Damian Lillard is back and Ja Morant is here. How exactly is this going to work? | Bill Oram
· Yahoo Sports
In the history of basketball, we have certainly seen some why-would-they-do-that? pairings.
Jerseys and sleeves. Kawhi Leonard and a tree sponsorship. Utah and “the Jazz.”
Visit newssport.cv for more information.
Once, there was even Detlef Schrempf and a headband, if you can believe that.
Ja Morant and Damian Lillard?
We’re about to find out if they belong on such a list.
Because of all the things you might have said the Trail Blazers needed as they prepared to welcome Lillard back after making a playoff run without him, a slight-of-stature ball-dominant guard with a questionable jump shot would not have topped anyone’s list.
Depth on the wing? Yes. Shooting? Definitely. Defense? Always.
Morant doesn’t particularly address any of those, and yet, he’s here, a dynamic two-time All-Star in need of a second act, being paid a team-high $42.1 million to play the same position as not just Lillard, but Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson.
Heck, the Blazers’ most valuable point guard last season was forward Deni Avdija.
“I’m sure there will be questions about fit,” General Manager Joe Cronin said Monday.
Uh, yeah.
The Blazers have little more than three weeks before the regular season begins in which to figure that out. At the team’s annual media day on Monday, Morant appeared in a fresh white No. 1 Trail Blazers jersey. It’s happening.
“It’s easy for people to be like, ‘Man how is this going to work,’” Lillard offered. “‘They can’t do this, they can’t do that.’ But being on the floor with them … we can be a dangerous team and I really believe that.”
The onus is on the Trail Blazers starting this month to prove that they bet right in acquiring Morant. And that pairing him with Lillard isn’t the boondoggle conventional wisdom suggests it will be.
Lillard noted how many teams that succeeded in the playoffs last year, think San Antonio with its four point guards, relied on numerous playmakers. To his credit, Morant said he would be comfortable coming off the bench, if necessary.
But they would not be the first NBA team to fall into the trap of believing they are capable of adjusting or that they will be comfortable sacrificing. It isn’t uncommon to see players in those situations default to familiar habits and sensibilities once the season is underway or struggles come.
That’s what made a lot of the positive energy around what sure seems like an awkward roster ring so hollow. We’re going to need to see it to believe it.
Morant tried to lay out a vision for how it could look. If he drives to the paint and is double-teamed, someone else is inevitably open. That’s how basketball works.
“That allows me to have more space to be the best Ja I can be,” Morant said.
The 36-year-old Holiday, who would be a more natural complement next to Lillard or Morant than they are to each other, made his own case for why the point guard rotation makes sense.
“It’s about being a complete basketball player for myself,” he said, “and I think we have a lot of guys like that.”
There is a long history of teams talking themselves into superstar additions that make little sense. The Los Angeles Lakers once made a conscious decision to acquire Russell Westbrook and pair him with LeBron James. Nobody made them do that!
The talent and star power of a Lillard-Morant backcourt is undeniable. Still, I remain unconvinced that Cronin, with a very hands-on new owner in his ear, made the deal with winning basketball games at the front of mind.
Although, admittedly, Cronin’s biggest wins as a GM have been in the trade market.
The haul of assets he collected for Lillard, only to get him back two years later, will go down as an all-time great swindle. So, too, will the oft-questioned Avdija trade a year later.
Maybe he sees something in a Lillard-Morant pairing that many of us can’t.
Morant could return to the All-Star form he had achieved before injuries and off-court issues derailed his ascent. And if he does, the Blazers can either trade him for pieces that fit better or clear out the logjam and build around him.
But to sell the current roster as a basketball strategy doesn’t quite pass the smell test.
Neither Lillard nor Morant has achieved stardom due to his defensive acumen. Each player needs the ball in his hands to thrive. If the duo is on the floor together, Avdija is no longer the secondary playmaker, he becomes tertiary.
So, you are left to wonder whether the Blazers sold themselves on Morant because of how he can help the current collection of talent or if they simply saw the opportunity to land a 27-year-old All-NBA talent for cheap, regardless of what it meant for the existing roster construction.
And if you’re being honest, you probably don’t need to wonder which of the two it is.
“We were very focused and we’ll continue to be on … adding to our talent base as much as we can,” Cronin said.
That thinking right there may tell you just how far ahead of everyone else the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are in the Western Conference. They are positioned to dominate for the next half-decade, if not longer. The only chance any other team has of disrupting that is taking bold risks.
But I thought the goal was to go all in on the twilight years of Lillard’s career?
“Dame literally just wants to win,” said first-year head coach Micah Nori, whose charge is to sort out arguably the most talented glut of point guard talent in NBA history. “I think that’s the only thing left he really has to (do). He’s already proven he’s a winner, but at the highest level.”
Does adding Morant move Lillard closer to a title? Or simply give Portland a potential off-ramp if Lillard is no longer the same player after tearing his Achilles tendon?
Morant was without question a low-risk, high-reward addition. He came at the reasonable price of Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. If it becomes clear that Morant is one point guard too many, or that he’s just not the player he once was, some will argue that it didn’t cost the Blazers much to try.
However, there is an opportunity cost to messing with Lillard’s swan song. If you don’t get it right, you risk wasting the gift of his voluntary return last summer. And, not for nothing, Lillard has the option to become a free agent again after this season.
The franchise icon certainly hasn’t said anything that would suggest he is unhappy about Morant’s presence, although he stopped short on Monday of a full-throated endorsement. He said he knew about the trade before it went through.
When I asked if he thought it was a good idea right away or if he needed time to get on board with the plan, Lillard said, “My position on it was, I’m prepared for whatever.”
It’s good that he’s already thinking about other positions. Because his old one is getting awfully crowded.
Read the original article on oregonlive.com. Add oregonlive.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.