Portland Trail Blazers: Halfway growth, hope appears?

Offensive efficiency 112.7 and defensive efficiency 110.1, which is the offensive and defensive efficiency achieved by the Trail Blazers after the All-Star. The net efficiency value is at the mid-level of the league and can basically match the team's record. Among them, the defensive efficiency was once ranked among the top four in the league, which also proved the promise that head coach Billups made to face the reporter's camera that the team needs to start from defense.

Compared with the previous season, the Trail Blazers this season still found a trace of the future. The forward team led by Avdia and Kamala showed a sense of presence on both offense and defense. In conjunction with the high picks in the backcourts Henderson and Sharp selected in recent years, as well as Lotto center Klingen last year, the Trail Blazers have a five-man combination worth looking forward to.

The record in the second half of the season seems to have begun to touch on the hopes of the playoffs. However, in the fiercely competitive Western Conference, this young pioneer still has many problems to be solved. And can these young people in the team really be polished successfully? This will be the key for pioneers to face in the next few years.

Donovan Klingen

In order to improve the franchise protection and rebounding protection shortcomings, the Trail Blazers selected Klingen last year. The newcomer was as expected from the draft and was a solid defensive player. The huge size and fighting spirit allowed Klingen to score 14.3 rebounds every 36 minutes, including 5.9 offensive rebounds, ranking sixth and second in the league respectively in both statistics.

In addition, Klingen's biggest selling point comes from his blocking ability. Although he is a young player, the defensive threat is not affected by the NBA's fast offensive and defensive rhythm. He ranks fifth in the league with 1.6 blocks per game. If we look at the data every 36 minutes, his blocking data can even reach the level of 3.1 per game, ranking first in the league in efficiency.

From the game, Klingen's judgment on defensive position is quite good. He does not just stay at the basket, but rather tends to stand at the free throw line to use his long arm to interfere. When the opponent's player tries to break through to him and makes a layup, he turns around and uses a big step to send a block. Although his reaction speed is not as good as the top inside, thanks to his reaction speed and body steering speed, his body shape and condition are above the level of excellent.

More often, Klingen's long arms and blocking ability can even directly block the opponent out of the penalty area. Judging from the new players' standards, Klingen's inside defense influence is still quite obvious. With the potential of his own defensive system, if he can continue to cultivate, he will have full hope of entering the best defensive lineup in the future.

Compared with insufficient defense, Klingen's offense still has a lot of room for improvement. He has excellent offensive rebounding skills, but his tip-in rate at the basket is only 37.5%. In addition to the shortcomings of explosive power in the jump, his finishing touch is also almost interesting. These problems have led to his excellent offensive rebounding efficiency being unable to be directly converted into scoring. In the half-time offense, Klingen's shooting percentage was poor, which directly focused his scores on the paint area. Due to speed, his pick-and-roll slip ability cannot complete the impact of the basket before the opponent's defense arrives. In addition, there is a lack of scoring methods such as hooks and throws, making it difficult for Klingen to be regarded as a qualified end point on the offensive end. This is also his biggest problem at the moment. He needs to create greater value on the offensive end to ensure that he can stay on the court steadily.

But the good news is that Klingen has a good football dealer. In addition to defensive positioning, when teammates break through, he will also set up covers in time to block the opponent's big man from making up for defense. He can also be seen setting screens in high positions during the pick-and-roll attack, or acting as a hand-in-hand choice. Although the timing and angle of cover still need to be strengthened, relying on his huge body can allow the opponent's peripheral defender to spend more energy on the cover.

Especially referring to past university training, Klingen also has some skills in passing high-level passes to empty-cut teammates, but he did not get much ball rights in his rookie year, and whether he can become the team's offensive fulcrum still needs to be observed later.

Scott Henderson

Henderson's rookie performance was average in the year, but the progress in the second year was completely unexpected. From an optimistic perspective, he at least improved the biggest doubts about him before the draft, that is, the outside projection. Now Henderson's outside reception shooting can reach a shooting percentage of 36.3%, and his open three-pointers are at a level of 37.6%. He will basically no longer be a point that can be retracted.

But the problem is that the breakthrough and killing ability that was promising before the draft has never been useful and can be converted to the NBA arena, with a basket shooting percentage of only 55.3%, especially a layup shooting percentage of only 50.0%, which also makes him unable to perform stably in the offensive routine of breaking through and passing the ball.

