There were a lot of eyes on the Portland Trail Blazers throughout the NBA offseason. Many observers were waiting for the inevitable shake-up of the roster following the ousting of head coach, Terry Stotts.
Stotts had coached the team for nine seasons, making the playoffs eight consecutive times. But, the team’s inability to advance in the postseason was a big reason he was let go as they were eliminated in the first round in four out of the last five years.
The roster needed some changes. Portland was among the best scoring teams in the NBA, buoyed by their dynamic backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.
They were second in the NBA in offensive rating, but for as good as they were scoring the ball, they were as bad at stopping their opponent from scoring.
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Without changes being made to the roster, would this finally be what pushed Lillard to request a trade? Quite the opposite, actually. Lillard addressed those rumors recently and Trail Blazer fans will be happy about what he had to say.
“Everybody is saying what they think I’m thinking, and what they think I’m going to do, but like, I’m not leaving Portland, you know?”
That is music to Portland fans’ ears. They had to go through a whole offseason of people saying Lillard was leaving, but he sounds committed to the team. The Milwaukee Bucks winning an NBA Championship is something that convinced Lillard that he could win with the Trail Blazers as well.
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His relationship with the new head coach, Chauncey Billups, also sounds like something that will keep him in town for the foreseeable future.
“I think a big part of (my change in mindset) was me and Chauncey’s conversations, and where we see things the same,” Lillard told The Athletic. “I’m not going to share details of our conversations, but it’s not often when I speak to people that they see what I see. Watching a game, observing people … there’s not many people who see what I see. But a lot of what I see, he sees. So that was very important to me. Like, that was a big deal.”
That is encouraging that Damian Lillard, who is an extension of the head coach on the floor, is on the same page with Billups. The Trail Blazers needed a change of some sort, and if the roster wasn’t going to be adjusted, it had to come on the coaching staff.
While things are good now, the Portland Trail Blazers must remain competitive in the Western Conference or that tone could certainly change.
