The Portland Trail Blazers' early postseason exit allowed them to see how they measure up to the NBA's toughest competition.
What happened?
Their regular season tendencies weren't much different, but with avenues to retool their roster, the time to join the elite Western Conference teams has arrived. Last result: Portland Trail Blazers 125-112 Milwaukee Bucks (2025-01-29).
A low-post presence
The Blazers' 2025-26 offense finished a possession with a post-up on just 140 occasions, ranking dead last in the NBA. But think for a second from a pure hoops perspective. Let's just say, hypothetically, that the Blazers held a 15-point lead against a Victor Wembanyama-less Spurs team with five minutes left in the third quarter.
What comes next?
Ideally, it would be one of those skillset additions that 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan returns in Year Three with, but for now, there's not a ton of evidence. On occasion, he looks to have the process down, but schematically, Portland almost never ran a post-up his way. In 107 postseason minutes, he wasn't tracked for a single one, and during 2,094 regular-season minutes, he was 7-of-11 on post-ups. Given his postseason field goal percentage - 30.4 percent on 46 attempts - he likely knows it's a necessity.
Potential solutions
A player like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Anthony Davis could solve many of these problems, but should Portland be looking on a few lower-shelf alternatives - given their cap constraints - here are a few names that might matter: | Player | Team | | --- | --- | | Joel Embiid | Philadelphia 76ers | | Stephen Curry | Golden State Warriors |
And no, Stephen Curry will not be next. Post happens to be another Warriors big whose future is in limbo, after injuries, a shooting slump, and frankly, more playable options, knocked him out of the rotation. Although, he is a restricted free agent. Given his 3-point resume, though, it could be a kill two birds with one stone situation for a team that direly needs shooting. Another sorely-missed presence during Atlanta's postseason run. A master of deep post positioning, Landale was elite in both post-up shot attempts. So, the Portland Trail Blazers must fill their roster holes to compete with the elite teams in the Western Conference.