3 things the Portland Trail Blazers must do to make 2022 a better year

The Portland Trail Blazers’ offense is at its best when in motion

Portland is fortunate to have a roster full of smart players who can handle the ball, and most of them are at least average passers. Yet, far too many possessions look like Knicks-Pistons highlights from 1993, with eight of ten players standing around while two others knock elbows to chests.

But when the ball is swinging and the wings are cutting, this is a stellar and virtually unstoppable offensive team. In my peak years as the power forward for the powerhouse St. James CYO squad, Coach Tom Chmiel had a three-touch rule: nobody could take a shot until three of our players had touched the ball.

I’m not saying Billups should assign pushups or laps for violations like our coach did, but the Blazers’ offense needs to more closely resemble the Curry-Thompson-Green era Warriors than it does 80s and 90s “bruiserball.”

I’ll fully expect the Blazers to default to isolating Lillard if a game comes down to one final possession. I might even prefer it at that point, but as an overall offensive philosophy, it’s ugly, ineffective, and doesn’t put this team in anything resembling a position to succeed.

Emphasizing ball movement would free up Norman Powell and Little for more slash-to-the-basket points and open up the wings and corners for the Blazers’ plethora of three-point shooters. We might even see more easy post buckets for Nurkic.

You don’t have to be an NBA coach to see that. You don’t even have to be Tom Chmiel.