The Portland Trail Blazers entered this season willing to sacrifice winning in favor of development of young talent while also allowing a new mix of veterans to develop chemistry.
Injuries, unfortunately, have somewhat derailed those goals for much of the season.
Whenever the roster becomes reasonably healthy, inevitably several players land on the injury list making it difficult to accelerate growth both individually and as a team.
It’s almost impossible to do it as a group,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billupssaid. “There’s certain pockets of when this guy is in for a while and he’s picking things up, learning this part, but as a group, it’s just been impossible. This year has been very stressful to not have opportunities to get better.”
One key goal was to develop the inside-outside relationship between guard Anfernee Simons and center Deandre Ayton. But they have played minimally together. Combined, they have missed 40 games for the 15-37 Blazers.
