Portland Trail Blazers preseason ends with a rough start

Following trades, injuries and issues with team management, the Portland Trail Blazers have had an eventful season last year. To break down what happened, share how preseason went and give some insight on what’s in store for the Blazers this year, we hear from Mike Richman, host of the Locked on Blazers podcast.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB, I’m Dave Miller. The Portland Trailblazers start their season two days from today in Sacramento. It’ll be the first game for Damian Lillard since he had season ending surgery in January, and it follows a preseason with four losses and only one win that has some Blazers fans fearing the worst. Mike Richman is the host of the Locked On Blazers daily podcast. He joins us now for a season preview. Welcome to the show.

Mike Richman: Thanks for having me.

Miller: Thanks for joining us. Before we talk about the season that’s about to start, I thought we could touch briefly on last season. So the Blazers lost Lillard to an injury, an injury that apparently he had been dealing with for years. Then they fired their GM Neil Olshey after reports that he had created a toxic work environment. They traded away CJ McCollum, and then they lost 21 of their last 23 games. What most stands out to you from last year?

Richman: Well, that they’re not wholly different from the way they ended last season. Now they’ve got a bunch of new parts, but they were a team that was really tumultuous with all of the front office things. They not only lost Olshey, but the president on the business side stepped away very suddenly prior to the firing of Olshey. So it was a rocky season.

And yet they’re running a relatively similar looking group back again, with maybe a little more hopeful upside

Miller: Blazers fans’ hopes when the team traded away McCollum and then tanked in the second half was that they would rebuild around Lillard and hopefully sign some real difference makers. How much did that actually happen?

Richman: Well, the trade for CJ McCollum allowed them to acquire a draft pick that they eventually flipped to land Jeremi Grant, forward from the Detroit Pistons, who is almost certainly the best forward they’ve had on the roster since LaMarcus Aldridge left. He’s a big get, and a big addition, a serious upgrade. And they also used one of their free agency tools to sign veteran Gary Payton II, son of Beavers and Northwest legend Gary Payton. Those are two real upgrades. Peyton is injured so he’s not going to play at the beginning of the season. But I do think that they made some “win now” moves.

The challenge, Dave, is that they are on these competing timelines of being competitive in the moment, but also having another part of the roster that is sort of young and developmental. And it’s really difficult to have both of those timelines running concurrently.

Miller: When you’re thinking about the young and developmental part, who are the rookies or young players who have the biggest potential upside?

Richman: Well, they signed Anfernee Simons, who just finished up his fourth year in the NBA, he’s entering year five with a $400 million contract, which believe it or not, has started to look like a bargain the way the NBA salaries work now. Maybe not a true bargain, but at least like the going rate for someone of his caliber. He’s a 23 year old with real upside to take steps forward.

They also drafted 19 year old Shaedon Sharpe, a rookie who didn’t play college basketball, didn’t play his senior year of high school basketball, and is a true mystery man. But at 19 he’s super skilled, and the scouting types that have seen him play are really excited about what he could be.

And I think you gotta throw in Keon Johnson, a second-year guard who’s going to play a significant role in the beginning of the season, who’s still just 20 years old as well.

Miller: What did you see in preseason games that made you most worried?

Richman: Their perceived strengths of being a really good offensive team were not there. They look a little disjointed, confused, not totally connected on offense, like they kind of are still figuring out what to be. And in the past they have been a really good offensive team with a bad defense. The idea would be that sometimes you can’t cover up your weaknesses, so you gotta lean into your strengths. What concerns me is that right now the Blazers have so far been unable to sort of lean on those strengths.

Miller: How much of that seems to you like just the growing pains of a slightly new set of folks playing together? Some people are back together and have been for a couple of years now, but how much of it is just figuring out the rhythm of a new team?

Richman: I think a great deal of it. I wouldn’t put it more than half, I’m not willing to throw out the exhibition season as just growing pains and the nature of a new team, and games that don’t matter where they don’t play the fourth quarter intentionally. But there is some truth to it. Chauncey Billups is coaching. He coached a bunch of different iterations of the Blazers last year, thanks to trades and injuries. The addition of Jeremi Grant, the inclusion of Anfernee Simons. There are new parts to integrate for sure.

