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Blazers' Deni Avdija Is Making Portland's Biggest Offseason Fear Look Foolish
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- Blazers' Deni Avdija Is Making Portland's Biggest Offseason Fear Look Foolish
(Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images)
Something had to give when the Portland Trail Blazers added Ja Morant and brought back Damian Lillard. At least, that was the concern after Deni Avdija spent last season becoming an All-Star with the basketball in his hands.
Seven games in, something has given ...
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Just not Avdija's scoring or shot attempts. It's his turnovers.
After averaging 24.2 points and 6.7 assists en route to his first All-Star appearance last season, Avdija had earned the freedom to run Portland's offense.
But with Morant arriving and Lillard returning, there were only so many possessions to go around.
The concern was that Avdija would have to surrender some of those opportunities. Instead, his early numbers suggest Portland may have found a way to preserve his production without asking him to do quite as much.
Through seven games, Avdija is averaging 23.4 points on more than 16 field-goal attempts per game, nearly identical to last season's 24.2 points on 16.1 attempts. His field-goal percentage has climbed from 46.2% to 47.8%.
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His turnovers, meanwhile, have fallen from 3.8 to 2.3 per game.
Now, that doesn't mean everything has improved. Avdija's assists have declined slightly from 6.7 to 6.4, and his true shooting percentage is actually down.
But maintaining nearly identical scoring production while giving the ball away considerably less often is worth examining.
And according to The Athletic's Jason Quick, the change in Avdija's offensive responsibilities was part of the plan.
Avdija approached newly hired coach Micah Nori shortly after Portland acquired Morant, wondering how he'd fit alongside two accomplished guards.
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Nori's solution involved using the defensive attention drawn by Portland's backcourt to create more favorable opportunities for Avdija.
Instead of repeatedly asking him to attack a set defense, Portland could get him the ball after defenders had already been forced to react.
Lillard wasn't interested in watching Avdija become a spectator, either.
"I want you to be the horse," Lillard recalled telling him.
And while Portland has barely begun exploring what its complete backcourt can accomplish, the conversation surrounding Avdija is already taking an interesting turn ...
In his November 4 NBA power rankings , SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell ranked Portland eighth and offered an assessment of its All-Star forward.
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"Deni Avdija is killing it, and at this point has to be considered one of the game's best forwards," O'Donnell wrote.
One writer's opinion doesn't establish Avdija's place among the NBA's elite. But it does offer a glimpse at how the discussion is evolving.
Just a few months ago, the question was whether Avdija could maintain his production alongside Portland's new stars. Now, at least one national writer is raising the possibility that he belongs among the league's best at his position.
And he's generating that kind of discussion without needing a dramatic statistical leap.
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Of course, Morant's hamstring injury leaves one enormous question unanswered. Nori hasn't had nearly enough time with his complete backcourt to prove this arrangement can work over an entire season.
Eventually, Morant will return. The possessions will become harder to divide, and Avdija may not have quite as much freedom as he's enjoyed through Portland's first six games.
But the Blazers shouldn't be trying to turn Avdija into a lesser version of the player who carried them last season. They should be finding ways to make his job easier without taking away what made him so effective.
And that's what makes the early returns so intriguing ...
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Portland spent the summer facing questions about everything Morant and Lillard might take away from Avdija.
If Nori gets this right, the most important thing they take away might be the burden of having to do it all himself.
