Damian Lillard can’t carry the Portland Trail Blazers forever

While the Portland Trail Blazers entered the season with title aspirations, it’s been difficult to find silver linings outside of Damian Lillard’s electric performances.

First things first, I have to give credit where credit due. Damian Lillard has been phenomenal to start the season. There’s simply no understating the magnetic effect he’s had in the first stretch of games to kick off the 2019-20 season. However, the Portland Trail Blazers are losing games. Why?

When you break down the numbers, the answer becomes a lot more apparent.

Thus far, Lillard has steadily built up a strong case to become an early front runner in the MVP race. Across nine games, Dame has averaged 33.3 points, 6.9 assists, 5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He has made the most 3-point field goals and is sixth in shots coming inside the arc. Lillard has also showcased his improved playmaking this season, currently in seventh for assists.

The advanced analytics also check out here, as Lillard is in second place for Win Shares (2.1) and VORP (1.0), while coming in third with his exceptional PER (31.9). Dame has also been extremely efficient even while getting consistently double-teamed and forced to shoulder the load on offense, seen by his 63.9 true shooting percentage. Lillard has attained the league’s highest Offensive Box/Plus Minus, and has clearly looks to be the NBA’s best guard at the moment.

Despite Lillard’s undeniable star power, the Blazers have kicked off the season to a 3-6 record and already gasping for air in a highly competitive Western Conference playoff picture.

Although Portland has the 11th highest rated offense so far, that doesn’t exactly paint the whole picture. Dame has scored 29.5 percent of all the team’s points, hauling the entire weight of the offense with him. While Lillard has made 49.5 percent of all his field goal attempts, his teammates have only shot 43.2 percent from the field. Similarly, Dame has been red hot from deep while hitting 39.8 percent of his 3-pointers, a mark far above the 35.9 percent clip from deep his teammates have put up.

While the Blazers have always been a iso-heavy team, it still is concerning to see such little ball movement among the primary supporting cast. The team is full of offensive black holes, with Dame being the only plus passer on the entire roster. Known as a score-first point guard, he’s still dished out 43.2 percent of all the team’s assists.

That means Lillard has been responsible for a ridiculous 72.7 percent of all of Portland’s made baskets. The offense begins and ends with Dame. While he has managed to start the season off with MVP level performances, there’s no way he can realistically maintain this level of production throughout an entire season. He’s already leading the league in minutes played, logging a staggering 38 per game.

CJ McCollum is expected to step up and be the second scoring threat, but has thus far been performing well below expectations. As of November 7, FiveThirtyEight’s new RAPTOR metric measures McCollum as the ninth most disappointing player in the entire NBA.

If the Portland Trail Blazers truly wish to contend, they are going to have to find Damian Lillard some genuine help. That means Stotts needs to be stricter on CJ, either by limiting his minutes or possibly punishing his inability to get his teammates involved. That means rewarding players who aren’t offensive black holes and look to get their teammates involved. That could even mean looking outside on the trade market to enlist some help.

Whatever route they opt to follow, one thing is clear. This team is 3-6 for a reason. Inaction is the worst possible move to make at this point in the game. Let’s try to think three steps ahead, before we crash head-first into a worst-case collision.