Portland Trail Blazers have plenty to prove when the season resumes
When the NBA returns, it is going to be a mad scramble with a limited regular season and a full postseason for the fans to enjoy. One team that has plenty to prove when the season returns are the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland is currently three games behind the Memphis Grizzlies which would put them in the possible play-in tournament scenario. Being the ninth seed, they need to stay within three games of the Grizzlies to force a play-in opportunity.
The Blazers voted against the 22-team format, preferring for the NBA bubble to have only 20 teams. Many suggested this was to help their chances to make the playoffs by lowering the amount of competition left in the “bubble” format.
The Portland Trail Blazers and a potential playoff run
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Assuming safety, for a team that was in the Western Conference Finals the Blazers sound awfully like a team that is willing to forfeit a shot at making another run to (and in) the playoffs.
As far as their on-court play, there are plenty of questions about the Blazers. Many have been quick to recognize Carmelo Anthony as “back,” but he only accounted for 22 wins on the season, while being on the floor for the team’s 28 losses. The verdict is still out on his impact. Damian Lillard has missed eight games and Jusuf Nurkic was still absent from the lineup all year long.
The absence of Jusuf Nurkic would be huge if they had not replaced him with Hassan Whiteside last offseason. Even though Whiteside has some issues as a player, he has served a reasonable replacement to Nurkic.
With the Blazers, Whiteside has averaged 16 points, 14 rebounds, and a league-leading three blocks per game. He’s also second in the league in rebounding. With him in the rotation, the Blazers went 29-32 on the season. In the five games he did not play, the Blazers dropped all of them.
One net positive for Portland has been almost career highs in all major stats by CJ McCollum. A major negative has been injuries that have left them without Rodney Hood for most of the season and Zach Collins for almost all of the season.
Has Portland faced a lot of struggles this season? Yes, absolutely. Every NBA team has problems each season; the New Orleans Pelicans are right behind them in the playoff hunt and they lost Anthony Davis in the offseason and Zion Williamson has only played 19 games this year. Nurkic will be back for the Blazers when the season restarts, so they will have two above-average bigs to use. It could give them an edge against the competition.
But the Blazers will have to prove it on the court when the season resumes. Nobody is going to expect the Trail Blazers to be a contender when the season starts back up. Portland will need to prove that they can recover from the rough start to the season, proving that they are indeed capable and legit when the season resumes.