I think the picture of Damian Lillard is appropriate for this since he is about all they have left from the 51 win season of last year. Gone are starters LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Wes Matthews and Robin Lopez. Wow. Replacing them are miscellaneous players the front office has been able to gather up. Lillard will anchor the point guard spot and with all the departures I think he can increase his scoring output. After that it gets shaky. CJ McCollum has the edge over new guy Gerald Henderson at shooting guard. McCollum actually has upside but isn't the shooter that Matthews was. Keeping that theme, we'll see Al Farouq-Aminu and Alan Crabbe compete for minutes at the small forward sort. Neither is proven and will be hard pressed to fill Batum's shoes. At power forward Ed Davis looks to be the guy and I think he can develop into a nice player but I'm not sure how effective a scorer he'll become. Mason Plumlee, Myers Leonard and Chris Kaman will be the centers. Again many questions at a position that will have to be answered once the season starts. I hope Plumlee can be the guy many think he will. We haven't seen it yet but who knows what can happen once he is actually starting. Way too many question marks to make me think this team is a playoff contender. I am thinking 35 wins. I sure hope I am wrong but only time will tell.
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