Portland Trail Blazers
There may be renewed excitement surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers with the return to health of Damian Lillard, his contract extension, and the acquisition of Jerami Grant. But I’m still not sure that the Blazers are going to fully bounce back to relevance in the Western Conference.
There’s a scenario where the Blazers aren’t even a top 8 team in the West this season. And if that ends up being the case, there are some serious questions that the front office will need to answer. And it’s whether or not they are going to continue down this road with this core.
It may be in the best interest of the Blazers to trade Lillard but, at least so far, the franchise hasn’t shown the willingness to do so. Maybe that changes if the Blazers start the season off slow and quickly fall behind in the West standings.
Either way, the Blazers may be better off tanking for the next possible face of the franchise.