Portland Trail Blazers: This current core is locked into mediocrity

Despite their recent regular season success and playoff appearances, the Portland Trail Blazers are currently locked into mediocrity

The core of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum have consistently kept the Portland Trail Blazers in the top half of the Western Conference.

However, they just can’t take that crucial next step to contention with the powers in the West.

Though they finished as a high seed last year, they were promptly ousted by the lower-seeded New Orleans Pelicans in a four-game sweep. It almost cost Terry Stotts his job as Portland’s bench boss.

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Today, they sit in the sixth spot in the West at 12-8, though they’re just a game and a half behind the first place Los Angeles Clippers (13-6). LeBron’s Lakers and Harden’s Rockets are both behind them and will inevitably rise as their chemistry improves, further complicating matters.

Jusuf Nurkic has been an ultra-effective since being acquired from the Denver Nuggets last year. He’s averaging 15.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, while boasting a 23.4 PER (player efficiency rating), tied for the best on the team with Lillard.

McCollum has had a somewhat underwhelming start to his 2018-19 campaign, though his 21.1 points per game still make his stat sheet fun to look at.

Lillard is absolutely killing it, scoring 26.5 points a game and still offering stats across the board. His 6.1 assists and 5.2 boards per game are amongst the best on the team, as his 6.1 assists lead the team and his rebounding average comes in third behind Nurkic and Al-Farouq Aminu.

However, the depth behind Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic is paper thin. Aminu offers 8.3 rebounds a game but does little else. As a scorer, he’s converting just 37.8 percent of his shots from the field, though his 32.8 percent from deep is acceptable.

Nobody else on the team other than their main trio has a double-digit scoring average. The ball doesn’t move around much, as the 20.5 assists per game rank 27th in the association.

Defense isn’t their claim to fame either, as the six steals a game ranks 29th in the league. Portland’s overall defensive rating of 109.7 sits 18th in the league and thus below average.

There is a painful realization that the organization must come to: this group needs some changes to have a chance to actually win it all because the current crop just doesn’t cut it.

As long as Lillard and McCollum don’t have help from the forward spots, this team can’t go anywhere.

The 3-and-D prototype at forward has proven to be effective in the league, and the Blazers simply don’t boast much in that department.

Zach Collins has potential in that department, as he averages 1.1 blocks and 0.3 steals in just 20 minutes per contest. If he were given more minutes, maybe things could change a bit.

Without more help to either relieve or entirely replace Aminu and Evan Turner at the forward spots, who has been inefficient at the three for awhile, this team is stuck in a rut of decency.

With forwards like Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Paul George and now LeBron James, Portland needs to get major assistance in that area to stay competitive.

And staying in the bottom-to-middle of the Western Conference playoff race isn’t competitive. Being able to win a championship is competitive.

Without making it deep into the playoffs in recent years and still without the ability to make it to May, the Portland Trail Blazers are not competitive, and they won’t be until they fix their forwards.