The reset
What happens to an organization like the Portland Trail Blazers at this point is that they end up honestly assessing the team. In that process, what organizations often find is that even with all the sustained success they have had, with their current roster construction they may have hit their ceiling.
That is probably what will happen after this season if the Blazers don’t show a major bounce-back in Orlando. Executive Neil Olshey who has done a great job constantly changing the pieces around the Lillard-McCollum duo may realize he’s taken it as far as he could.
When that happens that puts the team on a series of tough decisions ultimately going to two paths. The first one is very obvious as it is something that has been speculated a lot, that the Blazers could just blow up the team.
It might make sense with Damian Lillard being a bonafide superstar, and co-stars CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic being players with fringe All-Star talent, the Portland Trail Blazers could get a haul of young players and draft picks and have one of the brightest futures in the league. Especially if we consider the youth already on the Blazers roster with players Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, and the aforementioned Zach Collins.
In a way though, that route has more questions than answers. This method assumes that Portland will then be able to find star talent in the draft or really develop project players, but maybe they can’t. In the small-ish market of Portland, would the franchise really want to trade away everyone and go into seasons of losing, it feels unlikely.
That leaves the Portland Trail Blazers with the second route, a much riskier one. A championship is a rare thing to ever get in the NBA, and if a team can achieve one then they have something that will never be taken away. With one superstar already on their roster in Lillard, could it possible that the real Portland reset would be to make a risky move for a second truly elite player that could really make Portland a favorite.