The Portland Trail Blazers wrapped up their Media Day, which should have Rip City fans excited that the regular season is just around the corner. Although the Blazers don't have a realistic chance of making the playoffs this upcoming season, it's still an extremely important year as they navigate their rebuilding process and determine which players work well together and should be considered long-term pieces of their core.
GM Joe Cronin knows the Blazers' playoff hopes are slim to none but has an alternative and realistic goal for the Blazers this season: clarity.
Blazers need more overall clarity
Head coach Chauncey Billups used "consistency" to describe the Blazers' situation and needs for this season. The two go hand-in-hand, as the best way the Blazers can get more clarity is to have consistency. That will allow them to properly gauge where they are regarding their roster and rebuilding timeline.
For instance, Cronin has multiple difficult decisions he will have to make by the 2025 trade deadline. Contending teams will potentially be interested in some of the Blazers' established players, including Jerami Grant, Deandre Ayton, and Anfernee Simons. However, for Cronin to determine what moves need to be made, he must first see the team dynamics with so many moving parts.
By all accounts, last season wasn't beneficial in that regard. The Blazers had the league's second-most starting lineup combinations (41), behind only the Memphis Grizzlies. As a result, Portland enters the season with several significant question marks surrounding their unfinished roster.
Joe Cronin on expectations for the season: "We're hoping to get more clarity. Last season, I don't know how much clarity we walked away with. We saw some flashes but we didn't see sustained production."
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) September 30, 2024
The good thing to come from that last season was the young, surprising players that took advantage of their increased role and now play a crucial part in the Blazers' depth entering this year, between Toumani Camara, Duop Reath, and Dalano Banton, among others.
But now that everyone is seemingly entering the season fully healthy, the Blazers can get back to having more consistent lineup rotations. The Blazers' average roster age is just 24 years old, so it will be essential with such a young team that needs a stable foundation to build on.
Inconsistency throughout last season
That also played into another thing that the Blazers must address, which is their players' inconsistencies throughout the season. It's going to be essential that Ayton and Scoot Henderson, in particular, are able to pick up where they left off from their respective strong finishes from last season. If they revert to playing how they did at the beginning of last year, then it will further complicate things for Cronin.
Meanwhile, for Deni Avdija, this applies to his shooting consistency. Avdija significantly improved as a shooter last season, increasing his three-point percentage from 30 to 37. It's fair to question whether that was somewhat of a fluke or if that's a newfound part of his game that is reliably here to stay.
Shooting consistency also applies to Sharpe, who went from 36 to 33 percent as a three-point shooter between his rookie and sophomore seasons. But it's a much more general issue for Sharpe besides just his shooting. He has All-Star potential and needs to find a way to take that next leap that many are anticipating in his third season to put it all together.
These aren't easy questions for the Blazers to solve in the span of one season. It's a never-ending process of constantly evolving the roster. However, they must address as many as possible to get a sense of where they stand and what steps are left to take. Entering the season with what sounds like a fully healthy roster is a huge first step to getting more consistency and, ultimately, clarity from this season.