NBA: 5 Middle-of-the-pack teams facing the most pressure in 2022-23

Immanuel Quickley (Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports)
Immanuel Quickley (Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports)
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Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers Jusuf Nurkic (Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports)

Portland Trail Blazers

Dating back to the NBA Trade Deadline last season, the Portland Trail Blazers elected to retool around Damian Lillard – along with showing their loyalty to him with a hefty new contract extension. Heading into this season, it will be time to prove that the front office was right in trading CJ McCollum and then acquiring Jerami Grant via trade.

Considering all that, the Blazers may be a team that’s difficult to judge. In the deep Western Conference, there’s a strong chance that this team doesn’t even make the playoffs. That’s not acceptable, though.

The Blazers sold Lillard on a retooling of the roster that was going to put them in a good position to compete in the West. Right now, they are not that. They still have some time to continue to retool this roster, but this offseason has left much to be desired from a Portland point of view.