Blazers look to build on solid foundation

By ANNE M. PETERSON - Associated Press - Tuesday, October 21, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Not a whole lot has changed for the Portland Trail Blazers.

The starting five - LaMarcus Aldridge, Damian Lillard, Robin Lopez, Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews - are all returning to a team that won 54 games and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals last season.

Most of the Blazers bench is likewise back. The only two additions the team made in the offseason were center Chris Kaman and guard Steve Blake.

In other words, the Blazers arent fixing what isnt broken. Theyre just going to work on the details - which include convincing the rest of the NBA that theyre legit.

I think we can be good - we can be really, really good, Matthews said. I think we deserve to be talked (about) as contenders in the West. I really believe that.

It starts with Aldridge, who averaged career highs with 23.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game in the regular season, joining just two other players to finish in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. He upped his scoring output to 26.1 points per game in the playoffs.

Lillard averaged 20.7 points and 5.6 assists as he continued to skew the NBA growth curve after jumping from Weber State to Rookie of the Year to All-Star over two seasons. But the 6-foot-3 point guards profile really took off after his series-clinching 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left against Houston to propel the Blazers to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.

Adding Kaman to spell Lopez will help give the Blazers more interior scoring power, while Blake will provide veteran stability at the point when Lillard rests. The two additions should also help Portlands bench produce more points, something that has hurt the team the last two seasons.

The Blazers also need to continue to focus on their defense, which was ranked 16th in the league last season. That was up from 25th the season before, so coach Terry Stotts will be looking to build on the changes that made a difference.

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Blazers look to build on solid foundation