Portland Trail Blazers Roundtable: Midseason Review

Will the Blazers Make the Playoffs?

Ashlin: Absolutely. The Western Conference is loaded, but the Blazers are clearly a top eight team. The Rockets have looked severely weaker and need James Harden to score over 40 points to win. The Lakers are still adjusting to playing together. The Timberwolves lack a superstar. Donovan Mitchell is going through a sophomore slump for the Jazz.

If everything goes right, the Blazers could realistically grab a top 4 seed. However, I think they will land somewhere in the 5 to 7 range.

Patrick: It’s so tough to say! The Western Conference standings are an absolute bloodbath, one win or loss could send you flying all around. But hey, why not, I’ll say they make it.

While teams like the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets should realign back towards their preseason expectation, others like the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, and/or Sacramento Kings should too. Portland should remain hovering around the 5-8 range while all the madness happens around them. They are a good team who has every right to play postseason basketball. The real question is whether they are a great team who has any chance of winning when that time comes around.

Gutbrod: The Blazers making the playoffs was never in doubt in my opinion. Damian Lillard is a top 10 to 15 player in the NBA and as long as he’s healthy the Blazers will remain a playoff team. The question really is what kind of playoff team will the Blazers be? Without a move to balance out the lineup, it may be more of the same for Portland once the postseason rolls around. With a solid forward acquisition, and how strong Nurkic has played of late, the Blazers may improve enough to really make some noise.

Moore: Yes. Prior to the season, however, I thought otherwise, predicting that Portland would finish 43-39 “with a playoff berth unlikely.” I’ve changed my mind. Curry is better than I expected, and if Nurkic continues to play like a true Bosnian Beast, I think a playoff berth is a near certainty. Portland (23-17) must go 20-22 the rest of the way to get to 43 wins. My hope is they perform much better than that and surpass my admittedly pessimistic preseason prognostication.

Piper: Yes. Won’t be a 3 seed this year, but they’ll get in.