Image via WikipediaTop Offensive Player: Brandon Roy
Top Defensive Player: Marcus Camby
Top Playmaker: Brandon Roy
Top Clutch Player: Brandon Roy
The Unheralded Player: Andre Miller
Best New Addition: Wesley Matthews
Strengths
Last season Portland, on average, outscored, outrebounded, and out-everythinged their opponents. They are a team that knows what it is they want to accomplish and usually everyone knows their role and is effective in their assignments. The bench is capable and showed last season they can weather a few injuries. The roster may have changed a bit over the offseason, but the message delivered by the coaching staff – completely new under McMillan – is not going to change. This is a team who knows how to win games and feels they have made the necessary tweaks to carry that over into the playoffs.
Weaknesses
The biggest issue with the Blazers is their offense is methodical and predictable. Defenses know everything runs through Roy. This is effective despite that knowledge in the regular season because teams simply don't have the time to dedicate game planning of a single team in the days between games like they do in the playoffs – hence Portland's first-round exits the last two seasons when they seemed to be taken out of their game. The Blazers need to introduce more dynamicism into the playcalling to keep teams off balance. Part of that is finding another clutch player, part of that is staying healthy – something else that could be called a Portland weakness.
How soon will Oden and Przybilla make contributions?
Both centers can be dominating rebounders and defenders. Oden can be a force offensively, as he was starting to really show before the patella injury. However, the injuries will keep them out of some (Oden) or all (Przybilla) of training camp, which means when they do come back conditioning could be an issue along with getting back into the flow of the game. If both are healthy and contributing by mid-season, the second half could feature a Portland team surging towards the playoffs. If they struggle even when the pair is healthy enough to play, the Blazers could face another first-round playoff exit.
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