The Portland Trail Blazers have forged an identity as a defensive-minded, scrappy young team. That emphasis on defense, length and switchability helped the Blazers finish the second half of last season strong, improving their year-end win total by 15. Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Blazers are hoping that improved defense takes another leap and carries the franchise to its first postseason berth since 2021.
That topic of defense is the focal point of today’s community discussion question:
Where
will the Blazers’ defense finish the 2025-26 season?
Last season, the Blazers finished as the 16th-best defense in the league with a defensive rating of 113.7 over 82 games. However, that league-average finish was split by two wildly different halves. Over the first 41 games, the Blazers posted the NBA’s third-worst defense with a defensive rating of 117.5. Then over the final 41 games, Portland’s defense soared to the NBA’s third-best with a defensive rating of 110.0. Today’s question really comes down to how sustainable and “for real” you view that second-half defensive performance.
The Blazers have several factors that lend to the glass-half-full side of that argument: Toumani Camara is back after earning NBA All-Defensive Second-Team honors in just his second season; Elite paint protector Donovan Clingan will step into a larger role after a solid rookie campaign; defensive great Jrue Holiday is now on the roster; and defensive specialist Matisse Thybulle is healthy after missing most of last season.
Can those factors help the Blazers finish next season with a top-10 defense? Do you think a top-five defense is possible for 82 games? Or do you see another league-average defensive finish, just maybe with less dramatic swings along the way? (Or, sure to be an unpopular thought, do you even see regression coming Portland’s way?)
What do you think? Call your shot in the comments below!
