With the departure of Damian Lillard, we must now find a replacement and appoint a new leader in Portland. It’s as if there was a small announcement written on a sheet of paper, hanging on the wall in the Blazers locker room. It would be written in the words of GM Joe Cronin.
“Come and take it”announces the latter for The Athleticreferring to the vacant role of leader. “We have a lot of players capable, or talented enough, to be the man for the job. The question is who will emerge from this situation, not only in the game but in terms of leadership. You will have to be patient. »
There are many candidates. We obviously think of the talented rookie Scoot Henderson, but also of Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant, already established in Portland, without forgetting the newcomer, Deandre Ayton.
A pay-per-view leader who changes every match?
The latter, impatient to show himself in Oregon in “ DominAyton »with his CV and his experience with the Suns, is he not the ideal candidate?
“We didn’t bring in Ayton to become Joel Embiid, to give him thirty shots per game and ask him to be MVP,” calm down Chauncey Billups immediately. “That will not be his role. Although nevertheless, he will have a broader role than in Phoenix. Once again, we have a lot of young people who can answer that. This will take time. »
Isn’t it worrying not to have a natural leader, like Damian Lillard was, before the start of the season? Doesn’t this race for the throne risk shaking up the group, each wanting to take the crown from the other?
“I think it’s positive,” replies the coach. “We have many players who will want to prove things and assert themselves in the league. It’s up to me and my staff to manage all that and make sure that we don’t have a player who wants to shoot 30 times per game. It’s not going to happen like that. We will undoubtedly have a situation where different players will, night after night, take control. I see a good thing in this: we become less predictable. In those moments, the ball moves and everyone is involved. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Damian Lillard | 58 | 36.3 | 46.3 | 37.1 | 91.4 | 0.8 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 7.3 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 32.2 |
| Anfernee Simons | 62 | 35.0 | 44.7 | 37.7 | 89.4 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 21.1 |
| Jeremy Grant | 63 | 35.6 | 47.5 | 40.1 | 81.3 | 0.8 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 20.5 |
| Skylar Mays | 6 | 31.5 | 50.0 | 46.2 | 92.3 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 8.3 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 15.3 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | 52 | 26.8 | 51.9 | 36.1 | 66.1 | 2.2 | 6.9 | 9.1 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 13.3 |
| Cam Reddish | 20 | 27.6 | 44.3 | 31.8 | 83.3 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 11.0 |
| Nate Williams, Jr. | 5 | 25.3 | 61.5 | 37.5 | 66.7 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 10.6 |
| Shaedon Sharpe | 80 | 22.2 | 47.2 | 36.0 | 71.4 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 9.9 |
| Josh Hart | 51 | 33.4 | 50.4 | 30.4 | 73.1 | 1.9 | 6.3 | 8.2 | 3.9 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 9.5 |
| Shaquille Harrison | 5 | 24.0 | 41.7 | 30.0 | 73.3 | 0.2 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 8.8 |
| Kevin Knox | 21 | 17.1 | 44.4 | 31.4 | 74.1 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 8.5 |
| Matisse Thybulle | 22 | 27.7 | 43.8 | 38.8 | 62.5 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 7.4 |
| Trendon Watford | 62 | 19.1 | 56.0 | 39.1 | 72.0 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 7.4 |
| Comanche Luck | 1 | 20.8 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 |
| Justise Winslow | 29 | 26.8 | 40.9 | 31.1 | 71.4 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 5.0 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 6.8 |
| Nassir Little | 54 | 18.1 | 44.2 | 36.7 | 71.7 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 6.6 |
| Drew Eubanks | 78 | 20.3 | 64.1 | 38.9 | 66.4 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 5.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 6.6 |
| Keon Johnson | 40 | 10.4 | 37.6 | 34.6 | 65.9 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 4.7 |
| Justin Minaya | 4 | 22.2 | 30.4 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 4.3 |
| Gary Payton II | 15 | 17.0 | 58.5 | 52.9 | 100.0 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 4.1 |
| Jabari Walker | 56 | 11.1 | 41.9 | 28.6 | 75.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 3.9 |
| Ryan Arcidiacono | 9 | 16.2 | 25.0 | 35.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 2.6 |
| John Butler | 19 | 11.6 | 32.1 | 22.9 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| Greg Brown III | 16 | 5.8 | 39.3 | 14.3 | 41.7 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.8 |
