The Portland Trail Blazers' past two offseason trades for Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara have played a crucial role in their surprising season. Bringing these two-way wings into the mix was exactly what Portland needed and has allowed them to develop a defensive identity in their rebuild, which should eventually translate to postseason success.
However, for as good as Avdija and Camara have been, the Blazers are still a middle-of-the-pack defensive team. Portland ranks 21st in defensive rating and 18th in points allowed.
This is because opposing teams simply implement what Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla fittingly refers to as the 'Killer Whale' offensive strategy. It's a unique reference to how killer whales attack as a unit, hunting seals. The seals, in a basketball context, are the defensive liabilities.
Blazers should consider 'Killer Whale' strategy when building their roster
Jaylen Brown discussed Mazulla's offensive strategy and several other interesting topics on "Hot Ones."
"One of the things he's coined is that we call our offense the 'Killer Whale' offense," Brown said. "We attack seals because killer whales, how they hunt seals. We study how killer whales attack as a unit. And we kinda built our offense off [that]."
The offense identifies and attacks these weak links, whether through isolation plays or forcing them into unfavorable matchups. That creates chaos and causes the defense to scramble because they are forced to help.
Unsurprisingly, the two teams most likely to win the Finals -- the Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder -- have successfully constructed rosters with very few, if any, defensive weak links. Teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks are threats to come out of the Eastern Conference, but they will always have to overcome the issue of teams hunting their seals in Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson, and even Karl-Anthony Towns.
Portland must trade Anfernee Simons to solidify defensive identity
Defensively, the Blazers' seal would primarily be Anfernee Simons, an undersized guard at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds. Simons has had the worst defensive rating in all seven seasons he's been on the team.
Blazers GM Joe Cronin is building a defensive identity with the recent trades for Avdija and Camara, as well as the selection of Donvan Clingan. They now have the tallest average roster in the NBA. Over the past two years, they have built an excellent foundation that will hopefully become an elite defense.
But in today's NBA, a team's defensive ceiling is only as high as its weakest link. Portland can never become an elite defense as long as Simons is still part of the equation.
This summer, the Blazers need to get rid of their seal.