Which Blazers players need to improve the most this offseason?

Who needs to improve the most on the Portland Trail Blazers roster for it to take the next step?

Although Portland’s roster has been tweaked a little, the general form and look of the team will remain largely unchanged from the 49-win team that was swept in the first round of the playoffs last season.

To take the next step this season, the Blazers need certain players to step up. Here are the three players that must improve next season for the team to reach a second-round playoff series.

Al-Farouq Aminu

We all love Chief.

Al-Farouq Aminu had one of his best seasons in terms of minutes played, points, and rebounds, plus he played key minutes down the stretch for this team.

However, Aminu had one of his worst shooting seasons of his career, connecting on only 39.5% of his field goal attempts, and only 43.2% of his 2-point attempts. He needs to approach his 2012-2014 numbers to help Portland improve this fall.

Even after the Blazers added a few more outside shooters, Aminu will still get a lot of catch-and-shoot opportunities with the starting unit.

Maurice Harkless

Despite career high efficiency from behind the arc (41.5%), Maurice Harkless‘ season was a disappointing one after posting career highs in nearly every statistical category in 2016-2017.

He saw a significant reduction in rebounds, shooting percentage, minutes played, and points scored from the prior campaign. Harkless started 36 games and played 59 total for an average of 21.4 minutes per, but he only scored 6.5 points per contest.

Aside from scoring, he needs to rebound in a big way to help propel this team to new heights.

Zach Collins

Zach Collins might be my favorite player on the Trail Blazers. Although I don’t normally root for Gonzaga, as a Washington native I couldn’t help but root for Zach’s team when they made their magical run to the National Championship game in 2017.

Collins had a great rookie season and needs to continue to contribute and grow to help this team.

He posted modest numbers in his rookie season (15.8 MP, 4.4 ppg, .398 FG%), but showed incredible growth and court awareness for a player with only one year of college basketball under his belt.

Collins will likely rotate between the 4 and 5 spots on the floor next season, hopefully someday developing into a starting center for the Blazers. A breakout season for Collins is quite possibly in the cards next season, and he may be the missing piece of this Portland Trail Blazers puzzle.

Portland is in a tough place. With a Western Conference filled with contenders, the route to the playoffs and beyond is tough. Without many offseason acquisitions, Portland needs big time contributions from their own guys if next season is to be a success.

Players besides Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic need to step up and carry this team. I think Aminu, Harkless and Collins hold the key to that next step.