So much for the Portland Trail Blazers' midseason momentum amid Damian Lillard's indefinite absence. After going 7-4 once the eight-time All-Star was sidelined come the New Year, the Blazers have lost five of their last six games, trudging toward next week's trade deadline in just as disappointing a position as they were a month ago.

But don't assume those dire straits have made interim general manager Joe Cronin any more likely to heed growing calls for Portland to blow it up and retool around Lillard. In fact, his comments in a Q&A with NBA.com's Mark Medina suggest the Blazers would be comfortable retaining both C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic past the afternoon of February 10th.

“Together, we’ve won a lot of games,” Cronin said. “Nurk is entering his prime. Dame and CJ are in their primes. Those are three high-level players. When we put the right pieces around them, we’ve shown that we can be very competitive.”

That's not exactly a guarantee Portland will retain both McCollum and Nurkic beyond the deadline, but pulls from the same thread of confidence Cronin still appears to have for this team's longstanding core. Nurkic recently told The Athletic's Jason Quick that Cronin insisted shortly after being named interim general manager in early December that the Blazers were “going to build around” he, Lillard and McCollum going forward.

So much for the possibility of a full-scale rebuild, too.

“No, I don’t think we have the appetite to tear it all the way down,” Cronin said to NBA.com. “We have too many good players and too many ways to get better without taking too big of a step back.”

Portland owes its 2022 first-rounder to the Chicago Bulls if it makes the playoffs this season. Otherwise, the Blazers will have the unexpected opportunity to use their own lottery pick for the first time since 2013, when Neil Olshey took McCollum at No. 10 overall.

The conflux of Lillard's surgery, a rash of injuries and the chance to pick in the lottery is a random happenstance of which Portland must take advantage. Lillard is fully re-committed to Rip City. The Blazers will be a long way from realistic title contention no matter where they go from here, but almost surely won't get there by maintaining a real semblance of the status quo. Missing the postseason, getting lucky on lottery night and bringing in a blue-chip prospect could change everything for Portland.

Cronin understands the Blazers' need to think long-term. Instead of zooming out completely at the trade deadline and for the season's remainder, though, it seems Portland will try to manage the difficult task of seeing the forest and the trees.

“I think we all take a big-picture approach knowing that one season is a small vacuum of a larger picture,” Cronin said. “It’s hard. We’re all so competitive that we want to win consistently. Sometimes to do that, you have to take a step back at times. Sometimes you just have to be patient. So, you’re trying to balance deal by deal what accomplishes the overall big-picture goals.”

McCollum and Nurkic have both been the subject of trade rumors, though they've quieted of late. The Blazers are bound to get below the luxury tax by the deadline, likely moving Robert Covington with the primary aim of cutting just over $3 million in salary. Norman Powell and Larry Nance Jr. have been mentioned as trade candidates, too.

Portland has many options prior to next Thursday. The most drastic one continues to be most prudent, but Cronin seems to be mapping a different direction. We'll find out soon where the Blazers end up.

[Mark Medina, NBA.com]