Know Your New Orleans Pelicans Opponents: Portland Trail Blazers Q&A
As we head towards the start of the 2015-16 season, New Orleans Pelicans fans are mostly concerned with the way the Pelicans are adjusting to a new system. While that is the most important question for the Pelicans right now, there are also 29 other teams in the NBA with questions and the answers to some will directly impact the Pelicans. With that in mind we decided to go around the league and do Q&A sessions with a blogger for some of the other teams in the league. Today we are joined by Evans Clinchy, a writer at Hardwood Paroxysm, The Cauldron, Classical, Celtics Blog, Nylon Calculus and Blazer’s Edge to talk Portland Trail Blazers.
1. Injuries crippled the Blazers best chance at contention last season. After watching that happen does it change the way you view the Pelicans who constantly are dealing with injury issues?
Evans: Not really. I mean, I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t really see the two situations as comparable exactly. The Blazers, at their peak, were capable of winning a championship in 2015. They were basically one Golden State injury away from being right there in the mix as co-favorites. Instead, Wesley Matthews goes down, the Warriors stay extraordinarily healthy and the rest is history.
More from Pelicans News
- How will the Pelicans round out rotation without Trey Murphy III
- Why you can’t blame Brandon Ingram for all Team USA’s failures
- New Orleans Pelicans avoid potential disaster with latest injury reports
- 3 New Orleans Pelicans whose role will increase next season
- Pelicans getting the fans involved with their upcoming festival
Are the Pelicans really in that same ballpark? Obviously, if they’d gotten another 20 or 30 healthy games out of Jrue Holiday last season, it would have made a pretty big difference, but is anyone really talking about them as legitimate title contenders either way?
I find it hard to have sympathy for the Pelicans’ situation, honestly. They’ve got a shallow rotation of guys whose fit together is questionable at best, but isn’t that entirely their own doing? No one held a gun to Dell Demps‘ head and forced him to deal two first-round draft picks for Holiday, after all. No one made them throw the money they did at Evans, Asik, Ajinca and so on.
Injuries are part of the game, but the best teams find a way to fight through them. I just feel like the Pelicans aren’t yet to the point where they’re capable of doing that.
2. Former Pelican Al-Farouq Aminu signed the first contract of the summer this year and it was widely panned at the time. Now that some time has passed what are your thoughts on the deal? And he isn’t really going to start on the wing is he?
Evans: The contract doesn’t look great in a vacuum, but I would contend that that’s OK. The trick is to look at it in terms of the rising salary cap – four years, $30 million for a limited wing guy who can’t shoot seems like a lot now, but it will actually be a pretty paltry sum in a couple of years. In 2017-18, the salary cap is projected to be about $89.5 million, and Aminu is slated to make just $7.3 million. That means Neil Olshey will be spending only 8 percent of his cap figure on a starter-ish-caliber player. Not so bad, is it? The cap hit is only painful in the beginning, and the Blazers have plenty of space this year anyway. No biggie.
As for Aminu starting – yes, sadly, it looks like he is. I agree with you that he doesn’t exactly look ready for the job this season, but he’s absolutely the best option available at the small forward spot. It’s either him or Moe Harkless, basically. Aminu it is.
3. The Blazers are in a similar position as the Pelicans right now as they have one superstar but no one else that really projects as a star. Does Portland try to find a second star to go around Lillard or do you expect them to go the New Orleans route and start acquiring established veterans to play with Dame going forward?
Evans: If I had to guess? Neither. There’s a third option here – Neil Olshey honestly believes the guys on his roster right now have the potential to grow into stars later. Meyers Leonard was a 50-40-90 shooter last season (actually, more like 51-42-94), and the hope is that he continues that level of production next season with far more minutes. C.J. McCollum is a talented combo guard who can run the pick-and-roll capably while also playing well off the ball as a spot-up shooter. Noah Vonleh was the No. 9 pick in the draft a year ago and he just turned 20; he’s got plenty of time to grow into a legitimate star. My prediction, therefore, is the Blazers forget about signing a second star or tacking on veterans just for the sake of veterans. The other option is to stick with the talent they have now and promote from within. If I had to guess, that’s the way Olshey’s currently leaning.
4. The Pelicans want to climb into the top 10 in the league in defensive efficiency which means they have to pass some teams and Portland was in the top 10 last year. How far do they fall after watching their best defenders leave this summer?
Evans: Far. Quite far. Losing Robin Lopez‘s energy and Nicolas Batum‘s length is pretty devastating. I also really admired Wesley Matthews’ ability to chase opposing wing guys around screens; Portland will be considerably weaker defensively with the raw youngster McCollum in Wes’ place. I like Mason Plumlee and Gerald Henderson quite a bit defensively, but still. It might be a precipitous drop from No. 10 in the league to wherever the Blazers are headed this year.
But hey, wait a second. You think the Pelicans have a shot at the top 10? That’s pretty ambitious. They were 22nd in the league last year and made zero major changes to their roster – you think anything’s going to change now? I still think New Orleans has some glaring question marks defensively. Namely that Ryan Anderson is a poor defender, Eric Gordon is even worse and Anthony Davis, while a relative bright spot in the Pels’ rotation, still has some things to figure out. The block totals are gaudy, but he’s got to be a little bit smarter about positioning himself well rather than simply jumping around the floor like a human pogo stick. I think New Orleans’ defense is still a ways away. But then, I like this team a lot, and I’d be thrilled to see them prove me wrong.
5. What are the expectations for the Blazers this year? What would you consider a successful season?
Evans: My expectations are higher than most. They’re not going to be a playoff team in all likelihood, but that doesn’t mean they should give up on having a competitive season. I think this group is capable of being far better than a 25-win team; I hope they scratch and claw their way to a final total closer to 35. They have the talent to do that, and I think it would be to their benefit – with a young, developing team like Portland’s, every competitive game you can play in March and April is a plus.
The goal, in my mind, is to make this much more than a lost season. It should be a season of developing talent, building team cohesion and reshaping the organizational culture. That means showing up to play hard every night and putting together a respectable record in the end.
This season is a bridge to whatever happens next. Portland isn’t winning anything in 2015-16, but the hope is to build this team to the point where a 2016-17 breakout isn’t out of the question. In short, the goal this year is to take baby steps forward.
Next: Wes Goldberg Joined Us to Talk Miami Heat
More from Pelican Debrief
- How will the Pelicans round out rotation without Trey Murphy III
- Why you can’t blame Brandon Ingram for all Team USA’s failures
- Ranking 10 worst starters of the Anthony Davis era
- New Orleans Pelicans avoid potential disaster with latest injury reports
- 4 Most underrated players on New Orleans Pelicans current roster