Portland Trail Blazers: 3 observations from the first week of action
The Portland Trail Blazers started this season with a 4-0 record. This is what's making them successful.
#1 – The return of Damian Lillard
What a return it’s been. Dame averages 33.3 points per game on 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range. His outstanding play earned him Western Conference Player of the Week honors.
After finding out early last season that Dame was playing through an abdominal injury for the past few years, he opted to have surgery. If he can play as well as he did with an injury, what is his actual ceiling when healthy?
Lillard had a difficult first game but rebounded for back-to-back 41-point performances, followed by a 31-point game during a fun-to-watch blowout of Denver. Not only has he announced that he’s back with an exclamation point, but Dame also announced that he has an improved team ready to wreak havoc on the rest of the league.
Dame coming out and backing up his offseason talk of health and improvement is a much-needed sigh of relief for the Portland Trail Blazers fanbase. It’s been back-to-back summers of pundits and journalists speculating that the team needs to trade Dame and blow it up. They said he’ll never win in Portland, etc.
It’s kind of nice to silence those voices.
In conclusion
I don’t think this team is quite a contender yet, but they are closer than anyone thought. Seeing improvements on defense and team chemistry clicking this early are good signs for the season.
More roster moves are probably in store, as Grant and Winslow are in the final year of their respective contracts. Additionally, Josh Hart will likely opt out and become a free agent next summer.
For the moment, I’m going to enjoy this team’s start to the season and leave speculative moves for future discussions.
What do you think about the Portland Trail Blazers’ start this season?