The Portland Trail Blazers may just have four preseason games coming up in October, but they are going to be more important than ever this year. There were already questions surrounding this roster entering the offseason, and the Ja Morant trade hasn't made things any easier.
Despite their individual experience, the revamped backcourt trio of Morant, Damian Lillard, and Jrue Holiday will need time to mesh. Deni Avdija needs time to figure out his place in the offensive hierarchy and whether he will continue to be more of a point forward initiating the offense. Micah Nori has all of the above to sort out in his first head coaching tenure, on top of figuring out what the starting unit will be in their season opener.
Portland Trail Blazers preseason schedule
Portland's first opportunity to sort out this mess in a real game setting comes October 7th when Steph Curry and Co. travel to the Moda Center. Here are the details for those four matchups:
Date | Team | Time (Pacific) |
|---|---|---|
Wednesday, Oct. 7 | Golden State Warriors | 7 p.m. |
Monday, Oct. 12 | London Lions | 1 p.m. |
Tuesday, Oct. 13 | @ Sacramento Kings | 7 p.m. |
Friday, October. 16 | @ Golden State Warriors | 7 p.m. |
Fun fact: History is being made in the Oct. 12 matchup against the London Lions, who will become the first British basketball club ever to play an NBA team. Interestingly enough, the Lions' head coach is Tautvydas Sabonis, the son of Blazers legend Arvydas Sabonis.
Blazers need this preseason after an unpredictable offseason
The good news is Portland still has Jrue Holiday on the roster despite hilariously inaccurate ideas floating around on Twitter that he was a potential buyout candidate. The bad news, or challenge that comes with that, is Nori has six potential starters to choose from thanks to Holiday's positional flexibility: Morant, Lillard, Holiday, Toumani Camara, Deni Avdija, and Donovan Clingan.
It might not be a bad idea for Nori to take a page out of Chauncey Billups' book when he decided to experiment with different lineup variations by benching a different player each game, the first of which was even Avdija (ok, maybe don't go that far this time).
This is one of the most important preseason slates in recent Blazers memory. The stakes are higher this season as they look to build off their playoff appearance with Lillard and Morant now in the picture. Despite the added talent, the roster is as puzzling as ever.
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