Why the Portland Trail Blazers defense will be better, not worse this season

After losing a few key pieces, many people are expecting the Portland Trail Blazers to take a step back defensively. Here’s why they’re wrong.

For the last four years, the Portland Trail Blazers have been defined defensively by the efforts made by players like Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless. Their tenacity on the wing helped stifle opposing offenses and covered up for the rest of the roster’s deficiencies.

But now, they’re gone.

For some fans, that would be good enough reason to fret. How can the Blazers ever hope to win their first championship in over 40 years if their defense is more porous than a certain square-shaped inhabitant of Bikini Bottom?

But there’s a light at the end of this tunnel. Even with Aminu and Harkless gone and Jusuf Nurkic out with injury, perhaps the Blazers will better defensively than ever this season. Although the idea may seem rather contradictory on paper, it all starts to make a little more sense once you dive in to the finer details.

Last season, the Portland Trail Blazers held host to a relatively average, middle-of-the-pack defensive unit. They ranked 16th in Defensive Rating, 16th in shots blocked and 25th in steals. They also allowed the 11th most second-chance points, despite having the 8th highest defensive rebounding percentage.

To put it plainly, all of these signs point to a seriously faulty defensive scheme.

Even with three perceived defensive specialists in the starting lineup, the Blazers could not manage to stop other teams from scoring and could not generate extra possessions through turnovers. In fact, only 13.1 percent of all points Portland scored came via a turnover — the second-worst mark of any team in the league last year.

Whatever the Blazers were doing on defense last year, it clearly wasn’t working. Most of their playoff games were won in spite of the defense, not because it. This issue was put on full display in the Western Conference Finals, as the Blazers repeatedly failed to hold on to double-digit leads against the Warriors. Something clearly needed to change.

That’s why there’s good reason to be hopeful for an improved defense this time around, even with three of last year’s starters missing from the opening day lineup. This summer, Portland picked up several more agile defenders in free agency. Kent Bazemore, Mario Hezonja and Rodney Hood are all players with above average lateral quickness, which is the key here.

This batch of players are clearly not as capable defensively as Aminu or Harkless in one-on-one situations, but they don’t need to be. Whatever Aminu and Harkless were doing last year clearly wasn’t stopping the NBA’s more physically imposing forwards like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo from having their way anyways.

Which is exactly why a change of plan may be the best route to take here. Incorporating a strategy that involves more agile players that can easily switch, intercept passing lanes and close out to contest open shots should be a more valuable asset in the modern NBA than iso defense.

This all becomes even more important when you consider Portland’s new-look frontcourt. Hassan Whiteside and Zach Collins each stand at 7-feet tall, forming an impenetrable wall of rim protection.

The two combined for 6.5 blocks per 100 possessions last season, and Collins is only expected to improve with more age and experience. For context, that’s the highest combined mark of any team’s starting frontcourt duo entering this season. Meanwhile, Aminu and Nurkic only posted a collective 3.2 blocks per 100 possessions last year. This upgrade in rim protection simply can’t be understated.

Instead of trying to defend the league’s most dominant wings in one-on-one situations, the Blazers’ perimeter defenders will now be able to funnel their opponents into situations where Whiteside and Collins can help close out the paint. This means we’ll see far less easy looks in the paint and more opponents settling for jump shot opportunities.

This is exactly the type of game the Blazers want to play.

Now that other teams will be more inclined to shoot instead of drive — again, repeatedly meeting Whiteside and Collins in the paint won’t be a pleasant experience — the quicker perimeter players on the Blazers will have every opportunity to use their speed to contest 3-point shots.

If opposing teams can’t get open looks from deep because the Blazers are too fast, and they can’t effectively drive to the paint, where can they go? That’s right, the mid-range game. Other teams will be able to blow by the Blazers’ smaller wings and pull-up before the lumbering giants can step up to block their shots.

But this hypothetical situation is one that would make every analytics department in the league drool. As you all know, three is greater than two, and forcing other teams to take low-value two-point jump shots is a recipe for success. And even then, there’s slim chance they can beat McCollum at his own game as one of the best mid-range scorers the NBA has seen in recent memory.

The Portland Trail Blazers have somehow managed to scrape up the perfect storm and create a defense that should be greater than the sum of its parts. One that will create extra fast break opportunities and force other teams to run-and-gun against two of the league’s most explosive guards. If the defense can put the ball in Dame and CJ’s hands, chances are Portland will be victorious far more often than not.