It wasn’t that long ago the Portland Trail Blazers made an appearance in the Western Conference Finals. But now, the team is in bad shape.
Despite making it just one round short of the NBA Finals in 2019, the Trail Blazers might face a rebuild sooner than anyone could have expected. In fact, in many ways, that process has already begun. During the offseason, Portland and longtime head coach Terry Stotts mutually agreed to part ways.
Since then? Portland’s tenure with their new coach, Chauncey Billups, began with a botched introductory press conference when reporters asked about an incident in which a woman alleged that she was raped by Billups and one of his former teammates in 1997.
Only a few months later, the Trail Blazers fired longtime executive Neil Olshey after an independent investigation into the franchise’s workplace culture. Then the team announced that guard CJ McCollum would miss indefinite time while recovering from a collapsed lung.
Meanwhile, Portland superstar Damian Lillard has been dealing with abdominal tendinopathy and it’s impacted his play all season long. As noted by Sean Highkin, it could actually mean the end of the campaign for the six-time All-Star (via Bleacher Report):
“Don’t be surprised if Damian Lillard has played his last game of the 2021-22 NBA season … Serious consideration has been given to Lillard taking significant time off to heal, effectively ending the Blazers’ hopes at a playoff run.”
Ultimately, while that might sound bad for their short-term plans, it’s actually potentially good news for the long-term future of the franchise.
Why is that good news? Allow me to explain.