Next steps for the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard in a lost season

Management and fans alike will have to resign themselves to a potentially ugly finish

After a league-best eight straight playoff seasons, it will be strange to see the tournament happen without the Blazers. But as Geoffrey Chaucer said so long ago, “Every thing hath ende.”

But Dr. Seuss told us not to “cry because it’s over” but to “smile because it happened,” so we’ll watch DVR’d games from the 2019 playoffs and make a hundred mock drafts for this summer.

Let’s face it, the last few weeks the Trail Blazers have been mostly painful to watch, but there have been some inspiring moments featuring Simons, Little, Ben McLemore, and some of Portland’s ten-day contract additions.

While it will be hard to see them tumble in the standings, it will be more fun to see the likes of Reggie Perry and Greg Brown on the court auditioning for jobs than it has been to see Nurkic and Covington shuffle around like they can’t wait for the season to end.

McLemore, Tony Snell, Dennis Smith Jr., and Cody Zeller will be playing for better deals than the mid-level exception or veteran’s minimum contracts they’re on now. CJ Elleby’s rookie deal is expiring so he’ll be looking to impress teams in need of a 13th man, and Trendon Watford and Keljin Blevins are both restricted free agents with a league minimum qualifying offer for next season.

So while they won’t be competing for a championship, the young hungry Blazers will be diving for loose balls, taking charges, and playing entertaining basketball. That should ease some of the playoff withdrawal until Lillard can heal and the front office can stabilize.

And again it is Chaucer who has the perfect words for the situation: “Patience is a conquering virtue.”