The Trail Blazers have built themselves into a strange-looking team, and that may be exactly why San Antonio matters so much to what comes next.
Portland’s roster is loaded with point guards and centers, a construction that leaves first-year head coach Micah Nori with a real puzzle to solve. It’s a better team than last season, but it is also a weird one. And in the middle of that awkward fit sits a question the Blazers have to answer all year: how do you make the pieces work without giving away too much on either end?
The Spurs may have just shown one way.
On Friday, San Antonio head coach Mitch Johnson said the team plans to start three guards - De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper - in its season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder. That setup only works because Victor Wembanyama is there to hold everything together, and even that almost feels unfair. He’s the 7-foot-4 “alien” who changes the geometry of the game, and as Wembanyama put it, “The biggest thing is I’ve got handlers all around me; guys, we want to put the ball in their hands and pick and roll around me,”
Johnson also pointed to wanting the five best players on the floor as part of the logic, which is the same basic gamble Portland made when it went after Ja Morant. The Blazers chose talent over tidy roster balance, bringing in Morant for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray without giving up future assets. That move made them better, but it also deepened the odd shape of the roster.
What makes the Spurs example relevant is that Portland has its own version of the anchor that makes unconventional lineups possible. Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III give the Blazers a level of rim protection that can help offset all the guard play. Nori has already made it clear he sees the value in being able to rotate Clingan and Williams through the center spot for a full game if necessary.
That matters even more for this team because the roster has shifted away from wings and toward guards. General manager Joe Cronin didn’t move to add to a thin forward group, even after the loss of veteran two-way wing Matisse Thybulle in free agency, who joined the rival Los Angeles Lakers. Cronin has said the Blazers are confident in the group they have at forward, but the bigger point is that the team is betting on the talent it already has.
There is still a difference between Portland and San Antonio. No one has Wembanyama, and the Spurs’ blueprint is built around a one-of-one player. But the broader lesson is there: you can play multiple guards, even a lot of them, if an elite defensive presence is there to cover the cracks.
That’s why the Spurs are the right comparison for the Blazers. San Antonio is already viewed as one of the league’s best defensive teams, and that stability gives it room to experiment with guard-heavy lineups. Portland is hoping its center depth can do some of the same work, especially after leading the league in turnovers last season by a wide margin and deciding it had to trade some defense for more playmaking and ball-handling.
The Blazers are trying to catch up in a Western Conference that remains stacked, even with multiple stars heading East this summer. They’ve added more talent.
Now they have to make the parts fit. If the Spurs can start three guards and survive behind Wembanyama, Portland at least has a model for how to make its own unusual roster shape work.
In Other News...
Blazers Just Opened A Roster Question At Forward
The Blazers have opened up another roster spot at forward by requesting waivers on Jeremy Sochan, who arrived on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract. If he clears waivers, Sochan would move on as an unrestricted free agent, leaving Portland to keep sorting through its frontcourt depth as the roster picture continues to settle.
Portland now sits at 17 players under contract, with 14 on standard deals and three on two-way contracts, so the move does more than just trim a camp body. It gives the front office a little more flexibility, but it also leaves the team with one fewer option on the wing and at forward as the Blazers continue shaping the group they want to carry forward. [Read more 🡒]
Ja Morant Is Already Raising One Big Blazers Question
The early returns on Ja Morant have given the Trail Blazers something they have not always had in recent seasons: a clear sense that a major swing might actually move the rebuild forward. Portland gave up Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to get him, and even in the preseason there have been signs that Morant can sharpen both ends of the floor in ways that fit the roster around him. For a team that has spent plenty of time trying to find the right star-level fit, that matters.
What makes this move especially notable is how closely it ties to Joe Cronins bigger track record. The Blazers general manager has already shown a willingness to make bold trades, and those decisions have helped raise the ceiling of the rebuild before. With Morant now in the mix, the bigger question is no longer whether Portland can add talent, but how far this version of the roster can go once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Make Late Roster Decision After Jeremy Sochan Push
The Blazers have moved on from Jeremy Sochan after a brief preseason stretch that gave Portland a look at the veteran forward before the roster started to tighten. Sochan had been on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal, making him one of the more movable pieces in camp as the team sorted through its late decisions.
Sochan did get into several preseason games for Portland, but the split between opportunity and security was always part of the equation with a non-guaranteed contract. He arrives with real league experience, a championship from his time with the New York Knicks and a career line of 9.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, leaving the Blazers to keep refining the roster picture around the margins. [Read more 🡒]