NBA Power Rankings: Overwhelming Boston Celtics look to repeat as training camps open

28. Portland Trail Blazers

To say that year one in the post-Damian Lillard era didn’t go exactly as planned for the Portland Trail Blazers would be an understatement. Specifically, it wasn't ideal that Scoot Henderson didn’t show much promise during his rookie season and it was unfortunate that Shaedon Sharpe missed the majority of the season due to injury. Nevertheless, heading into the new season, Portland is a team worth keeping an eye on. If this young core can take a pretty sizable step forward this season, this is a team that has enough talent on its roster to make some noise toward the bottom of the Play-In Tournament race in the West.

They may not be ready to make the leap toward a top 8 team in the West but perhaps they could have enough talent to fight for a 9th or 10th spot. One other big question aside from their young core heading into the season revolves around head coach Chauncy Billups.

In what may be his final season under contract, Billups will have to prove that he is indeed the coach that could lead this franchise into a new era. Right now, I'm not sure if anyone in the front office is sure of that.