But I saw what I saw. They didn’t look very good.

Miller: What looked the best? What are the positives that you saw, if any?

Richman: I think Keon Johnson has taken some real steps forward. He was a guy who looked like he was a borderline NBA player last year. He’s taken some real steps forward. He struggled at the very end of his preseason, but I’ll throw out that one game and say that, in the others, he looked pretty good.

And Shaedon Sharpe has taken steps forward. He can be a special player. But it’s when his ability can catch up with the rest of the league. It’s hard to be a good player in the NBA at 19. There’s not much track record of teenagers really being impactful players.

Miller: And I guess there’s another question, can his peak coincide with Damian Lillard still being close to his peak, more than a decade older?

Richman: Peak, probably not. And I think that’s the sort of competing timelines I was discussing. Peak, probably not. But if you think that at 32, the way that modern athletes have played, that Damien Lillard has 2-3 more seasons of being one of the best players in the league, certainly the idea is that Shaedon Sharpe can get up to speed and be ready to be a very good basketball player over the next two seasons. And then if you have that type of talent playing on the same roster, you’ve got a lot more options.

Miller: What are you expecting from Damian Lillard coming off his surgery and his time away?

Richman: I am not particularly worried about Damian Lillard as an offensive force in the NBA. He has consistently over the last half decade, seven years, been one of the five or so best scorers and best offensive forces in the league. I think he’ll get back there and be that again. Whether he fits with the current coaching staff’s style and whether he’s going to mesh perfectly with his new teammates, I think those are questions. But his overall talent, I’m not worried about him falling off at age 32. I’m a little bit older than Damian, I like to believe that I’m still in my podcasting prime. So certainly he can play point guard at a pretty high level.

Miller: Yeah, because podcasting is hard and physically demanding, as everybody knows.

Richman: It’s a daily show!

Miller: Let’s listen to a short clip from one of your recent episodes. I don’t think this needs any setup.

Richman [recording]: I want to say this too. I’ve been pretty negative on this show recently, because I have watched the Blazers play and they haven’t been very good, and I like to keep it real. When I see them play poorly, I call it like it is.

But the reason to be a Blazers fan, the reason to be a fan of any sports team, is to allow yourself to be hopeful, and to enjoy the special things. Damien Lillard is the special thing about the Portland Trailblazers. The fun part of the season is watching an all time great ply his trade for the team you love. So if you are able- and many of you are and don’t need this pep talk, but I’ve seen the comments, I’ve read the tweets. If you are able to allow yourself to appreciate how darn good Damien Lillard is, and appreciate the moments when he is the best player on the floor - because sports, life is fleeting - hold on to your joy. And Damian Lillard, who if you’re a Blazer fan, has brought you more joy than anyone else over the last decade, hold on to the moments when you can enjoy how special he is.

Miller: Mike Richman, I heard this both as as good general advice for any fan anywhere, but also as a kind of warning early on for Blazers fans in particular basically to say, “hey, if the Blazers beat the Clippers in late November, really celebrate that win because that may be the kind of thing that you hold onto for the season, that may be as good as it gets.” Is that what you’re saying, right now in the middle of October?

Richman: That’s a pretty fair read on it. Holding onto your joy is sort of the thesis of my show, and is also my belief as a sports fan, a sports fanatic. Most teams lose every year. 29 teams lose and in the NBA, very few teams win. Since 1983, 14 teams have won an NBA championship. That’s less than half the league in 40 years. Nobody wins this thing. A handful of franchises win the whole thing. So you have to, if you’re going to lock in for the seven month marathon of the NBA season, take the highs and really appreciate them, celebrate them, enjoy them, and know that they bring you real joy, because that’s the task and the challenge of rooting for a team that really might struggle early in the season, really might try not find their footing until a month or so in, if they do at all.

So hold on to your joy when you have it.

Contact “Think Out Loud®”

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show, or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.