What Weaknesses Must the Blazers Address?

A potential weakness faced by the Portland Trail Blazers in the upcoming season is their ability to force turnovers, suggests Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report. Hughes recognizes that Portland lost critical length in Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless, further minimizing their ability to press opposing offenses into turnovers. While the team gained rim protection, Hughes said it is likely they will continue to struggle.

Hassan Whiteside will prevent clean looks at the rim, but he isn’t mobile or attentive enough to do damage further out on the floor. Stotts will likely be even more conservative with him than he was with Jusuf Nurkic last season.

Unless Zach Collins improbably becomes a turnover-generating force, the Blazers are likely to be even less effective at forcing mistakes than they were last year...when they ranked 29th in opponent turnovers.

One feature of the preseason, though, has been Kent Bazemore’s active hands. Perhaps there is more to look forward to there.

You can read more about each NBA team’s flaws here.