Blazers upgrade over off-season

After the Portland Trail Blazers slumped to a 33-49 record last season, it’s no surprise that many observers are holding higher expectations for the new year.

The Blazers did finish the preseason with a 5-2 record, winning their last five games, although Portland lost its first regular season game Wednesday to the Phoenix Suns 104-91. Damian Lillard (Pictured) had game-high 32 points and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 28. No one else significantly contributed in scoring but Nicolas Batum added 13 rebounds in the away game.

Nevertheless, based on what I’ve seen during the off-season and preseason, I’m excited for what’s in store for 2013-14 season.

Portland has upgraded its bench since last season and added a lot of depth. New players Thomas Robinson, Mo Williams, Dorell Wright and Robin Lopez will contribute significantly, compared to last season’s bench that included Luke Babbit, Nolan Smith and Sasha Pavlovic.

None of those players had a future in Portland, and now Babbitt and Smith are playing overseas.

Having veteran point guard Williams come off the bench this year should be a big boost to the bench, which was dead last in the league last season in scoring 18.5 points per game.

(By comparison, the Dallas Mavericks bench averaged the most points per game last season, scoring an average of 41.5.)

In 10 years, Williams has an NBA scoring average of 13 points per game. In his best season, he averaged 17 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers, playing with LeBron James on the 2008-09 team that finished a league-best 66-16.

Losing free agent J.J. Hickson this summer to the Denver Nuggets was a blow, since he was a big piece of the Blazer offense last season, averaging a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards a game.

Former New Orleans center Robin Lopez is taking over the center position and he is a good fit. At 7 feet tall, he is an ideally sized center and is expected to make his presence felt on defense.

I was surprised at how well Lopez played this preseason. In seven games, he averaged nine points and nine rebounds.

Besides a weak bench, the Blazers’ main weaknesses last season were poor defense and inconsistency.

There was much talk this summer that Lillard, reigning NBA rookie of the year, was working tremendously hard to improve his defense.

In Portland’s last warm-up game against the Golden State Warriors, Lillard held All-Star snub Stephen Curry to 17 points and only 31 percent shooting from the field. Lillard scored 21 points and shot 43 percent from the field that night.

If all goes well, other Blazers will pick up their “D” as well.

Not all the preseason news has been good, however.

In the June NBA draft, Portland selected Lehigh combo guard C.J. McCollum. McCollum averaged 23 points his senior year before breaking his left foot in January. He was among the nation’s leading scorers before his season was cut short.

During the Blazers’ training camp, McCollum suffered the same bone fracture in the same foot during a fluke accident. He is out indefinitely, and will miss at least the first six weeks of the season.

Second-year big man Meyers Leonard, drafted five spots behind Lillard in the 2012 draft, has struggled to improve.

Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said that backup center Joel Freeland will move up on the depth chart, bumping Leonard down to third string.

Leonard, only 21, has great potential at 7 foot, 1 inch, but remains inconsistent. His raw, subpar defense has been exposed again this preseason and in summer league play in July.

Ultimately, Portland should be able to battle for the seventh or eighth playoff seed in the loaded Western Conference.

Led by two-time All-Star Aldridge, Lillard, and veterans Batum and Wesley Matthews, it will be interesting to see how well the Blazers can do.

If the parts come together, and players stay healthy, Portland could be playing postseason ball for the first time since April 2011.