During halftime of a third straight Portland Trail Blazers defeat on Thursday, when Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac was outplaying Hassan Whiteside, “Inside the NBA” analysts Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley lit into Portland’s biggest offseason acquisition for his lethargic approach to the game.

“He’s playing with no effort,” O’Neal said of Whiteside.

After a lengthy discussion of whether Whiteside’s history of maddening lack of performance has more to do with effort or know-how, Kenny Smith asked, “Do you think he knows what his strengths are.”

“Yeah,” countered Barkley, “going to the bank twice a month. That’s his strength. ... Stealing money.”

Asked about the exchange after the loss, Whiteside told reporters, “Man, I expect Shaq to diss. [Damian Lillard] killed him in a rap battle. We ain’t going to hearing anything positive from Shaq ever again.”

It says something about Whiteside that he thinks their remarks are rooted in a rap battle, especially after the Miami Heat’s Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra levied similar criticisms for years without laying down bars about Dame Dolla, but it does not tell the whole story of why the Blazers are struggling out of the gate.

Portland practically revamped its entire roster around star guards Lillard and C.J. McCollum after making a run to the Western Conference finals grounded in continuity and chemistry, and through eight games the returns have been lackluster at best. The Blazers traded Mo Harkless and Meyers Leonard in the deal to land Whiteside, trying to stem the tide until center Jusuf Nurkic returns from a broken leg, and then let free agent Al-Farouq Aminu walk in favor of stopgaps Anthony Tolliver and Mario Hezonja.

They replaced three guys who have all played together since 2015 with a trio of players Lillard and McCollum have yet to fully trust. The shoulder injury to promising stretch big Zach Collins has not helped matters, and the swap of Evan Turner for Kent Bazemore might also have altered the chemistry.

The result has been an even heavier reliance on their backcourt. It is one thing to count on Lillard and McCollum to carry the offense and another to depend on them for everything. They are finishing almost 40 percent more possessions than last year in isolation or as the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll. That is not always the worst thing. Lillard has been ludicrously good, averaging 30 points on 48/39/88 splits as maybe the league’s best pick-and-roll player, but McCollum has been far less efficient working off picks. Whiteside has actually been fairly effective as a finisher, but he is more interested in his roll than a pick.

Hassan Whiteside is catching plenty of blame for Portland's poor start. (Abbie Parr/Getty Images) More

Life is more difficult for them in an offense that features nobody else capable of creating offense and only Rodney Hood as a safety valve on the 3-point line (48 percent on four attempts per game). As a result, the Blazers rank dead last in assists per 100 possessions and percentage of field goals assisted.

Turner was helpful from a playmaking perspective, as was Nurkic, whose willingness to share created five potential assists per game last season, according to Second Spectrum’s tracking data. Whiteside is practically non-existent in that regard, often refusing to pass when engulfed by defenders in the paint. (This is to say nothing of his lack of force on the interior and penchant for difficult 7-foot bunnies.)

Leonard and free-agency departure Seth Curry shot a combined 45 percent on five 3-point attempts per game last season. Harkless and Aminu were streaky at best, but they were somewhat respected from distance by both friend and foe. Collins was supposed to fill some of this void. Instead, Bazemore, Hezonja and Tolliver have shown little early on to deserve the same looks, shooting 22-of-70 from deep on a team that ranks last in spot-up shooting opportunities and second to last in spot-up effectiveness.