Wilkommen bei den Schatten » lets just say the league doesnt quite

At halftime in Brooklyn on Sunday, after the Blazers league-worst defense coughed up another 64 points to the lowly Nets, Meyers Leonard approached Damian Lillard with a plea: Maybe its time for you to talk one-on-one with some guys about their defense, Leonard told Portlands franchise player. Everyone respects what you say.Lillard considered it, but decided to stay quiet. The defensive issues -- Im a part of it, Lillard told ESPN.com the next day. (Leonard would admit he is, too.) I didnt want to go telling people, You need to do this or that. Enough talking has been done.Lillard eventually confronted Evan Turner, Portlands struggling free agent splurge, after Turner -- caught on a switch -- let Brook Lopez dribble from the 3-point arc all the way to the rim. That cant happen, Lillard told Turner. Beyond that scolding, Lillard shut his mouth and played harder.The Blazers, coming off a feel-good jaunt to the second round and a subsequent spending spree, are confident this sort of healthy team chemistry will see them through early malaise; theyre 8-8 with a ghastly point differential and a few discomfiting blowout losses. Lillard sets the tone with his work ethic, and he wields his influence with care. Get on teammates every day, and the words lose power.The players love Terry Stotts, because he is honest and respects their independence. They hang together off the floor; Leonard, Ed Davis, and Al-Farouq Aminu are part of a regular dinner gang, and they still follow Chris Kamans rule of stashing away their phones during meals.No one worried all the new money -- including $145 million combined to Turner and Allen Crabbe, both backups -- would fracture the locker room, even as Davis jokes that Portland was smart to get me on a cheap deal when they could. They insist they will not be the next version of the Goran Dragic-Eric Bledsoe Suns -- a plucky team that blew past projections, only to come undone the next season amid infighting and heavy expectations.We got no haters here, Lillard said. Guys are happy for each other.They also warned us all that spending would not necessarily translate into an immediate jump up from the NBAs middle class. We are probably not going to make the quantum leap the salaries might indicate, Stotts told me in July.Stotts never expected Portland to rank next to last in points allowed per possession heading into the quarter pole -- especially given the scheme and most of the personnel are the same. Its just disappointing, Stotts said. We should have picked up where we left off last season. We havent. Their stagnation has renewed doubts around the league that Paul Allen overpaid for gold-plated mediocrity.Portland still dips way back against the pick-and-roll, baiting opposing ball-handlers into midrange jumpers:If done right, that lone big man keeps the ball in front of him -- meaning all of Portlands other defenders can stick with outside shooters instead of darting inside to help. On some surface level, its working; only three teams have allowed fewer corner 3s, and opponents have hit just 55.9 percent of shots within the restricted area -- third-stingiest overall.But enemies are generating about four more shots per game at the rim this season, and shooting almost 50 percent from the swath of paint between the restricted area and the foul line -- the highest such mark in the league, per NBA.com.Opposing point guards see those Portland bigs dropping back, and they dont care -- especially if a screen wipes out Lillard, C.J. McCollum, or whatever Blazer is supposed to be on their hip:Davis, a stalwart last season, just hasnt been the same player. He packed on almost 20 pounds in the summer, but insists his increased weight - he has kept about a dozen of those extra pounds -- hasnt slowed him.Floaters are tough shots; that 50 percent mark will come down. But the floaters are easier this season. Portlands guards are falling too far behind, a chronic issue for Lillard and McCollum, and their big men are surrendering a long runway.Theres a big difference between a 14-foot floater and a 7-foot floater, Stotts told ESPN.com. Our guards have to pursue. Our bigs have to put doubt in the drivers mind.Allow any NBA player entry into the deep paint, and bad things happen -- including panicky help from the wrong places:The Blazers have spent more than a year mastering this conservative scheme, and they dont want to turn back. You ask yourself: Should we maybe try something different? Stotts said. But I think most coaches would say, Lets do what were supposed to be doing better before we go changing things.In that sense, its almost encouraging how cartoonishly bad the Blazers have been at almost every aspect of defense. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit to pluck. They are a confused train wreck in transition, even when everyone gets back; guys just run to the wrong spots and leave someone wide open.Its just a lack of communication, McCollum told ESPN.com.Opponents are straight toasting the Blazers one-on-one, and feasting on botched rotations that follow:Miscommunication is rampant. Well-meaning help-and-recover missions have ended in catastrophe:The Blazers should be above this nonsense. It carries the whiff of a team that thought it might be good enough to coast in some games.For the second straight season, Portland is fouling the hell out of everyone. Some hacks are the natural result of breakdowns higher in the chain; opponents slice through an opening, and the only way to stop them is to hit hard. The Blazers compound that by sticking their hands in the cookie jar at bad times. We just foul way too many jump-shooters, Stotts said.The Blazers are smallish, and theyll probably end up around league-average in defensive rebounding. Their cautious defensive system naturally yields few turnovers. Those weaknesses are baked into Portlands structure, and they give the Blazers a small margin for error with everything else. They just cant afford as many blips of miscommunication like this one between Turner and Leonard -- two guys still figuring