The 2021-22 season was a relatively turbulent season for the Blazers. First, they experienced a change of coach, and the coach changed from stoz to Billups, after that, olshi, the general manager of the team and president of basketball operations, finished the class because of improper behavior in the workplace. Later, Lillard suffered another injury. In January this year, he underwent abdominal tendon repair surgery, so he was reimbursed for the season. After the interim general manager Joe Cronin took charge of the team, he carried out a radical reform of the team. In February this year, he first sent Powell and cowington to the Clippers, then CJ-mccolum was traded to Pelican. After a series of things happened, the Blazers hurt their muscles and bones, which was directly reflected in their achievements. They finally scored a record of 27 wins and 55 losses, ranking the 13th in the West.
However, for the construction of the team, change will always experience pains. When you give up the previous years of accumulation and start again, you will get worse first and then get better. Therefore, the frustration of last season was a must for the Pioneers. In the new season, they will continue to move forward on the basis of last season and work towards the goal of returning to the top league teams.
Turnover of main personnel during off-season
Join: Grant (trading), Gary Peyton II (free market), and Shelton-Sharp (draft)
Leave: None
Renewal: nurkiki, anfini-Simmons
Renewal in advance: Lillard
Positive: Joe Cronin
Resumption of off-season operations
The pioneer’s first operation in the off-season this year appeared in the management. On May 11, the team turned Joe Cronin, the interim general manager, into a positive position and gave him a four-year contract. This shows that boss Jody Allen is satisfied with his work performance, and the core players in the coaching staff and team also recognize him. Looking back on last season, Cronin did a good job in the position of general manager. After the highlight of the Western decision in 19 years, the pioneer with Suncha as the core has already embarked on a downward trend, in 20 years, the team lost 1-4 to the Lakers in the first round, and in 21 years, they lost 2-4 to the Nuggets without Jamal-Murray. It can be said that the team has broken its wrist, it’s time to make changes. At this pass, Cronin showed his courage. Objectively speaking, it is no problem to let him continue to take the helm in the next few years.
After Cronin successfully turned positive, he began to build teams according to his own ideas. On June 23, he pressed the trade button and exchanged Gerami grant from the piston. The team is in urgent need of strengthening the front line now. The chips sent out are mainly the first round of 25 years. Grant is in his prime and has both attack and defense. From these perspectives, the pioneer made a very beautiful deal. Grant was famous for his excellent defense at the beginning of his career. In the past two seasons, he showed his offensive ability in the piston, averaging 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists. After introducing this player, the pioneer’s front line ushered in a major upgrade.
On July 1st, the free market opened, and the Pioneers successively renewed the contracts of anfanni Simmons (0.1 billion years) and nurkiki (70 million years), and signed Gary Peyton II (26.15 million years). These three operations are still good. Simmons was trained by himself. Last season, he made rapid progress and played 57 games, with an average score of 17.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, field goal percentage, 44.3%, and a three-point hit rate of 40.5%. His contract expired this summer, it is reasonable to get a fat appointment. Nurkich is 28 years old this year, giving him a 4-year contract with a slightly longer term, but he averaged 15 points and 11 points last season. 1 rebound 2.8 assists, still maintained a good level. After continuing to leave him, the team still has powerful players available in the inner line. Peyton helped the Warriors win the championship last season, and his arrival can quickly improve the defenders of the Blazers.
According to the report of Mingji Sam amickjuly 2, sources revealed that the pioneers needed to use this off-season operation to persuade Lillard to renew the contract in advance. From this point of view, Lillard is satisfied with the team’s work during the offseason. On July 10, the two sides reached an early renewal of 0.12 billion dollars for two years, extending the contract to 26-27 seasons. When the new contract ends, Lillard will be 37 years old, and NBA is expected to give birth to another piece of good news, one person and one city.
In the draft, the pioneer selected Shelton-sharp with the 7th sign this year. Sharp is 1.98 meters tall. His advantage is that he has good physical quality, independent offensive ability, and can pass the ball. The disadvantage is that although he went to college, he has never played NCAA, competition experience is relatively lacking. However, the Trailblazers are currently weak in the substitute team, and he is expected to get some playing time in the new season.
Lineup depth
The following is the general situation of the Trailblazers’ new season lineup:
Rear Guard lines: Lillard, anfeni-Simmons, Gary Peyton II, Shelton-sharp, Keon-Johnson
Attack lines: Josh Hart, Gerami Grant, little, Winslow, Watford, Gregg Brown, Jamari Walker
Inside: nurkich, yubanks
According to previous reports of the Trail Blazers named Aaron J. Fentress, sources revealed that the team will set Josh Hart as the starting small forward in the new season. Therefore, the starting lineup of this team in the new season is expected to be Lillard, Simmons, Hart, Grant and nurkich.
Attack Line & substitute & Defense
Although the Blazers did a lot of work during the off-season and introduced or renewed several powerful players, looking at their lineup, there were still several obvious hard injuries.
The first is the front line. Although Grant was traded, the front line of the Blazers was still very weak and lacked powerful players. Billups put Hart on the front line, which was more like a helpless move in the case of no one available. In addition to being thin, there are two obvious problems in this line-up. One is that the height is not enough. Hart and Little are only 1.96 meters, Watford, Gregg Brown, jabari-Walker both passed two meters, but both Watford and Brown had only one year of NBA experience. Walker was even a rookie, and it was unrealistic to let them carry the flag of the front line. The other is that there is no projection. Only one player in this attack line shot more than 35% from 3 points last season, that is Grant, and his three points last season were only. There are no three points between the front line and the inside line, which will be a big problem for the Pioneers.
The second is the replacement team. After anfanni Simmons entered the starting line, there were no reliable players on the Pioneer bench. In particular, the position of the backup guard is a big problem. Does keweng Johnson, who has one year of NBA experience, and Sharp, who has no experience in NCAA, lead the second lineup? This obviously makes people feel a little insecure.
Another is defense, which is an old problem for pioneers in recent years. After the glory of the 19 Western games, the defensive efficiency of this team in the next three seasons ranked the fourth, second and second in the league. The team introduced Grant and Peyton during the off-season this year, and their defensive strength has improved. However, it is still unknown how they perform on the defensive side in the new season.
Outlook for the new season
After an off-season operation, the pioneers were much better than those in February this year, but they still had many problems. The point that the height of the front line was insufficient was easy to be targeted by opponents, no projection from the front line and the inside line will affect their offensive space. Nearly half of the players in the team are no more than two years old in NBA. Indeed, they have the super giant of Lillard, and they have achieved a lot of success in the era of Lillard, but they can’t afford the whole team alone. For the new season, maybe they still have no chance with the playoffs?