Trail Blazers, are you ready before taking off?

Lillard's choice to return to the Trail Blazers is probably the least meaningless among all big-name signings. Lillard and the Trail Blazers and the city of Portland constituted sufficient reasons. The starting salary of this contract is full of the upper limit of the full middle class (14.1 million), which dropped to 13.3 million in the second year, and then rose back to 14.1 million in the third year. Lillard has player options and trade veto, and he is 38 years old when his contract expires. It can be said that the pioneers gave basically everything they could within the scope of the rules, and they almost wrote the retirement tour of the profit guidance office into the contract.

Lillard is of course worthy of such treatment. If nothing unexpected happens, Lillard will still be the strongest player on paper in this Trail Blazers in the short term, although he will not be able to play most of the next season.

We will talk about 30 teams in this series and will also rating players. It can be seen as an extension of the player rating series in the past two years. The change in form makes it less interesting to classify the player type, but combining player ratings with team analysis will give you a good by-product - team ratings, and perhaps we will see this result later in this series.

Seasonal reimbursement level injuries have made it difficult for players to rating. Major injuries such as Achilles tendon tear and ACL were all major injuries that were destructive in the past. Even if players can come back smoothly, it is almost inevitable that they will lose their strength. But sports medicine has made too fast progress. In recent years, we have seen the gratifying results of players fighting against large injuries - Durant is still the highest-level superstar when he returns.

Some people think that Durant's unique talent conditions have made him an exception. In fact, even Tang Shen, who suffered from ACL and Achilles tendon injuries, also helped the Warriors get a ring during his comeback season. Even in the two seasons of 21-22 and 22-23, Tang Shen is still a player who averaged more than 20 points per game, and has declined and is not fatal. Even if you only consider the wear and tear caused by age, players of the Tang Shen level have entered a natural decline, which can explain the dilemma of the past two years. So, I would not think that Tang Shen’s performance with two major injuries is a counterexample of injury recovery. He can also be a positive case for modern players to fight against injury.

seems to be far from it. What I want to say here is that this series will downplay the impact of major injuries on the stars to a certain extent. I won't over-reduce their assessment of their strength because Tatum, Halliburton, Lillard, and Irving are debuffed with big injuries.

But objectively speaking, Lillard may be the one among these players who are the most difficult to fight against injuries - he is the shortest, the oldest, and his playing style is the most dependent on explosive power. If you have high expectations for his level after his comeback, you may have to respect and trust his will. At the moment of injury, Lillard's performance was very similar to that of KD back then, and there was no emotional ups and downs. Since the ultimate victory cannot change the profit guidance, the injury cannot cause too many troubles. I hope Lillard, like Durant, will return as a king. Apart from Lillard, the Trail Blazers have not yet been able to touch the All-Star threshold level player. Holiday, who won the championship a year ago, can contribute to the value of the game close to the All-Star level even if it appears in the form of a super puzzle. And this level failed to continue in the 24-25 season. Holiday's outside feel is normal. He has also had a difference in three-point shooting percentage in his past career. Although the regular season three-point production efficiency has remained above the career level after leaving the Pelicans, the playoffs are very accurate and only in 2024.

These may not matter. Holiday's decline gives people a strong intuitive feeling, which is more because the comparison base in the past few years is too high. His leadership, assisted defense, diversity of counter-attacks, and basic functions of point guards are still online, and the comprehensive game value is enough to overflow as a puzzle. The configuration characteristics of the

Trail Blazers are also suitable for Holiday at this stage. In the past few years, Holiday has been under a high game load. Although his attendance and playing time cannot be compared with those of the Knicks, he has done more things. The first championship season was full of offense and defense. After that, Midou fell, the team's defensive resources were relegated, and his offense and defense load was forced to gradually increase. When I went to the Celtics, the offensive burden was removed, but in order to cooperate with the Celtics' counterattack style, I became a firefighter who had any holes to block wherever there were. In the past two years, I have achieved double 95 achievements in the difficulty of matchmaking and the diversity of matchmaking.

The Trail Blazers don't need Holiday to be as versatile. Before Lillard's return, Holiday may be the main controller of this team, but the Trail Blazers' ball rights will be tilted towards young people, and Holiday is more likely to play as a supporter. On the defensive end, the Trail Blazers have sufficient resources. A team that Seble is not the first leader and the inside forwards overflows should not need Holiday to be the Transformers.

The forward line is the Trail Blazers' best position. This has nothing to do with Grant who earns 32 million a year, but because they have Avdia and Kamala. Avdia, who was obtained by the Trail Blazers at a huge price, has become a player in the Trail Blazers' young players. He has a ball merchandise that obviously surpasses his teammates, has comprehensive skills, excellent counter-elasticity and rebounding. As a 2.06-meter forward, he is still skilled in control, can independently change defense and discover teammates, and has strong killing ability.

