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NBA Season Preview 2018-19: Can the Trail Blazers get back?

By Ian Levy

PORTLAND, OR - OCTOBER 7: Damian Lillard #0, CJ McCollum #3 of the Portland Trail Blazers talk on the bench against the Utah Jazz during a pre-season game on October 7, 2018 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - OCTOBER 7: Damian Lillard #0, CJ McCollum #3 of the Portland Trail Blazers talk on the bench against the Utah Jazz during a pre-season game on October 7, 2018 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Portland Trail Blazers have a number of challenges this season. After appearing to finally break through, playing strong defense with mostly the same roster and seizing the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, they were bulldozed in four games by the New Orleans Pelicans.

For them to move past this frustrating washout they’ll need to avoid regression during the regular season, maintain their defensive integrity, shed whatever psychological baggage was accrued last season and hope for a more advantageous playoff matchup. Each of those pieces by itself will require an incredible amount of work and, again, they’ll be doing it with mostly the same roster.

It’s unlikely that the Blazers will make significant schematic changes and it’s also hard to imagine a course-altering star emerging from their young players. What’s left then is fighting the good fight at the margins and continuing to eke a bit more efficiency at both ends out of what they already do, with the players they already do it with.

One area which could be a significant opportunity for growth is transition defense. According to Inpredictable, Blazers’ opponents averaged just 14.3 seconds per offensive possession, the third-fastest mark in the league. According to NBA.com/stats, 39 percent of their opponents shot attempts came in the first nine seconds of the shot clock. The issue wasn’t always transition as much as getting scrambled and losing track of assignments on the secondary break.

New Orleans exploited this weakness in the playoff matchup, with an average possession length that was nearly a full second faster than Portland’s weak regular season mark. One of the reasons this would appear to be an opportunity for growth is that much of the problem can be traced to possessions after a made shot. Portland had the fastest opponent possession length after a made shot in the regular season and the second-fastest in the playoffs.

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For as organized and precise as the Blazers are on offense, and as effective as they were on defense last season, simply getting themselves set and dialed in quicker could be a tool to help stave off any regression this season.