The Portland Trail Blazers are the only West playoff team heading in the wrong direction.
Looking at the playoff standings in the Western Conference, there’s reason to believe that we could be in for the best NBA postseason that we’ve seen in years. The conference is filled with teams with budding stars, young squads that will get another (or a first) opportunity to make some noise, or established contenders. Then, there’s the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Utah Jazz is a young team with a budding superstar that is getting a first real shot at making a deep playoff run. The Phoenix Suns are another young team that has broken into contender status this season and is still getting better as a unit.
The LA Clippers are an established contender that is likely the best version of itself thus far in their current reincarnation. The Denver Nuggets are still getting better as a young team, even without Jamal Murray. They’ll still be a problem with the ever-improving Nikola Jokic.
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The Los Angeles Lakers are the defending champs and have the two best players in the conference. The Dallas Mavericks have one of the league’s most dynamic and talented young players in the game. The Memphis Grizzlies are one of the bright young teams in the league and are just scratching the surface on what they can ultimately be as a unit.
The Portland Trail Blazers’ ceiling is limited
The Blazers are, well, as far as Damian Lillard can take them. Portland is also a team whose core may have already hit its ceiling after making it to the Western Conference Finals a few seasons ago.
In fact, you can make the argument that the Blazers are the only team projected to make the playoffs in the West that is – in the grand scheme of where the franchise stands – trending in the wrong direction.
Yahoo’s Chris Haynes argues that it’s time for the Blazers to make a big move for another superstar. Considering how loyal Lillard has been during his time with the Blazers, he’s 100 percent in the right.
The Blazers have done well by adding CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic alongside Lillard, but, especially looking around the rest of the West, that’s clearly not enough. And Lillard hasn’t thrown any fits at all. He hasn’t asked to be traded and hasn’t publically put pressure on the organization.
Portland is the only team projected to make the West playoffs this season that might’ve already hit its peak as a unit. And considering that the rest of the conference is only going to improve, something has to be done in Portland to significantly improve the roster if they want to maximize Lillard’s prime.
The Blazers are likely looking at another early playoff exit this postseason. And it should make for an interesting offseason in Portland.