Blazers Efficiency Trending Down Recently

Dec 2, 2022 - 7:55 PM

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The Portland Trail Blazers have been struggling as of late.

Over the past 10 games, the Blazers are 2-8 and have fallen back to .500 after a 9-3 start. A lot of the struggles can be pointed to Damian Lillard’s injury, which has altered both the offense and defense in Portland.

Kirk Goldsberry posted his most recent Efficiency Landscape, a graph that tracks every team’s efficiency on offense and defense. The Blazers’ placement on the graph doesn’t look very good.

The Blazers are placed all the way down on the vertical axis, which symbolizes poor defense. The team is also placed just on the left of the center, symbolizing an average offense but not good enough to win many games.

The team is also placed in “Wembyland,” which could signify tanking teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and Charlotte Hornets, but the Blazers are not in a position to tank.

It’s definitely an alarming sign for the Blazers to be in the same conversation as some of the worst teams in the league, but once Lillard and Gary Payton II return, there’s hope that the offense and defense will move further up the Efficiency Landscape.