NBA Pretenders or Contenders: Portland Trail Blazers
ORTG: 114.4 (6th)
DRTG: 115.4 (28th)
NetRTG: -1.0 (16th)
At the moment, the Portland Trail Blazers are simply trying to survive without C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic in the lineup. It seems that this team can never avoid the injury bug in the regular season, but the hope is that this team will be healthy by the time the playoffs swing around.
If so, if the Blazers can avoid one of the bottom two or three seeds, they can be a real problem in a potential first or second-round series. With two of the best backcourt scorers in the league, along with impressive depth when healthy, it’s no surprise that the Blazers are a handful to deal with in a seven-game series.
That said, even with a healthy arsenal of weapons at their disposal, I’m not sure the Blazers have the top-level talent that it’s going to take to dethrone the defending champs, or even beat the upstart Utah Jazz or LA Clippers.
Verdict: Pretenders