Saturday Slam: Can the Portland Trail Blazers withstand Damian Lillard's absence?

 

                                             (Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) 

Earlier this week, Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard underwent abdominal surgery. The team announced that he will be re-evaluated in six weeks, though he could be out as long as eight weeks or even longer. After averaging 30.0 points per game in the 2019-20 season and 28.8 points per game in the 2020-21 season, Lillard has regressed a bit this year in his production, averaging 24.0 points per game. The last season he averaged fewer than 25 points per game was his third season in the NBA (21.0 points per game), so for his standards this is quite a drop off. 

If you are the Blazers, you have to hope that by undergoing this surgery, that'll help Lillard get back to his old self where he was averaging 28+ points a night. Lillard hasn't felt healthy all season long. It's clear that his production has suffered. 

While this surgery is good for Lillard and the Blazers long-term, this does hurt them in the short-term. They are 10th place in the Western Conference standings right now at 17-25, just .5 game up on Sacramento. With Lillard out, it does look unlikely that they'll hang onto the 10 seed, which means that when he comes back (assuming he does come back this season), they're likely going to be on the outside looking in of the Western Conference play-in tournament. 

If the Trail Blazers are to have any hope of making the play-in tournament and making a run in the playoffs, they're going to need shooting guard C.J. McCollum (20.6 points) and swingman Norman Powell (18.6 points) to really step up. If those guys can get going and pick up the slack, it's possible the Trail Blazers hang around and don't fall too far in the standings. 

Speaking of McCollum, he is expected to be back Monday against the Magic per Shams Charania of The Athletic after being out with a collapsed lung that he suffered on December 4th against the Celtics. So that's one piece of good news for the Trail Blazers. 

Ultimately, it'll be interesting to see how the Trail Blazers look without Lillard and whether or not they'll be able to stay afloat. He's by far their most important piece and when he's not on the floor, they're nowhere near the type of team that they know they are capable of being. Going on without him will be an uphill battle, but it's the cards they've been dealt. They have no choice but to solider on as best they can. 

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Saturday Slam: Klay Thompson's return is huge for the Golden State Warriors and fun for the NBA

 

                                             (Credit: Jeff Chiu/AP Images) 

The long awaited return of Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson is finally here. After being out for over 900 days due to a torn ACL and a torn Achilles, Thompson will make his return on Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers at home. Thompson missed the entire 2019-20 season due to his ACL and then missed the entire 2020-21 season due to his Achilles. To say the least, it's been a while since we've seen him play in an NBA game. 

For the Warriors, the return of Thompson is huge. He's one of the greatest shooters the NBA has ever seen, cut out of the Ray Allen/Reggie Miller cloth as a lethal shooter in catch and shoot situations. He moves really well without the ball and if you give him any space, he'll hit a three in your face. In the 2018-19 season, Thompson averaged 21.5 points per game on 46.7% shooting from the field, 40.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 81.6% shooting from the foul line. He was an All-Star for the fifth consecutive season and he was just starting to enter the prime of his career before going down with two bad injuries. If he's able to get back to that form or close to it, he'll be a very nice boost to a Warriors team that is 29-9 and looking to get back to the NBA Finals. 

As for the NBA at large, it's just fun to have Klay back. He's a really fun player to watch and has one of the better personalities in the league. He has a bit of a dry sense of humor and is laid back while also being very lethal on the court. As good as Stephen Curry is, I think we've all missed seeing Curry play with Thompson by his side. The Splash Brothers as they have been called, are now back as a duo and the league will be better for it. 

In terms of what we can realistically expect from Thompson, it's probably fair to expect him to be a bit rusty at first. He needs to get back into game conditioning and it could take him a little bit of time to find his rhythm. But in time, I do expect him to get back to being one of the best shooters in the league and who knows, maybe he'll surprise me and get off to a great start on Sunday. Regardless, I'm glad he's back and I hope he's able to stay healthy going forward. 

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