Even with four rookies seeing playing time last season, youth never appeared to be a detriment for the Portland Trail Blazers.
They won 54 games — the most they had recorded in nine years. The Blazers snapped a six-year playoff drought, and competed for the division title until the final few days of the regular season.
But to stay at that level, coach Nate McMillan believes they will need to add experienced players.
"We were fortunate to win some games and do some things last year,"
McMillan said on Tuesday. "I think for us to stay at that level and continue to win and get to the playoffs and win in the playoffs, we’re gonna need to add that to it. Our IQ has got to get higher."
So does that mean it’s unlikely the Blazers will use many of their five picks in next week’s NBA Draft?
Well, don’t leap to any conclusions just yet.
Because while McMillan and Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard acknowledge the value of experience, they quickly steer away from the subject when the questions become tied to their draft plans.
The Blazers, after all, have four open roster spots to fill for next season. And their most talented acquisitions in recent years have come through the draft. Only one starter on last year’s team was acquired through free agency, and nine of the 15 players on the roster were acquired through the draft in the last four years.
So when questions started being asked on Tuesday about playing the draft conservatively in order to start allowing the team to mature, Pritchard and McMillan turned the question around.
As important as experience is, they argued, talent is even more valuable. And the draft has been the gold mine at the center of the team’s resurgence.
"If they’re good, who cares what age they are?"
Pritchard said. "And there are always sleepers in the draft. We always feel that in the 20s you can get a guy that can help you. Nicolas (Batum) came in last year and helped us and gave us a boost that we needed and allowed us to win 54 (games). Rudy (Fernandez) the year before, Sergio (Rodriguez) the year before. I’m not opposed to drafting if it’s the right guy."
And youth hasn’t slowed Portland’s ascension in the last two years. The 2007-08 team was the youngest in franchise history at the time, yet it still won 41 games, ending a streak of four consecutive losing seasons. And after talking about the need to grow older and more mature last summer, the Blazers added four rookies to the roster and fielded the league’s second-youngest team.
The result: A 54-win season and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
To continue in that direction, though, McMillan still believes that the Blazers will have to add experience through a trade or free-agent signing. They’ll need players who have been to the playoffs and competed in meaningful situations to take an additional step forward in their competitiveness.
But the sense of urgency that Pritchard and McMillan expressed with regard to maturing the team last summer has lessened, and Pritchard said it is because the current players have already gained some of the experience for which they have been searching. Brandon Roy is a two-time All-Star. LaMarcus Aldridge is closing in on that same level. Joel Przybilla and Steve Blake will each have more than five years of experience next season, and the younger players have gained playoff experience.
So if the best talent is also a young player, Pritchard said, he won’t hesitate to pluck him in the draft.
Even if it means making the team younger yet again.
"Nate talks about bringing in vets, and I understand that,"
Pritchard said. "For me personally, it’s about bringing in the right people. With Brandon and LaMarcus, Joel, Blake, they bring us veteran leadership now. It’s not so critical that we have that guy that’s a veteran leader."
