The Portland Trail Blazers are at the exciting point in their rebuild where their young core is finally developed enough to carry them to the postseason. The downside of that is it becomes more difficult to add to said core via the draft, especially in Portland's case, as they surrendered their lottery-protected first-round pick to the Chicago Bulls.
Especially since the Blazers/Portland aren't an attractive free agency destination, this rebuild is going to have to rely heavily on internal improvement to ever become good enough to contend. Here's what each member of Portland's established young core can improve on the most this summer, carrying into the 2026-27 season.
Donovan Clingan: Post game
Ideally, Donovan Clingan's offseason improvement would come from his defense out on the perimeter. His drop coverage has become a key flaw in Portland's defense that teams strategically gameplan to exploit, sometimes even playing him off the court as a result.
That may just be something Portland has to live with given Clingan's massive stature. However, he still has to make it a worthwhile tradeoff for the Blazers on the offensive end, and that means establishing more of a post game to utilize that size advantage.
Yang Hansen: Yes
It's a little bit of everything that Portland's multi-year project will have to work on. By that we mean his floor is currently not that of an NBA-level player.
We saw that in what was a shaky rookie season, where interim head coach Tiago Splitter was hesitant to play Hansen despite injuries to the frontcourt. That should continue to be the case this season as the Blazers will continue to patiently bring along their future backup center.
At least they have prepared for it, retaining Robert Williams III and bringing in additional frontcourt depth pieces.
Scoot Henderson: Shooting
GM Joe Cronin built a talented but wonky Blazers roster, which should come with plenty of pros and cons throughout the season. The added ball-handling and playmaking of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant should help clean up Portland's turnover problem.
It will likely come at the expense of young guards like Scoot Henderson not having the ball in his hands as frequently or the opportunity to initiate the offense. Fortunately, that's good timing with Henderson's growth as a 3-and-D guard as of late.
If he can continue to improve those off-ball skills, he can carve out a legitimate role in this backcourt, especially after the brutal injury to Shaedon Sharpe.
Deni Avdija: Turnovers
Deni Avdija's All-Star ascension resulted in career numbers across the board, including 3.8 turnovers per game. The next step in his evolution as a jumbo guard is to improve his quick decision-making without compromising the downhill physicality and aggressiveness that make him a matchup nightmare in the first place.
Toumani Camara: Consistency
Toumani Camara was the Blazers X-Factor for better or worse last season. He struggled with efficiency in losses, connecting on 38.7 percent from the field and 33.4 percent from beyond the arc. Portland will have to rely on him as its 3-and-D option in a thin wing rotation, so hopefully with that comes more offensive consistency.
Shaedon Sharpe: Health
Unfortunately, Sharpe suffered a torn meniscus during an offseason workout. He's set to be re-evaluated in six months.
The four-year, $90 million contract extension before the season does suggest he remains a long-term part of Portland's plans. We'll see if that remains to be the case as plenty will inevitably change in the NBA landscape over the next six months, especially with the Blazers gaining more clarity regarding what remains of their existing backcourt logjam.
Sidy Cissoko: Shooting
Sidy Cissoko has a mini breakout in Portland, earning a conversion from a two-way contract to a standard one. He may have started in 26 games surprisingly last season, but there's a chance Cissoko is even more of an important piece for Portland in 2026-27 due to their lack of wing depth.
Still, for Cissoko to carve out a consistent spot in Micah Nori's rotation, he'll have to improve his shooting. He's made progress in that department, hovering around 30 percent last year in Portland. Hopefully that upward trajectory continues as the Blazers can't afford to play that many non-shooters.
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