each other out on bench units that are bleeding points:Were learning each other, Turner told ESPN.com. I have to trust the defense he calls out. Well get it down.Turner will be the scapegoat if Portland, now carrying the leagues third-highest payroll, ends up trapped in the middle. (He was almost as stunned as you by Portlands mega-offer, by the way, which turned out to be for four years and $70 million. Turners agent made him promise not to tell anyone about the proposal until he signed it. Turner was too giddy, though. He hung up with his agent, immediately called Andre Iguodala, still a close friend and mentor, and blurted out, Yo, Dre! They offered this! Turner recalled, laughing. Iguodala told him to take the deal right away.)He needs the ball to do his thing, and he has been a predictably awkward fit alongside two stars -- McCollum and Lillard -- who will always have it more than he does. When Lillard and McCollum run the show, Turner can be a liability -- a stationary non-shooter that defenses ignore to smother the lane:The Blazers know this, and theyve accommodating by building what amounts to a separate offense for him. Its heavy on scripted play calls and bare bones horns-style sets that start with both big men at the elbows:Those are pathways for Turner to catch the ball in one of his sweet spots. They unfold more slowly than Portlands typically flowing offense, with much less room for improvisation. The ball gets sticky.I direct things a lot more when Evans on the court, Stotts said. I think it helps him for now.Turner admits it has been hard fitting in. The consistency of it has been a challenge, he said. I have to adapt to how they play -- all that looping around like they do -- and they have to adapt to me.You occasionally see glimpses of how it might blend, with everyone flying around, and Turner leveraging inattention from defenses by catching the ball and plowing through a chasm:I think it will eventually evolve into something more like what you might identify as our style, Stotts said.It will take time. Portland will be fine on offense regardless; theyre 11th in points scored per possession. They were fine without Turner. There are reasonable ways to justify Portlands spending spree -- I dived into their long-term trajectory over the summer. But he was always going to be semi-redundant as a third ball-handler, even if McCollum and Lillard are dangerous off the ball, and you dont pay $70 million to fill the minutes when one of them hits the bench -- especially since those minutes shrink in the playoffs.Portlands issues on the other end might nag. Both Turner and Crabbe are miscast as wing stoppers. Theyre solid, but they dont scare anyone. Aminu and Maurice Harkless -- the latter looking way more dynamic on offense so far! -- are better, and earn combined about what Turner and Crabbe make solo.You just dont feel Portlands defense. They are like the anti-Bulls. Chicago has its flaws, but they are huge and mean. Play them, and you know youre gonna be hurting the next day.Portland is small and a little squishy on the perimeter, and the back line cant quite make up for it. Aminus return will stabilize the power forward slot, but the frontcourt rotation is murky despite a crowd of interesting names. It lacks a little oomph.Davis is still skinny. Mason Plumlee tilts that way, too, and hes a below-average defensive rebounder for his position. Festus Ezelis long-term health is (to be generous) uncertain. Leonard is probably a center, but the Blazers have rarely trusted him to anchor their defense; they usually pair him with Plumlee or Davis, and have those guys defend opposing power forwards -- a makeshift solution.Noah Vonleh is promising, and the Blazers have recently experimented with a Vonleh-Leonard partnership that makes some theoretical sense on offense; Vonleh can rampage to the rim while Leonard spots up for 3s. The team is understandably pessimistic they can hold up on defense.Portland looks ripe for a trade. Neil Olshey, the teams one-step-ahead GM, chased Hassan Whiteside in free agency, and has a well-documented fondness for old-school low-post brutes like Brook Lopez, Greg Monroe, Nikola Vucevic and others. (Its tempting to pitch a Crabbe/Lopez swap since the Nets lavished Crabbe with a massive offer sheet, but Brooklyn cannot acquire Crabbe until the offseason -- at least under current league rules.)Portland has long been my favorite Vucevic landing spot, though the Magic should probably just stop taking Olsheys calls after gifting him Harkless for nothing. Just about everyone is overstocked with centers. Portland might call Denver about Jusuf Nurkic, and it wouldnt stun me if they expressed some interest in Tyson Chandler -- even though Chandler is a decade older than some core Blazers, with two years left on a bloated contract. (Related: It still looks unlikely that the new collective bargaining deal will include an amnesty provision, though you never know what crazy stuff might happen in those addled final hours of negotiation.)Someone should be trying to steal Kosta Koufos from the Kings. As for another popular suggestion, lets just say the league doesnt quite know what to make of Nerlens Noel.The Blazers are in win-now mode with Lillard and McCollum in their primes, but its unclear how much they really have to trade. They have an extra first-round pick from the Cavs, and some need to offload a big contract in the face of what could be hilariously huge tax payments starting next season. Harkless and Aminu are valuable trade chips, but they are more valuable to the Blazers as players. Crabbe and Turner look untradable.Portland also has to decide whether any of those centers moves the needle. They are better rebounders than Plumlee, and beefier obstacles. Plodders tend to do well hanging back in Stotts scheme. Having another scoring fulcrum like Vucevic or Monroe on the block would help. The league has adjusted a bit to Portlands spin-cycle offense, and several players said they are finding it harder to get to some of their pet looks this season.But some of those guys are sieves on defense. None are as adep