ROUNDBALL DAILY

2012-13 NBA Preview: Portland Trail Blazers

12. Portland Trail Blazers

HOW THEY CAN WIN: LaMarcus Aldridge (21.7 ppg, 8 rpg) is somehow still drastically underrated as one of the NBA’s best post players. Aldridge has improved every year he’s been in the league, and is unquestionably the go-to guy on this team. Rookie guard Damian Lillard has played well in the preseason and could be one of the better rooks in the league this year. He was a prolific scorer and passer at Weber State, and will  bring some much-needed explosiveness to the backcourt.

WHY THEY WON’T: The Blazers are in rebuilding mode, and have focused their efforts on building around Aldridge. Like the Rockets and Hornets, there’s too much youth on this team to think that it could contend this year.  30-year old Jared Jeffries is Portland’s oldest player.

FINAL DESTINATION: It would be a surprise if Portland found a way to contend with so much youth and inexperience on this team. Aldridge is a nice player, but he can’t carry a team to the playoffs by himself. Still, with Lillard, center Meyers Leonard and guard Will Barton in place, the future looks bright.

OUR CALL: 28-54. 

TEAM ROSTER
NO. NAME POS AGE HT WT COLLEGE 2012-2013 SALARY
12 LaMarcus Aldridge PF 27 6-11 240 Texas $14,000,000
8 Luke Babbitt SF 23 6-9 225 Nevada $1,892,280
5 Will Barton SG 21 6-5 170 Memphis $550,000
88 Nicolas Batum SF 23 6-8 200 $10,850,000
18 Victor Claver SF 24 6-9 224 $1,300,000
19 Joel Freeland PF 25 6-10 225 $3,013,512
34 Demonte Harper G 23 0-0 00 Morehead State
21 J.J. Hickson PF 24 6-9 242 North Carolina State $4,000,000
10 Justin Holiday SG 23 6-6 185 Washington
1 Jared Jeffries PF 30 6-11 240 Indiana $1,475,106
7 Coby Karl PG 29 6-5 215 Boise State $854,389
52 Dallas Lauderdale F 24 0-0 00 Ohio State
11 Meyers Leonard C 20 7-1 245 Illinois $2,126,520
0 Damian Lillard PG 22 6-3 195 Weber State $3,065,040
2 Wesley Matthews SG 26 6-5 220 Marquette $6,505,320
6 Adam Morrison SF 28 6-8 205 Gonzaga
3 Sasha Pavlovic SG 28 6-7 235 $1,229,255
24 Ronnie Price PG 29 6-2 190 Utah Valley $1,146,337
83 Craig Smith PF 28 6-7 265 Boston College $854,389
4 Nolan Smith PG 24 6-2 185 Duke $1,365,720
9 Elliot Williams SG 23 6-5 180 Memphis $1,442,880

Coach: Terry Stotts


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  1. Pingback: 2012-13 NBA Preview: Portland Trail Blazers | JockSpin.com Sports News and Opinion Aggregator and Publisher

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