What Went Wrong: Valiant Blazers Ousted in Five

It is obviously clear that the Portland Trail Blazers are a far cry from those good teams who were guaranteed playoff locks every year. During my childhood years and my teen years, the Blazers were quite the force; always in the thick of things, and often making deep runs in the playoffs. This year's Blazers appear to be in "start over" mode, but this year saw them do pretty well. A 42-40 record, enough for an 8th place finish in the Western Conference, which is the road spot in the 7th seed game.

The Blazers faced the Phoenix Suns, and they managed to actually win that game to get the 7th seed. So they avoided the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder; that's the good news. The bad news: they got the the San Antonio Spurs. That's just as deadly, after all, the Spurs had the Thunder's number in the regular season. So, similar to the Phoenix Suns' defeat in Round 1, the Blazers' series against the Spurs went about as well as one expected.

Though, unlike Phoenix, at least Portland won a game. And on the road, too. So there's that.

As I said before, these aren't your dad's Blazers here. The team had struggled in the last few seasons. This was their first official playoff appearance since the 2020-21 season, and with this defeat, they are still looking for their first playoff series victory since 2018-19, the year where they went all the way to the Conference Finals. The Blazers do have a quite an interesting group, which includes the returning Damian Lillard, who returned to Portland after some time with the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Lillard was out all season, and someone had to step up and lead the Blazers:

Enter Deni Avdija. Drafted by the Washington Wizards in 2020, Avdija was dealt to the Blazers in 2024 in a deal that sent Malcolm Brogdon (among others) to Washington. He recorded his first triple-double last season, and this year, Avdija has been the team's top player, leading the team in points per game (24.2) and assists per game (6.7). The top rebounder this year for Portland is Donovan Clingan, who is averaging 11.6 boards per game this season, and he's also putting up nearly two blocks per game as well. Shaedon Sharpe and Jerami Grant have also proven to be quite valuable to he team this year; Sharpe finished with a 20.8 PPG average this year, while Grant is third on team with an average of 18.6.

So yeah, the Blazers have some good young talent, and even with Lillard not playing a game all year, they still persevered and became part of the NBA's Sweet 16 this year. So they do have that going for them. However, as long as the Thunder, Spurs, and (to a smaller extent) Nuggets exist, don't expect the Blazers to go far until one of those teams really falls off. Regarding their offseason, well, I can see Portland making some key moves that could result in a longer run next year, but for now, I think they should really drink in this year. A 42-40 record, an upset over Phoenix, and they kinda hung in there with the Wemby-led San Antonio Spurs. So I can see this team being back in postseason play next year, especially if Lillard plays and if they make some good moves during the offseason.

The Spurs await whoever wins that Nuggets/Timberwolves series, but the Blazers' season ends with a sliver of something resembling hope for the team. It should be very interesting to see what moves Portland makes between now and the first tip-off of next season.