What does Portland's core consist of? A considerable amount of talent, and just as many questions.
The Trail Blazers don't have a clear-cut star on their roster. Their success (18-11 since January 18th) has been a true team effort. That's great, because I love collective action, but it also makes roster-building in the future more difficult because there isn't an obvious foundation for the franchise to center when it's drafting or signing free agents.
Anfernee Simons is Portland's leading scorer in that stretch, scoring 21.3 points per game. Second-year point guard Scoot Henderson is the leading assist man at 5.1. Rookie Donovan Clingan is hauling in 8.7 rebounds per game. Sophomore stopper Toumani Camara is leading the unit in steals — and the league in charges taken. Deni Avdija isn't leading the team in any major categories, but he's been the most important player to Portland's surprise surge. And 21 year-old Shaedon Sharpe remains the Blazer with the highest ceiling thanks to his shot-creation ability.
Combine all these traits and you have a pretty damn good player. Unfortunately, I do believe the NBA prohibits Voltron-like formations on the court. Dictator Adam Silver strikes again.
And with many of the young Blazers' existing on different developmental — and contractual — timelines, GM Joe Cronin will have to decide which players are building blocks, and who might be a casualty of a team with an excess of young talent.
Luckily, that decision doesn't have to be made today. Avdija is under contract until 2028. Clingan, Camara, Sharpe and Henderson are all under team control for years because of restricted free agency, so the Blazers will have chances to retain their services.
But will Portland want to retain all of their services? All talented players, but if each is signed to an extension, you're suddenly using a lot of cap space on good NBA players who might hit a ceiling a little lower than "building block." It's easy to imagine this team building itself into a corner.
Who does this team want to build around?
Shaedon Sharpe, at times, looks like Tracy McGrady. Scoot Henderson, if you squint enough, takes the shape of some HOF point guards. But if you open your eyes and watch 82 Blazers games, that shine fades and you're left with two monstrously talented players who are still far away from being reliable nightly players. If Portland decides these are their guys, it will be a team betting almost fully on belief in its development system to transform talent into production.
If I was in charge of the team... it would not be pretty. I'm horrible at math. But I know I'd try to keep Avdija and Camara no matter what. Avdija's offensive creation and positive impact on the floor are what great teams search for. He connects it all for Portland. And Camara is an All-Defense candidate in his second NBA season. He is the wing-stopper archetype that has become crucial in a league full of wing talent. They're such positive presences that keeping them around for years is close to a front office no-brainer.
But they're also not the stars of a team that dreams bigger than a play-in berth, and that's what Portland remains right now.
And what of the veterans? Simons and DeAndre Ayton are both expiring contracts heading into 2025-26. Portland needs to thank them for their services and let them walk. Jerami Grant will be hard to trade because he's become more interested in posting fit pictures in Portland's foliage than playing basketball, but that's fine.
I'm fascinated to watch Portland's front office over the next few years. Does this team take the ultimate risk and start to build around Sharpe and Henderson? Does it believe its eyes and make Avdija and Camara the centerpieces? Does it load up young talent and star hunt in the offseason?
Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided's daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend. If you hate it, share it with an enemy!
NBA news roundup
- The Houston Rockets are hot. Winners of eight straight, Houston is proving that the team's cold streak earlier in the year was the fluke, not the hot start it got off to. Now they just need to stay grounded and — oh, Tari Eason compared them to Jesus.
- Oklahoma City has won the West. I can not envision a world in which this team doesn't make the NBA Finals. They are 57-12 with one of the best defenses of the past decade. Luka Doncic on the Lakers is real competition — but every time I try to picture a team beating OKC four times, I just see TV static.
What does Memphis need from Ja Morant?
The Grizzlies aren't stuck in purgatory — they're 43-27 and the No. 5 seed in the West. Things are going well.
But Memphis might be leaving some meat on the bone; is there a higher ceiling for this team? And if Ja Morant plays more like 2023 Ja Morant, does that help Memphis reach that ceiling?
Probably. With a good Ja Morant, this is a 50-win team. And that's what the Grizz have gotten this season. They've also gotten a recovering Ja Morant — the guard missed most of last season and has played just 43 games this year. That factors into any conversation about him, of course.
With a great Ja Morant though, this might be a Western Conference Finals team. Coming off an injury, can he still be that Ja Morant in the playoffs? It might be an unfair ask of a player who is clearly still getting back to 100 percent, but this is now year five with this Grizzlies core, and they've advanced past the first round just once. Some signature Ja Morant performances could help ease the worries of Grizzlies fans who are (fairly) concerned about the results of this team not matching its talent.
Jaren Jackson Jr. has been Memphis' best player this year. I still think the Grizz are at their best when Morant is the star and JJJ plays a great complementary role. The slight elevation that an ultra-aggressive, high-scoring Ja Morant gives this team over a moderately aggressive Morant could be the difference in winning and losing a playoff series. It's not often that a team's best player is also its X-factor, but that's the case in Memphis.