Admittedly, there's something to be said for the level of competition the Trail Blazers have had up until this point, but it's been an encouraging 3-0 start to preseason nonetheless.
Portland won back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday against the London Lions and Sacramento Kings. At times it was hard to tell which team was the one that was supposedly in the NBA, as Sacramento was down key starters.
That said, there were still plenty of encouraging takeaways from this undefeated start to preseason that will carry over into regular season action. That's just a week away, with the Blazers' season opener scheduled at home against the Phoenix Suns for Wednesday, the 21st, with a 7:00 tip-off.
Some of this we've already seen from last season, such as the elite rim protection provided by the defensive duo of Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III. That would predictably carry over, but the value they provide this roster became increasingly important following Portland's surprising offseason moves.
Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III are more important than ever in Portland
They created a backcourt logjam after trading for Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant with surprisingly no follow-up move to find a better roster balance. That's actually gone well up until this point in preseason, which is a testament to their unselfishness and the somehow still underappreciated versatility of Jrue Holiday.
But what also gets lost in this roster formula is that it only works because Portland has Clingan and Williams back there cleaning everything up.
Clingan recorded an impressive five blocks in just 20 minutes in their win over Sacramento. Williams chipped in one steal and one block of his own in 16 minutes. And it's not just the blocks; it's the altered shots, stopped drives, forced kickouts, etc.
The Blazers now have multiple guards they can rotate to keep fresh throughout the course of a game. They also have multiple playmakers to help initiate the offense, allowing everyone to expend energy on the defensive end -- a problem for Deni Avdija last season as he carried so much of the offensive burden.
That's allowed Portland to play more towards its defensive identity.
They may not have the positional size, and may even have a liability or two out there at times, but that doesn't take away from the tremendous amount of pressure that's being applied. In preseason we've already seen Jrue Holiday or Toumani Camara on the ballhandler with Ja Morant up into his defender, denying the ball, realizing how bought in this team already seems on both sides of the ball. That works because they can funnel or know they have that protection behind them, essentially at all times throughout the game with Clingan and Williams rotating minutes at the five.
The Blazers may have lost some of that defense when they brought Lillard and Morant into the equation this offseason. But that better roster balance should ultimately work out in its favor. They now have the shooting and playmaking they lacked from last season, where too many possessions stalled out.
And thanks to the rim protection provided by Clingan and Williams, Portland should still have a good enough defense to cover for those offense-minded additions. That formula only works because of those two bigs, making the Blazers an even better team overall.
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