Portland Trail Blazers Articles - Page 43

In the draft lottery, the team with the worst record may feel snubbed if they receive the third pick rather than the top selection. Some years, just two spots can make the difference between an All-NBA potential talent and a solid contributing role player. However, this year isn’t like most years. There is a surplus […]

The Portland Trail Blazers’ historic post-All-Star tanking efforts didn’t pay off the way Joe Cronin and company imagined. All Portland has to show for its 2-21 finish to the regular season is the seventh selection in the draft come June 23rd, a stark disappointment for a team that entered lottery night with the sixth-best odds […]

The Chicago Bulls had a solid 2021-2022 season, but had a disappointing finish. After being one of the hottest teams for much of the year, they struggled down the stretch and were easily handled by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. With the offseason underway, minds have shifted to guard Zach […]

Earlier this week, the NBA Draft Lottery was held and there were quite a few surprises. The Orlando Magic won the Draft lottery. The Oklahoma City Thunder jumped up from the number four slot to snatch the second overall pick. Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets, who had the worst record in the NBA last season, dropped […]

The Portland Trail Blazers entered lottery night already down one high-value first-round pick they initially expected to have. Worse, by the time the proceedings were over, Portland also emerged on the wrong side of ping-pong ball luck. The Blazers “won” the No. 7 overall pick on Tuesday night, falling a slot in the 2022 NBA […]

The Charlotte Hornets are one of a couple of teams from around the league that are still looking for a new head coach. According to reports, the organization has now turned its attention to Damian Lillard’s former coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. According to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, Terry Stotts is […]

The Portland Trail Blazers were dealt a tough blow during the 2022 NBA Draft lottery and nobody was more bummed about it than Damian Lillard. Not only did the Blazers fail to move up to the top four spots, they also fell even lower than their projected sixth pick. Lillard was Portland’s representative at the […]

Damian Lillard has never been shy to profess admiration for his NBA peers. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar has frequently praised the likes of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Draymond Green throughout his career, and just singled out Giannis Antetokounmpo as the player he’d most like to team up with in the postseason. Few players in […]

The ugly reality is that the Portland Trail Blazers are unlikely to compete for a title next season almost no matter what happens this summer. General manager Joe Cronin and the front office are expected to be very aggressive in seeking roster upgrades before 2022-23, but Portland lacks both the team-building assets and incumbent talent […]

The Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard have a bit of complicated history together. With Dame Time in tow, the team enjoyed great regular season success. However, despite the obvious skills of these teams, they were never quite able to make it over the hump. This failure to launch into championship greatness is one of […]

Former Los Angeles Lakers stud Robert Horry has hit more than a few clutch shots during his heyday. After all, you don’t get the nickname “Big Shot Bob” for nothing. As such, the seven-time NBA champion can be considered an authority when it comes to naming the best clutch shooter in the league. His top […]

The Portland Trail Blazers won’t have the luxury of being selective this summer. If a star-level player wants to continue his career in Portland, expect the front office try to like hell to make it happen. Damian Lillard isn’t getting any younger, they already lost one crucial team-building asset when the New Orleans Pelicans made […]

Are the Utah Jazz in for a summer of trades, trades and more trades? The franchise doesn’t seem to have a big interest in dismantling the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert duo right now. However, the noise to make some big changes to the roster has reached a fever pitch. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, […]

The Portland Trail Blazers made a potential franchise-changing move on Tuesday that should please Damian Lillard. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Portland promoted interim GM Joe Cronin to GM: ESPN Sources: The Portland Trail Blazers are promoting Joe Cronin to general manager with a four-year contract. Cronin, interim GM since December, takes over franchise at […]

League decision-makers believe the Portland Trail Blazers could emerge as a legitimate suitor for Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine in free agency, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. LaVine raised eyebrows across the league after the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs in late April, making it clear that widespread assumptions he’d simply re-sign with Chicago […]

Miles Bridges is going to be one of the hottest free agents in the offseason, and the Charlotte Hornets will likely do everything in their power to re-sign the 6-foot-6 forward to an extension. Bridges will not be short of suitors, though, with Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers now being linked to the […]

The Los Angeles Lakers are still doing an extensive search for their next head coach, with a number of different names on their radar including Quin Snyder, Doc Rivers, Mark Jackson, and others. Well, the Lakers are also eyeing the former HC of Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. The organization just interviewed Terry […]

The Utah Jazz once again failed to meet their postseason aspirations. Despite not having Luka Doncic for the first three games of the series, the Dallas Mavericks were still able to boot out the Jazz in a convincing fashion. The Jazz have made the NBA Playoffs for the past six seasons but have failed to […]

The Golden State Warriors have a gem on their hands in Jordan Poole. The third-year guard out of Michigan is playing out of his mind in the postseason, which has garnered the respect of at least one All-NBA player. Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard has been spectating the games from the comfort of […]

The Memphis Grizzlies-Minnesota Timberwolves series was one of the most compelling of the first round. But in a lot of ways, the series flashed a glimpse of the newer generation, with the stars leading the way for both teams still in the early stages of their respective careers. Not everything about it rated particularly well […]

