Billups should experiment with this unconventional fix for Blazers' PG issue

It's no secret that the Portland Trail Blazers are struggling on offense in 2024-25. They have the second-worst offensive rating in the league (105.2) and are third-worst in points per game (105.6). These general stats highlight more specific problems, as Portland is also towards the bottom of the league in three-point shooting, turnovers, and assists.

Part of these issues are simply due to how GM Joe Cronin has assembled the Blazers' roster so far. They were a team that desperately lacked shooting last season and did nothing to address that need over the summer. They may have even gotten worse in that department by swapping Malcolm Brogdon for Deni Avdija.

Their lack of shooting may be by design at this point in their rebuild. It's challenging to win in today's NBA if you significantly lose the three-point battle, and the Blazers have their sights set on the 2025 draft class. Perhaps Cronin is waiting until Portland (hopefully) lands a franchise-changing prospect like Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, or Dylan Harper before addressing their shooting need, which would drastically accelerate their rebuild in terms of significantly improving their chances of winning games.

Their poor shooting was to be expected this season, but their playmaking woes are a bit more surprising. Although the Blazers lost a reliable floor general in Brogdon, the assumption was that the Blazers would be able to fill the void between Anfernee Simons' combo guard abilities and Scoot Henderson's development in his second season.

Over a month into the season, it's become apparent that, although he's shown flashes, the 20-year-old Henderson isn't a consistent enough playmaker at this point in his career to be Portland's primary offensive initiator. As a result, Simons has been the Blazers' starting point guard, and in a vacuum, that may be their best bet from an offensive standpoint.

But playing Simons at point guard compromises the Blazers' strengths as a team that wants to be lengthy, athletic, defensive-minded, and versatile/switchable. A solution to that problem would be experimenting with Deni Avdija at point guard, at least in stretches.

Chauncey Billups should experiment with Deni Avdija at point guard

Part of what makes Avdija such a special and unique player for the Blazers is his ability to play positions one through five, which very few players in the NBA can effectively do. Take Avdija's past two games, for instance. Against the Pacers, Avdija had 16 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. He also had a similar stat line in the previous game against Memphis (17 points, six assists, and eight rebounds). Those well-rounded stat lines showcase Avdija's versatility as an elusive 6-foot-9 wing with great ballhandling, rebounding, and overall basketball IQ.

By implementing Avdija at the point, their shortest player on the court would be 6-foot-5 Shaedon Sharpe, making them switchable on defense without having a weak link. Teams today will hunt out mismatches, so even if the Blazers have positions two through five covered, Simons on the court still exposes a defensive vulnerability.

It's not a perfect solution -- Avdija's 3:2 assist-to-turnover ratio isn't ideal as a point guard. But the point is that whoever the Blazers put out at point guard isn't going to be a traditional or reliable point guard since they have none currently on their roster.

Playing Avdija at the point for stretches would provide the Blazers with another dimension and double down on their strengths. Billups has experimented with Avdija at the center; he might as well try this out.