Although he has physical fitness conditions above the level of qualification, Henderson is essentially more inclined to prefer point guards who give passes priority rather than offensive point guards with the most conventional mainstream trend. Passing ability and passing vision are the best choices for the team, but because the offense is not enough to pull the defense line, it is impossible to create more effective passes.

To be fair, Henderson has great room for improvement in his defense this season, but the team does not give him much ball rights, which has led to his slow growth progress. Due to the numerous offensive points of the Trail Blazers, Henderson, who has a large number of bench lineups this season, sometimes looks more like a 3D point guard with certain ball-holding decision-making ability, which is completely contrary to the original draft template.

Due to the inefficiency performance in the first year, Henderson's future cap was once doubted. But after entering the second year, Henderson proved his efforts with his performance. Even though there are still many problems waiting to be overcome, the positive attitude shown this season can at least make people look forward to him for a long time. Maybe he may not be the star-level point guard he was looking forward to at the beginning, but he is definitely not a sub-production.

Sheden-Sharp

If you simply spread the data for the third year, Sharp is indeed on the growth track. His scores are increasing year by year, and his personal usage rate is also rising, but the hit rate and turnover rate have not increased simultaneously. The biggest part of Sharp's growth this season is that he knows better at his natural explosiveness and physical ductility. As long as he enters the penalty area, Sharp can rely on his super physical fitness to put the ball into the basket or create a foul.

The paint area hit rate this season is 71.1%, even better than many inside players, which is also his biggest advantage over other young players in the team.

But overall, Sharp still has a lot of room for improvement. His biggest problem at present is that his ability to hold the ball has not grown significantly. Although he has excellent physical fitness, he does not have the first step full of explosive power to pass the opponent, and his dribbling ability is not enough to break through the front-line defender.

Secondly, as a ball holder, he currently lacks the ability to read the opponent's defense line, and is often forced to collect the ball in advance to choose a mid-range jump shot or pass. The luck control is not enough to face high-pressure defense. Although there is no big problem with the shooting action, the shooting rate is getting worse and worse. The unstable shooting performance directly leads to Sharp's performance fluctuations. Although it can still maintain the basic outside threat, the three-point shooting rate is not very optimistic.

Compared to these, what really makes people feel uneasy about his future lies in his desire in the game.

Although Sharp can face the game with a positive attitude when facing a star opponent, it is still difficult to achieve success most of the time, and it is useless to show signs of becoming the best player on the court. After being repeatedly targeted on the defensive end, one-on-one defense needs to be strengthened, and the lack of defensive awareness once made Billups choose to let him drop the bench, which is also a big problem.

Judging from his talent in draft, although Sharp is a little different from a superstar, he still has the potential to be a scoring player averaged 20 points per game, but his ability has not made any significant breakthrough in his third year. If Henderson has been actively facing the outside projection problem since day one, then Sharp seems to have been avoiding the problem. If he wants to go to the next level, he must make greater determination and actively improve his own skills in order to become a more comprehensive core player, rather than a simple singles scorer.

Finally, returning to the team level, with the performance in the second half of the season, it once made people look forward to the Trail Blazers looking forward to the playoffs next season. Judging from the playoff situation this year, the first-line pressure emphasized by the Trail Blazers is sufficient overall height and mobility is also online. The lineup is indeed suitable for the defensive foundation of modern basketball.

If you only refer to the defensive performance after the All-Stars, the Trail Blazers can still have the ability to fight at the intensity of the playoff level. But the biggest problem at present is that the team's defensive system is not yet mature, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the discipline of switching defense, off-ball defense, and most important rebound protection.

The team's defense is still based on the lineup height to a certain extent. Once the offense stagnates and the team chooses to replace the backcourt players to chase points, is a question whether they can maintain the same defensive intensity.

Overall, the key to really determining whether the Trail Blazers can become a playoff team is the offensive end. Even though he once scored nearly 50% of the winning rate in the second half of the season, his offensive efficiency was still at the level of the second half of the league.

Based on the content of the game, there are two problems: one is that young players lack the ability to fight tough battles. Although many players in the team have the ability to attack with the ball, there are not many people who can make stable breakthroughs under high-intensity defense. Another problem is that the team's outside efficiency has been plagued in recent years. The team's three-point shooting percentage this season is still in the second half of the league. Whether this lineup can open up space also determines the team's offensive efficiency to a large extent.

In addition to the development plan of existing young players, offseason lineup adjustment and subsequent draft work are also key to whether the Trail Blazers can go further next season. This part remains to be chosen by the subsequent team.