Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups Reveals Biggest Issue Portland Continues to Face

The club's tank is now on in earnest.

Dec 19, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups reacts to a call during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images / Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Following a 114-94 road obliteration at the hands of All-Defensive First Team center Victor Wembanyama on Saturday night (their second encounter in as many weeks), Portland Trail Blazers head coach unpacked his club's biggest weakness in the game — and, just, at all.

“We obviously had a tough time scoring in the game,” Billups said, according to The Oregonian's Aaron J. Fentress.

With San Antonio up just 41-39 and 4:10 remaining in the contest's opening half, starting Portland center Deandre Ayton tied things up by completing an alley-oop dime from starting point guard Anfernee Simons.

“And then boom, they had 15 points in that little span to open the game up a little bit,” Billups said.

Off an unyielding series of Trail Blazers turnovers, the Spurs went 19-5 to close out the second quarter, heading into the break up 60-44. The game was never particularly close again. San Antonio led by as many as 26 points in the contest's second half, before closing out with a 20-point winning margin.

Wembanyama recorded a 30-point, 10-block double-double, while also chipping in seven rebounds, three assists, and a game-high +23 plus-minus. Ayton finished with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor and eight rebounds, Simons recorded 18 on 7-of-22 shooting from the floor and 1-of-1 shooting from the foul line, and shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe notched 25 points while connecting on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor.

As Fentress notes, the 9-20 Trail Blazers have already dropped seven games this year by 20 points or more.

The team is looking to tank and hit the draft lottery for the fourth straight season. Its last three picks — center Donovan Clingan (the No. 7 pick last summer), point guard Scoot Henderson (the No. 3 pick in 2023), and shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe (the No. 7 pick in 2022) — form the club's planned core triumvirate for its next phase. Of the triumvirate, Sharpe seems the most likely to blossom into All-Stardom at some point.

But freshman Duke power forward Cooper Flagg, Rutgers wings Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, BYU point guard Egor Demin and Texas shooting guard Tre Johnson are the prized prospects atop next summer's well-regarded crop. Any one of them could help shore up Portland's depth moving into the future. And most could help boost the club's scoring woes.

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