7. Portland Trail Blazers (46-27)
With less than 10 games remaining in the season, the Portland Trail Blazers are looking at another top 4 finish in the Western Conference. Whether they can perform better in the playoffs than they did last season remains to be seen, though.
The hope is that C.J. McCollum will return from injury in time for the first round of the playoffs. He has returned to practice, but has not returned to game action.
When healthy, there’s no question that the Blazers have the firepower to compete with any team in the Western Conference. Whether they have enough to pull off series wins in an entirely different question, though, as we saw in the playoffs last season.