Portland Trail Blazers
Record: 19-26
There weren’t high expectations for the Portland Trail Blazers entering this season, and who can blame them? They lost four starters from last year’s team (Robin Lopez, Wes Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge) and no one really gave them a shot in the Western Conference.
Partly because it’s in a down year, the Blazers are actually very much in contention for the 8th seed. They’ll have to battle the Utah Jazz through the rest of the year in order to get it, but you can’t ask for much more.
After what the Blazers lost this past summer, even just making the playoffs would be considered a successful year.
Grade: C+
Next: Sacramento Kings