Is Terry Stotts Right About Portland's 'Not Great' Road Trip?
The Trail Blazers were in something close to disarray when they embarked on a six-game road trip late last month. Coming off a dispiriting home loss to the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland was already going to be without C.J. McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins on the road, and endured numerous injuries to other key contributors before returning to Rip City last weekend.
Context of the Blazers being increasingly ravaged by injuries is crucial to assessing their recent play away from home. When Terry Stotts was asked about it following his team's loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday, though, he didn't mention Portland's ongoing health misfortune whatsoever.
"On the whole, .500 on the road is usually a good road trip, but not a great road trip," Stotts said.
You can forgive Stotts' glass-half-empty appraisal of the Blazers' time away from home. They missed all but one of their final 12 field goal attempts against the Knicks, remember, including several open looks from deep that could have opened the door for Damian Lillard to steal a win at Madison Square Garden. It's not like New York, while much improved under Tom Thibodeau, is some surefire playoff team at 11-14, either.
Still, it's important for Portland's coaching staff, players and fans to honestly evaluate the Blazers' standing league-wide when absent McCollum, Nurkic, and more. Just how many active players can Stotts count on to produce consistently on a nightly basis?
Gary Trent Jr. has scored at least 18 points in seven games this season, but failed to reach double-digits on six other occasions. Robert Covington is one of the streakiest high-volume three-point shooters in basketball, and the shooting limitations of Derrick Jones Jr. make his offensive impact overly dependent on defensive miscues. Enes Kanter's positive influence is limited exclusively to one side of the floor. Anfernee Simons mixes as many flashes of star-level scoring chops with head-scratching decision-making and passivity.
Short-handed Portland's one constant? Lillard, of course, who sent his team to victory over the Chicago Bulls with a game-winning buzzer-beater and watched from the bench a few days later as the Blazers shocked the Philadelphia 76ers.
Did the Blazers' frustrating late-game shooting struggles against New York prevent them from making the road trip a winning one in the standings? No doubt. But given the sweeping limitations of Portland's roster sans McCollum and Nurkic, Stotts–and fans across Rip City–should consider going .500 on a six-game road trip a "win" all by itself.