If you were to tell Trail Blazers fans before the season that this team would return to the postseason on the back of their first All-Star since Damian Lillard, the overwhelming consensus would be that it was a major success. The downside primarily comes from Portland having to surrender its lottery-protected first-round pick to the Chicago Bulls in a stacked draft. But the silver lining is that Portland's future remains incredibly promising, largely thanks to Deni Avdija's star ascent.
The Blazers' trade with the Washington Wizards was controversial at the time. Some believed Portland, a rebuilding team, shouldn't be sacrificing valuable draft capital for a glorified role player. In retrospect, the Blazers helped out their rebuild in a major way, stealing a rising star away from the Wizards.
Blazers put Deni Avdija in the perfect position to thrive
They may have surrendered two first-round picks in the process, but it was more than worthwhile given Avdija's age, team-friendly contract, and upward trajectory. His stock has absolutely skyrocketed since coming over to Portland.
First, that's a testament to the front office's eye for player evaluation. Former ESPN draft analyst (and now former Blazers assistant GM) Mike Schmitz was incredibly high on Avdija entering the 2020 draft. He even published a piece arguing that the international guard should be considered among the top tier of prospects. Schmitz deserves a ton of credit for his role in Portland's Avdija steal, and GM Joe Cronin deserves credit for pulling the trigger on such a bold move.
Once the Blazers had acquired Avdija, they also did themselves a favor by putting him in the best position to succeed. Avdija was clearly improving with the Wizards, most notably a drastically improved three-point shot that was opening up his entire offense. But it was Portland that accelerated that growth by putting the ball in his hands and having him initiate the offense more frequently in a point-forward role.
That resulted in frustrating turnovers, which remain an issue for Avdija and the Blazers as a whole. Still, Portland was wise to live with the tradeoff and growing pains associated with his aggressive, and sometimes even reckless, downhill style of play.
Deni Avdija's star leap made Portland's season a success
The next step in Avdija's development is to find a way to clean up those turnovers and improve his decision-making without compromising what makes him such a unique talent. The league is trending towards these jumbo guards who create so much pressure on defenses and are a matchup nightmare. Portland finally has one of its own.
Avdija had his first of what should be several All-Star campaigns. His play should improve not only through his internal growth but also through the complementary pieces Portland eventually surrounds him with. The fact that he had this All-Star breakout in a year where the Blazers had little to no floor spacing options can't be overstated. It's also important to note that he dealt with a lingering back injury after the All-Star break, which affected his performance, particularly his ability to generate lift on his three-point shot.
A fully healthy Avdija with another year of development playing alongside more floor spacing should be the recipe for the versatile wing to take his game to yet another level next season. Portland has finally addressed its lack of star power, and that has to be the biggest storyline of the entire season, making it an overall success.
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