of Portland’s season. At media day, the Blazers were a confident group, strongly believing that they would be able to build off their second-round appearance in last year’s playoffs. For Portland, making it to the second-round wasn’t a fluke. Sure the Clippers lost two of their star players in Blake Griffin and Chris Paul to injury in the first-round against the Blazers but Portland insisted that they would’ve beat Los Angeles even if those injuries hadn’t occurred.

“I think what happened was we got a little bit of a false positive the way [last] season ended,” Blazers GM Neil Olshey said. “You know, look, we were competing with the Clippers in that series. I mean, look, it was 2-1 and we were up with six minutes to go in Game 4, so I’m not going to get carried away with injuries. I don’t know that the outcome changes, but I do know we were in that series against an elite, elite team that had championship aspirations.”

Hey, it fell our way injury-wise and then we played Golden tough, but Steph [Curry] was beat up. So I don’t know that, internally, we changed our perspective, but I think the players just naturally start thinking ‘Well, we’re a second-round playoff team.’ And I think everybody got comfortable that we would just pick up immediately where we left off, and I wish we would have started 4-7 instead of 7-4  because then I think maybe the wakeup call would have come earlier.”

That wakeup call Olshey refers to really never came for the Blazers until mid-February. Before then, the Blazers were one of the worst defensive teams in the league, which was the main cause for their inconsistencies. There were some positives though. Lillard was sensational all year and CJ McCollum’s offensive exploits continued to grow in his fourth season. Yet while Lillard and McCollum were the highest scoring backcourt in the league, the rest of their supporting cast only offered up their support on a game-to-game basis.

Big free agent signing Evan Turner had his moments but also struggled to integrate himself into Portland’s offensive schemes. The same can be said about Allen Crabbe and Maurice Harkless, who after signing long-term contracts in the offseason, failed to bring their games to another level. Harkless was especially brutal in the playoffs against the Warriors, just scoring a combined three points in the last two games of the series.

Whether or not the burden of a lucrative new contract truly affected Turner, Crabbe, Harkless and even Meyers Leonard is hard to say. But Lillard did acknowledge that perhaps for some players, the expectations of a new contract could have an effect.

“As much as you don’t want it to or don’t want it to believe it would, I do know that from just being around the NBA, not specifically our team, but being in the NBA, it’s hard on guys,” Lillard said.

After spending so freely last summer, Portland is now they are bit handicapped heading into the offseason. The Blazers spent well over their salary cap and could likely pay a luxury tax next year. Olshey defended this high spending, saying that Portland spent two summers worth of money in one because it was important to keep continuity on the roster. But while the Blazers may not be a big player during free agency, they do have three first round draft picks, which can be used in possible trades or even just to add an influx of even younger talent to the roster.

Despite the lackluster team performance throughout the season and seemingly little options to improve the team this offseason, the Blazers haves reason to be optimistic for their future. Perhaps Turner will get more comfortable in his second season and truly be able to showcase his versatility. Crabbe and Harkless are both young and should only continue to improve. Plus the Blazers still have the dynamic duo of Lillard and McCollum. And then there is Jusuf Nurkic, who will be with the team at the very start of the season and will look to build on his massively successful play after joining the Blazers via trade in February.

Nurkic was a revelation almost immediately after getting acquired by the Blazers. He instantly added a presence in the middle for Portland, which they lacked previously. His passing, screen setting, low-post scoring and ability to protect the rim just by his sheer size was key to Portland’s late season surge. Nurkic also immensely helped Noah Vonleh’s development and the two now seem destined to be Portland’s big men for years to come.

After acquiring Nurkic, the Blazers finished the season 18-8 and were able to secure the eighth seed in large part because of the Bosnian Beast. Portland’s defense dramatically improved into a top-10 defensive team and their offense was just prolific, becoming top-five in the league.

Nurkic saved the Blazers this season and is why, literally every single member of the Blazers said he was their most impressive teammate. This type of praise didn’t surprise Nurkic though. Extremely confident in himself, Nurkic appreciated the compliment but just wants to show what he can do in Portland for a full season.

“That’s not a surprise,” Nurkic said about his teammate’s praise. “I mean … I’m happy for that. I got an opportunity to show what I’m able to do. Unfortunately, we done for this season, but we’ll come back even more stronger.”

That is the hope for the Blazers. Plain and simple, this was a season of adversity for Portland. But with Nurkic, McCollum and Lillard, the Blazers have a solid trio of players to build around. And if they can play with more consistency, the Blazers will likely be a playoff team in the West again next season.

That is easier said than done though, especially since the threat of the Warriors will likely keep looming large over the West. Yet, Lillard is optimistic. He believes that getting swept by the Warriors, only serves as a learning experience moving forward and that Portland can borrow aspects from Golden State to make them a better team next season.

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“I think the trust, understanding of how to play, how consistent [the Warriors] are, those are things, we can borrow from them and make that a part of our identity,” Lillard said. “Just because those are things that all championship teams have. They understand each other. They understand the game. We won’t be the Warriors, we aren’t the team that they are. But there are a lot of things we can borrow from what they do as a team that can make us a better team.”