The Portland Trail Blazers made tremendous strides this past in becoming one of the better teams in the Western Conference. LaMarcus Aldridge had a career year and Damian Lillard is quickly becoming one of the best young point guards in the NBA. While the Blazers bench was slightly improved from a year ago, the team still relied heavily upon on their starting five. That’s why Portland will still be searching to improve their bench play this off-season in hopes of taking another step forward in 2014-15.
Portland Trail Blazers (54-28 last year)
2014-15 Projected Depth Chart:
C: Robin Lopez/Meyers Leonard
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge/Thomas Robinson/Joel Freeland
SF: Nicolas Batum/Dorell Wright/Victor Claver
SG: Wesley Matthews/C.J. McCollum/Will Barton/Allen Crabbe
PG: Damian Lillard
NBA Free Agents:
PG-Mo Williams (UFA)
PG-Earl Watson (UFA)
2014-15 Team Salary: approximately $60.2 million
Team Needs:
1. Backup Point Guard:
With Mo Williams opting out of his contract, the Blazers have a glaring need at point guard behind Damian Lillard. C.J. McCollum could possibly play some one but Portland would be better off trying to either re-sign Williams who played a pivotal role as their sixth man or find a capable replacement.
2. Bench Scoring:
Despite making several moves last summer to improve their bench play, the Blazers still lacked a whole lot of scoring punch outside of Williams. A healthy McCollum should help fill that void but Portland still needs to be aggressive in improving their bench in hopes of taking some of the pressure off the starting five. The Blazers have little cap flexibility so they will have to find a bargain or two.
3. Backup Big:
Gee, Meyers Leonard has been a bust in the NBA so far… who would have guessed that. (I’m frantically raising my hand.) Joel Freeland hasn’t offered much in a reserve role either so Portland could use a more reliable low post option to play behind Robin Lopez so they don’t need to rely on Aldridge playing so many minutes at the five.
OTHER NBA OFF-SEASON TEAM NEEDS PAGES:
ATLANTA HAWKS
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.