Avdia is currently in the middle stage of evolving from a puzzle front to a core striker. If you look at it based on the standards of a forward developer, Avdia is a little bit more meticulous, and his main goal is to make many mistakes, and his shooting is not a strong point. 25-26 will be a key sublimation season for him. Taking one step further can open up the All-Star prospects. On the contrary, some of the two sides are not trusted, and it is difficult to make a contract with such a type. But Avdia's contract was signed early, and the Trail Blazers don't need to consider this issue in the next three years.

Compared to Avdia, Kamara is more pure as a 3D forward. As a successful second round of Taobao for the Trail Blazer, he is also the most certain character among these young people.. At that time, the Rockets and Brother Fengxue signed a contract that can advance, attack, retreat and defend. If the Trail Blazers wanted to renew their contract with Sharp, this case would be there, which might be a suppression of Sharp.

The uncertainty in the backcourt and the overflow of manpower in the frontcourt together constitute the uncertainty in the starting lineup. Holiday + Kamara + Avdia + Grant is the strongest combination in pure strength, and it also meets the Trail Blazers' tendency to build a team first, and can play some 92-87 games. Taking Kamara on the bench and Sharp came on, balancing offense and defense, qualifications and player training may be a more reasonable model. Holiday and Grant are the best starters. As veterans holding a 2+1 contract, both of them are focused on the early stages of team building. In particular, the latter is a role that the pioneer needs to send away. It is placed in a position that can dispatch his enthusiasm, which may be more conducive to enhancing his value and converting it into future assets at the right time. The

5 position has no competition with other positions. The two centers in the first round are much larger than the team's forward line, and the track is clearly distinguished. This is also the most concerned position among Chinese fans. This position is pure - mainly the long-term competition between Klingen and Yang Hansen. Rowe is an expiring contract and is also a substitute inside puzzle that many playoff teams are interested in. If there is a chance to send it away, the Trail Blazers will follow. As a spare tire, Rees can be used, but his age is there, and there is no long-term competitive threat.

Klingen is rough in his hands and poor in offense, but he has some things in the first few days of the league in terms of efficiency. He is second grade, ranked 7th, and has the advantage of qualifications and status than Xiao Yang, who is first grade and 16th grade. Coupled with the Trail Blazers' currently smooth defensive team building route, Klingen will occupy the starting position in the future. But Xiao Yang has a significantly higher upper limit for Klingen on the offensive end. For the Trail Blazers with difficulty in development, a large number of invalid hand-handed hands at the top of the arc, the third-last assist rate in the league, and the second-last assist loss ratio, a supportive insider will certainly be attractive if he has been in a long drought and the help will be. It can be said that the Trail Blazers are the ones that Xiao Yang can do, which means that I have the initiative in the competition in the inside. If Xiao Yang has his own abilities, the opportunity will be in place.

In terms of the overall personnel framework, it cannot be said that the Trail Blazers are fully prepared:

The Trail Blazers have a comprehensive reserve of each position, talented in the inside, forward and backcourt, and can even be called the three generations of old, middle-aged and young people living together, with both energy and experience. If Sharp and Henderson are not good, the two old guards Holiday and Lillard, who will come back, can take over smoothly to ensure that the Trail Blazers' more imaginative frontcourt is not dragged down; the Trail Blazers' disadvantage is that it is not yet seen which one is the core of the next generation. Henderson has the highest ranking, and occasionally there are some highlight moments of future stars, but the debuff is still hanging, so it is probably necessary to add some effort to shake off the wind and snow. Sharp has a less successful case in the front, so he can only be cautious. Klingen and Kamala are obviously both blue-collar. Avdia rushed over again, and there was a possibility of touching the second and third leaders, and the boss was a little far away. In terms of

type, Hexon is similar to "Jokic", and is really the one with the largest imagination space. He can make great progress in projection and confrontation as soon as possible, and it is not impossible to covet the Iron Throne when the pioneers' future is uncertain. From this perspective, the relatively open core competition of Trail Blazers is actually a good thing.

The Trail Blazers imagined to be the Rockets?

At present, based on defense, the talent reserves of forward and inside are relatively abundant, and there are questions about talent in the backcourt, but there are veterans in charge and little Fire Dragon, all aspects are matched.

Before Lillard's comeback, the Trail Blazers were a bit lacking in stardom, but the competition in the tail of the Western Conference next season is not cruel. The Jazz still lay down, the Pelicans were full of uncertainty, and the Suns and the Kings were a little bit of a mess. If there are still teams that fall behind unexpectedly, the Trail Blazers may not be able to think about the playoffs. In fact, they are not much different from this range this year.

I hope that Hesson and his team will bring us some surprises in his first season.