It’s back to the drawing board for the Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert Utah Jazz. Losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs when Luka Doncic only played half of the series is a new low. Change is needed, and it should start with the man in the middle. You don’t […]

Jusuf Nurkic, the Portland Trail Blazers and a reporter are being sued by the Indiana Pacers fan who had his phone thrown by the Bosnian Beast in a heated courtside incident following Portland’s loss to Indiana on March 20th. Jusuf Nurkic was NOT happy with what this fan said/did, got in his face, and tossed […]

The Portland Trail Blazers made a huge blockbuster trade back in February, sending CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for mostly draft compensation. But, Damian Lillard and the Blazers were really hoping they would land NOLA’s first-round pick for the 2022 draft or in other words, between the 5 and 14 spots […]

Damian Lillard was an avid spectator of Saturday night’s matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Portland Trail Blazers superstar liked what he saw from the Grizzlies and it led him to a blunt assessment of this squad. Clearly, Lillard loves how the Grizzlies went through the process of building their team […]

Gravity of the New Orleans Pelicans advancing past the play-in tournament extends far beyond The Big Easy. Thousands of miles away, reverberations of their stunning rise from 1-12 bottom-feeder to thorny playoff upstart—with the chance to take a 2-1 first-round lead on basketball’s best team—will be felt throughout what was supposed to be a transformative […]

With CJ McCollum no longer a part of the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard is going to need a new star to help him carry the franchise. Lillard, who has been some sort of a forgotten man this season because he missed a bunch of games due to injury, reportedly shares a mutual interest with […]

C.J. McCollum drained a tough mid-range jumper in crunch time, giving his team a two-possession lead. Robert Covington changed the game when deployed as a full-time small-ball five. Norman Powell came alive after intermission. Larry Nance Jr. forcefully answered the bell with the season on the line, providing a palpable two-way impact off the bench. […]

Portland Trail Blazers are used to hearing all the Damian Lillard trade rumors by now. The man himself has been as transparent as can be about where his head is at all times when it comes to his future. In a recent interview with CNBC’s Jabari Young, the Blazers star affirmed his desire, once again, […]

One of the most disappointing seasons in Portland Trail Blazers history didn’t change much for Damian Lillard. Poised to return in 2022-23 healthier than he’s been in years after going under the knife to address longstanding pain in his midsection, Lillard remains fully committed to the team he threatened to leave on multiple occasions last […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have big plans this summer. Unfortunately for interim general manager Joe Cronin and company, though, one of the Blazers’ most valuable offseason building blocks may not materialize after all—and it’s completely outside their control. Paul George is unavailable for Friday night’s do-or-die play-in game against the New Orleans Pelicans after testing positive for […]

It feels like ages ago since CJ McCollum made the move from the Portland Trail Blazers to join the New Orleans Pelicans. Right now, the 30-year-old has a great opportunity to help the Pels make their first playoff appearance in the post-Anthony Davis era. In the process, McCollum could also single-handedly sabotage Portland’s plans for […]

This has been an awful year for the Portland Trail Blazers. After signing Chauncey Billups as their new coach, there was hope that the franchise could turn around their awful postseason luck. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. After struggling to start the year, star point guard Damian Lillard was shut down for the year […]

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers are out of the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Lillard’s former co-star, CJ McCollum, is still dancing, though. His New Orleans Pelicans are set to host the second play-in game against the San Antonio Spurs. Watching McCollum thrive with his new team has Lillard feeling […]

Damian Lillard’s pointed demands for an improved supporting cast have still yet to be addressed. It has been almost a year since the most loyal superstar in basketball threatened to leave Rip City, and all the Portland Trail Blazers have to show for it is the mere possibility of finally meeting his mandate. CJ McCollum […]

The Portland Trail Blazers had a rather unforgettable season, but for the wrong reasons. Damian Lillard got injured midway through the campaign, and so the team decided to break the roster up and focus on the future instead. Despite their failed campaign, however, Lillard still sees a bright future for the team. And he expressed […]

The Portland Trail Blazers’ immediate focus once the regular season mercifully comes to a close on Sunday will be the NBA draft. Locked into the league’s sixth-highest lottery odds, Portland is guaranteed a top-10 pick and could net a second lottery selection if the New Orleans Pelicans are ousted from the play-in tournament. But with […]

Every season in the NBA, there are a handful of teams that are a big surprise, enjoying unexpected success. Conversely, there are always some teams that are massive disappointments. It obviously goes without saying that the Los Angeles Lakers‘ season would fall into the latter. They are of course less than two years removed from […]

Damian Lillard gave away the game in an interview with Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports late last month. Discussing his tanking team’s path forward amid the most tumultuous, transformational season of his career, Lillard acknowledged the Portland Trail Blazers wouldn’t use their horde of theoretical cap space to sign outside free agents this summer. “But […]

The Portland Trail Blazers have yet to rediscover their old form as they currently sit at the 13th spot of the Western Conference with a 27-51 record. With the playoffs already out of reach, they are already looking forward to the next season where they will aim to get back into their winning ways. Portland’s […]