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Initial reaction to Portland Trail Blazers preseason schedule

By Nate Mann

TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 2: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers dribbles the ball as Pascal Siakam #43 of the Toronto Raptors defends during the second half of an NBA game at Air Canada Centre on February 2, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 2: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers dribbles the ball as Pascal Siakam #43 of the Toronto Raptors defends during the second half of an NBA game at Air Canada Centre on February 2, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
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The Portland Trail Blazers announced its preseason schedule for the 2018-2019 NBA season. 59 more days of no Blazers basketball…we can do it!

The full preseason schedule for the Portland Trail Blazers became public today.

Ahead of the official schedule release, we knew that it would begin on Saturday, September 29, against the Toronto Raptors. The game will be in Vancouver, Canada – the fourth such time a game has been played there. A NBA press release on June 28 let us know the team would travel north to face the Raptors.

Damian Lillard had this to say about going to Vancouver:

"“Vancouver is cool, I’ve been there a few times and I’ve always really enjoyed it. We’re looking forward to playing in front of fans from another great Pacific Northwest city.”"

The rest of the schedule is fresh news, though. This is what it looks like.

  • October 5 versus the Phoenix Suns at 7 p.m.
  • October 7 versus the Utah Jazz at 6 p.m.
  • October 10 versus the Phoenix Suns at 7 p.m. (No, that’s not a typo – Portland plays them twice at the exact same time, only five days later.)
  • October 12 versus the Sacramento Kings at 7 p.m.

This preseason schedule looks remarkably similar to last year’s. The Blazers played Phoenix twice and Sacramento and Toronto once in 2017 and will do the same in 2018.

Only two games are different for Portland. Instead of playing the Los Angeles Clippers, they’ll face another Western Conference rival in the Utah Jazz. Additionally, the Blazers won’t play an international game this preseason – last year they played Haifa Maccabi.

Things to watch for

As is NBA tradition, the team’s rookies will get some extra run in preseason. Summer League was a step up for Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. in terms of competition (especially for Simons) but preseason will be the next test before playing full-blown NBA squads.

Portland’s newest signings, Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas, will also play more. Terry Stotts must figure out how to best utilize them in the offense and who is most deserving of Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton‘s vacant minutes.

All the new faces are guards, so giving them additional time means taking it away from Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. The two barely played in the 2017 preseason, but CJ McCollum still managed to pick up a one-game regular season suspension for “leaving the bench.”

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Finally, Terry Stotts will experiment with the backup power forward and center position. Without Ed Davis, Stotts has two options: move Zach Collins to the five and play Caleb Swanigan at the four, or put Meyers Leonard in at the five and keep Collins at the four.

Whichever pairing works together and with the rest of the bench unit best in preseason and training camp will earn the nod come regular season.