Portland Trail Blazers Tickets

Head Coach Terry Stotts is arriving at the Rose Garden in a transition year. The Portland Trail Blazers are trying to avoid a lengthy rebuilding process and Stotts has been given the charter to develop two lottery picks likely to start in their rookie season. This should scare away the swarms of natives with Portland Trail Blazers. The franchise still has one of the NBA’s most under-the-radar stars in LaMarcus Aldridge, a smooth Frenchman who enjoyed a breakthrough season last year in Nicolas Batum, and a glue guy who can hit from distance as well as play defense in Wesley Matthews. Though not picked to reach the postseason in the deep Western Conference, the Trailblazers are hardly a club to be counted out of contention for at least an eight seed.

The two likely starting rookies are guard Damian Lillard and center Meyers Leonard. Both are projects of sorts. Lillard was rated the best point guard in the draft, but he operated as a scoring guard at Weber State in the Big Sky Conference. There is some argument as to whether he lacks a point guard mentality or if the situation deemed it necessary he score so often. The reality he is the right size to play point in the NBA and has the reach to be effective on both ends of the court. Lillard has can shoot the ball from anywhere over the half court line and only needs a fraction of a second to get his hot off, and he is capable of getting to the rim with ease. If he continues to draw fouls at the rate he did in college he will have as impressive a rookie season as Russell Westbrook.

Drawing fouls is not Leonard’s issue. The 7-1 athletic center’s issue is that he fouls too much. If he did this in college, he is going to have a difficult time for at least the first half of the 2012-2013 NBA season. He would not be starting, but Portland has yet to pick up another center. The rumor is they are after Andray Blatche, If he is signed Leonard will get to adjust to the game comfortably a few minutes at a time. If not, he will have to learn quickly.

Though Leonard is a bit of a project, he has major upside. Once he gets stronger he is going to be a great shot blocker and a solid rebounding threat. He did not have a decent point guard to play with in college, so he did not get to develop a real offensive game. That is going to change in the NBA. Remember. Aldridge is still the best inside-outside scoring threats in the league, so Leonard need not be concerned with doing anything more than dunking a basket or two a game.  These two players appear to be the deciding factor this season, Lillard more so than Leonard, so if these players blossom Portland could be making an early entry into the playoffs and avoid what is expected to be one of the worst lotteries of the 21^st century.