TUALATIN — The Portland Trail Blazers are mostly characterized by two things with less than two weeks remaining before the start of a new season: The talent they lost in the offseason and their youth.
Conventional NBA wisdom suggests that young teams are rarely reliable on the defensive side of the ball. Though more and more, there is evidence of younger teams bucking that trend.
Defense has long been a sticking point for just about everybody on this Blazers team.
Three of their most important players, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Meyers Leonard, have all been criticized for their defense at one time or another.
Lillard has drawn the ire of many for his defense, though he reportedly worked on his ability to get around screens better, probably his biggest weakness on that end.
But the criticism defensively is the same for their head coach.
Terry Stotts is regarded for his offensive innovation, but quietly nurtured a defense that jumped from 26th in the league in his first year to the top-10 in defensive rating last season, earning little if any credit.
Most of the players who helped them achieve that defense are gone. But the expectations for the Blazers defensively hasn’t changed.
While it’s the preseason, the Blazers have allowed just 91.5 points per 100 possessions according to NBA.com.
The Blazers have been playing at a faster pace but their defense has allowed them to run. Lillard has frequently mentioned to the defensive activity in disrupting passing lanes and the willingness from their big men to challenge shots at the rim.
They’ve forced over 22 turnovers per game, something Stotts says he’s not looking at.
“I want it to be a bi-product of our defensive principals,” Stotts said of the team forcing more turnovers. “I don’t want to go out looking to force more turnovers. Forcing more turnovers isn’t necessarily a goal. Our goal is to stick to the process of being a solid, fundamental defensive team. Being aware and being alert that will create more turnovers.”
Forcing turnovers that turn into efficient offense is a plus. Stotts says that he’s “pleased with where the team is,” not focusing too much on their statistics.
Although the Blazers lost a lot of firepower, the foundation of what they want to do defensively has stayed exactly the same since Stotts overhauled the system two seasons ago.
“First of all, the guys coming back are part of a good defensive system,” Stotts said. “Those guys have an understanding of what we want to do. Then you add (Al) Farouq (Aminu), Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis and Moe Harkless. They’re four already NBA-quality defenders who have a good defensive presence.”
The questions will remain until they show they can defend consistently in the regular season, something they know as well as anyone.
Their defense cratered last season after the Wesley Matthews injury and Lillard got the brunt of the blame.
Although their cast is different, Stotts has made considerable growth defensively every season.
And he’s cautiously optimistic that the Blazers can be a better defensive team, sooner than he anticipated.
“To be honest, we’re probably a little bit ahead of where we thought we’d be with all of our new young players,” he said. “As I’ve said before, I don’t like getting ahead of ourselves in preseason. I don’t think patting ourselves on the back in the preseason is the thing to do.”
