The Portland Trail Blazers bounced back nicely from their two losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, sweeping the two-game series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. This four-game stretch was a good early-season test to see if Portland's hot start is legitimate, and 2-2 is realistically as good as you could've hoped for, as it still proves this roster can beat any team in the association.
Part of that is because they bridged the gap in star power, not only with Damian Lillard's return and the Ja Morant trade (when he's back healthy), but also because Deni Avdija has continued his star ascension.
Deni Avdija is a legitimate star in Portland
Portland defeated Oklahoma City 118-108 on Wednesday. Avdija was the team's leading scorer, finishing with 28 points (9-20 FG, 4-13 3PT, 6-6 FT), six assists, three rebounds, four steals, and two blocks.
Turnovers remain an issue for Avdija, who had five in this contest. But we're also seeing why head coach Micah Nori is so willing to live with that tradeoff, as Avdija gives this team a massive matchup advantage in that point-forward role.
That's also why GM Joe Cronin made this good-value trade for Morant. When healthy, he takes some of the playmaking burden off of Avdija, most importantly without getting in the way of the offensive hierarchy with Avdija as the go-to option.
This season, Avdija is now averaging 23.0 points, 6.5 assists, and 6.1 rebounds per game. His numbers are statistically similar to last year's All-Star campaign, a promising sign that he's on track for his second appearance, especially with the way Portland is winning at a high level with him as their best player.
Blazers' early-season success with Avdija as the go-to option shows he's taken another leap
Avdija was more of an individual exception last season, with the Blazers not playing this well as a collective last year. They still exceeded expectations last season, making the playoffs as a seven seed under interim head coach Tiago Splitter. But now Nori has the Blazers playing at an even higher level, looking like a serious threat to make a run in the postseason.
Nori is proving to be an upgrade over Splitter in that regard, partly because of this hybrid offense. He hasn't reinvented what worked last year with Avdija in that point-forward role. Rather, he's iterating by adding secondary playmakers, keeping ball-handlers and decision-makers out there to take some of the pressure and attention off Avdija.
Floor spacing has helped tremendously as well, specifically Lillard's return and how well he fits Avdija's game as that much-needed co-star in the starting lineup. But a lot of this is also simply due to Avdija getting better each and every year. Efficiency is slightly up on fewer minutes and field-goal attempts, while turnovers are slightly down.
He's doing more with less this season, and that's by design as the Blazers have clearly found a winning formula with Avdija as their go-to option. That was the biggest question mark surrounding his game and whether he truly belonged in that tier of All-Stars. Now there's no debate.
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