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Portland Trail Blazers: 5 (not so) bold season predictions

By Ryan Gaskin

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 16: The Portland Trail Blazers hugddle up during a pre-season game against the Utah Jazz on October 16, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 16: The Portland Trail Blazers hugddle up during a pre-season game against the Utah Jazz on October 16, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /

2. 50+ wins, but no home-court advantage

I promise No. 1 will be a positive one! But hey, this one isn’t overly negative.

The Portland Trail Blazers will win 50+ games once again (and hit their over for the millionth time in a row, Vegas), but I don’t see them getting home-court advantage. If that isn’t a testament to how deep the West is right now, I’m not sure what is. Perhaps the fact that James Harden will probably average 40, with Russell Westbrook as his running mate, and Houston could potentially do the same.

The Denver Nuggets are my prediction for the No. 1 seed. That roster is young and deep, they won’t take many games off. They didn’t make too many additions from last year, but Gary Harris missed a lot of time, and Michael Porter Jr will finally grace the court. Add in Nikola Jokic, who will (in my opinion) have an MVP calibre year, and the Nuggets look a decent bet to win a lot of games.

Then comes LA. Both of them. Say what you want about load management, Paul George not being healthy, whatever, the Lakers and the Clippers are winning a lot of basketball games this year. Both have two top 10 players, and the Lakers potentially have two in the top 5. Both teams have deep rosters, and both are gunning for the championship. They’ll want to make a statement in the regular season.

The Blazers right now, are probably in the next tier down, although these ‘tiers’ are extremely close. I think Portland will be packed up with the Rockets and the Jazz, and fall a game or two short of the Jazz at least. They’ll be tight with the Rockets, it’ll go down to the wire. The Blazers front-court is currently very thin, and I believe that will hurt them until Nurk returns. Portland also added a lot of new faces, and whilst I’m aware Houston and Utah did the same, Westbrook and Mike Conley will take less time to settle then the Blazers additions — these guys are stars.

The Blazers year depends on Nurkic’s availability a whole lot. 50+ wins again will definitely mean a successful year, especially in this conference. I think it’ll be important to stay clear of the Lakers in the playoff bracket, as right now I’m not seeing many ways of stopping a tandem of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But Portland won’t fall off or get lost in this conference — Dame and CJ remains one of the best backcourts in the league, and they have us set for another season full of wins.