We are just hours away from the Portland Trail Blazers’ regular-season curtain-raiser and Damian Lillard’s official return to Moda Center.
After a rather interesting preseason, tonight the Blazers will be put to the test against Devin Booker and the talented Phoenix Suns.
A rematch of last season's first-round play-in matchup, where Portland came out victorious, and Deni Avdija was officially introduced to the world.
A repeat of the same script would be the ideal way to start the year but there are many differences between last season and the current one.
The Blazers have a new rookie head coach, Micah Nori, and a new backcourt partnership between Ja Morant and Damian Lillard.
New expectations are set, and with them come just as many questions and talking points.
Though it is only the first game of a lengthy NBA season, I still have questions I want answered, and three of them in particular will hopefully be addressed tonight.
And no, the starting lineup is not one of them.
Who Plays How Many Minutes?
While Nori said he intends to start the season with a 10-man rotation and play his players in shorter bursts, the number of shifts each player will play remains unknown.
Throughout the preseason, no starter played meaningful fourth-quarter minutes, or even meaningful second-half minutes. So the sample size to draw conclusions is quite small.
Many players returning from last year's Blazers playoff team are used to longer minutes on the floor. Yet with a new head coach and new faces, that routine will likely change.
Damian Lillard also told reporters after practice this week that having such a talented roster means he won’t need to overwork himself during the regular season and can save his energy for the playoffs.
That outcome will be in everyone's interest, as Lillard ranks 40th all time in NBA history in minutes played per game.
As we approach the fourth quarter against the Suns, it will be interesting to see how many minutes each player logs and which lineup Nori trusts to close out the game.
Can the Blazers Cut Down the Turnovers?
A key focus throughout training camp was limiting turnovers. Yet as preseason came to a close, there was a feeling around the Blazers facility that they hadn’t fully solved that issue.
“With the kind of talent we have offensively, I think we should be trying to get a shot up every time down,” Lillard said. “I think we turn over the ball too many times looking at our preseason games.”
The system the Blazers play with is high-risk, high-reward. Turnovers come with the territory when the Blazers play with the speed and aggressiveness they want to establish.
However, Portland led the entire league in turnovers last season, averaging 17.3 per game. And across three preseason games against NBA competition this year, the Blazers committed 52 turnovers.
Comically enough, that’s still an average of 17.3 turnovers per game.
With question marks surrounding the team’s defense, the Blazers need to improve ball protection on offense if they hope to reach the 50-win target they’ve set for themselves.
Who is Taking The Shots?
With Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, and Deni Avdija all on the same roster, there's natural curiosity about how these three offensive juggernauts would let each other do what they do best.
However, throughout preseason, the Blazers’ trio looked in tune and rarely stepped on each other’s toes.
Morant, in particular, took a backseat offensively, spending more time off the ball and creating opportunities for others. The All-Star guard has averaged more than 25 points a night in multiple NBA seasons, yet in preseason he never crossed 20 points, taking 10 or fewer shots in each game.
But preseason games are just exhibitions, and once the regular-season hits, the results start to count. The Blazers will need Morant, Lillard, and Avdija to be aggressive and score when opportunities arise.
So how many shots will that mean for each of them? And how many will be left for other members of the offense, like Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday?
The Blazers have emphasized that unselfishness will be key to their success this season. But in a game against the Suns, a playoff-spot competitor, someone will need to emerge as the go-to guy, and others might have to be satisfied with being a sidekick.
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