Since we are over halfway into the Trail Blazers’ preseason, I figured I would talk about some of my impressions of what I have seen so far and some things that should be looked at. I will preface this by saying that I have been unable to watch any of the games as they are not broadcast on any channel (not cool Comcast Sports Net). All my opinions are being made by what people are saying on Twitter and by looking at the box scores and drawing my conclusions. Here we go.
After a sluggish start and falling to 0-2 in the preseason, the Blazers came right back and won two games against the Utah Jazz. Now, I know what you all Blazer fans are thinking: Utah is an awful team. You are right. However, there have been some developments that excite me to the core and it doesn’t matter if it was against a bad team. First is the impact of Mo Williams. Man, was this acquisition big or what?! I think this might end up being the most important signing for THIS season. I still think Thomas Robinson was the best signing in terms of future expectations. Seeing the chemistry between Mo and Damian and how that has already become a deadly combo has been exciting to hear. If you thought Maynor opened things up for Damian last year, then Mo breaks the doors wide open. People forget that this guy was an all-star not too long ago and, honestly, if we did not have Damian, would be a really solid starting point guard. Mo has been a huge spark off the bench and it showed last night in the 99-92 victory over the Jazz. He scored 17 points on 8-for-13 shooting. We absolutely did not have that last year and we were frequently getting torched by teams who had that go-to guy off the bench. I am just glad we are on the other side for a change. Mo also had a really slick behind-the-back pass to Wesley Matthews for an open three-pointer. These are the kinds of things that get me excited.
LaMarcus Aldridge seems to be unstoppable in these last few games. Playing limited minutes, he is making the most of it and is crushing opponents. He scored 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting last night and the preseason game before that he scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting in 18 minutes. This guy is good. I think with all the three-point shooters that we have, it is certainly opening up things for LA to do his work down low. Gone are the days where you could double-team him and take us out of the game.
Damian Lillard is playing like the reigning Rookie of the Year. He is scoring and, most importantly, getting to the line. In last night’s contest, he was 10-for-10 from the free throw line. I like how, even if his shot is off, he will find a way to get to the line to make an impact. Damian only shot 7-for-20 last night, so it was not the greatest shooting night for him, but he was still a factor.
Last night also signaled the arrival of Robin Lopez. After hearing reports of him being a little nervous in front of the home crowd and not being aggressive enough, he put those issues to bed as he had 13 points, 2 blocks, and 13 rebounds. 6 of those were offensive. Robin was able to contest open lay-ups by getting in the way and was able to get the Blazers second chances at buckets, which was an issue all last year. He got angry and had a nice sequence where he blocked Favors on one end and was able to run down to the other with a dunk. Those are the kinds of moments that the Blazers so desperately need. Plus, if you go back to the first preseason game against the Clippers, Blake Griffin was forced into taking long jump-shots, which were not falling for him. If we continue to do that on defense, then we are going to be in good shape.
One thing I noticed from the stat sheet last night is that everyone on the bench who played had 3 or more rebounds for a total of 28 rebounds from the bench. Glad to see that Terry Stotts is basically telling the whole team to crash the boards. Just because we have a true center does not mean the rest of the team should slack off on rebounds. One glaring stat that has been dogging the Blazers for the entire preseason is turnovers. They had a whopping 18 turnovers last night. That really needs to come down to a manageable level before the season starts. You will lose games to teams if that keeps happening and we almost lost the game last night as the Jazz, at one point, had a double-digit lead on Portland. Take care of the ball.
Another negative stat that alarmed me last night was the poor free-throw shooting. We shot, overall, 61.3% from the line. Wow. If it wasn’t for Damian going 10-for-10 from the line, that would have been a whole different ball game. LA was 2-for-5, Lopez was 1-for-4, Matthews was 3-for-6. That is disgusting and hopefully that will continue to improve as the season draws closer.
Finally, Wesley Matthews continues to search for his shooting stroke. He went 3-for-11 and 2-for-5 from beyond the arc for 11 points. He did contribute in other ways as he had 8 rebounds and 5 assists on the night. However, Wesley is one of our main scorers and it has been concerning to see him not being able to hit his shots consistently. Throughout the preseason he has shot 8-for-29. I would expect that to get better as Wesley will not continue to tolerate those shots. I expect him to have at least one breakout game in the preseason.
Overall, I am really enjoying what I am seeing. There are still some lingering questions that need to be answered, but the bulk of the team seems to be in full swing. We are already starting to see the impact of a deeper bench and having a true center in the middle to clog things up. I honestly think last year’s team would not have been able to win last night’s game and it was nice to win on the road for a change. One last interesting stat is that last night was the first preseason win in Utah for the Blazers ever. That is what I like to hear. Now, can the season just start already?