Danny Green calls Portland Trail Blazers the biggest “threat” among potential No. 8 seeds

When discussing the Los Angeles Lakers’ potential Playoff opponents, Danny Green referred to the Portland Trail Blazers as the team they would most want to “lean away” from in the First Round.

Not that it necessarily needs any sophisticated analysis, but … this year’s version of the Portland Trail Blazers aren’t your average No. 9 seed. The combination of uncharacteristic roster turnover and injuries have played into their demise. But if they aren’t careful on-and-off the floor in Orlando, they could become just the fifth team since 2004-05 to make the Western Conference Finals and miss the postseason the following year.

Even so, much of the NBA is well aware of what this team is at full bloom. Los Angeles Lakers guard Danny Green was the latest NBA personality to sing praises on the Blazers, and discuss just how dangerous they could be as a postseason team.

On Inside the Green Room, his podcast, the two-time NBA champion went as far as saying the Blazers would be the team to avoid, in comparison to the Grizzlies, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs or Suns.

"“I wouldn’t say that we fear anybody, but if we were to choose to have a first round matchup, I think we’d probably lean away from Portland. They have more experience, they have (Damian Lillard), they have CJ (McCollum). They have a lot of threats and they have a lot of experience.I’m not saying those other teams don’t have threats, but they are a bit younger. Memphis is very young. (The media) want to see the New Orleans matchup. Of course they want to see Zion, LeBron and AD, and of course that would be an exciting matchup for the fans, but for us realistically we probably see Portland as more of a threat because of their experience. Those other two teams are very good, but Portland is probably more of a threat to us because of their experience.”"

In theory, that certainly makes sense; the Lakers went 12-0 against the Pelicans, Suns, Kings and Spurs. They suffered one of their 14 losses to the Trail Blazers, and won one of the other matchups by just an eight-point margin on Dec. 28.

Portland’s stars, especially Lillard, have also found an extra gear against the No. 1 team in the West. Lillard is averaging 36.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 9.0 assists, a problem he could exacerbate with the loss of Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley. And at close-to-full health, it’s easy to see why the media hasn’t been quick to dismiss the Blazers.

In the meantime, the Portland Trail Blazers have more than a little work to do before they can begin to flirt with that idea. But it’s certainly a positive that teams have come to respect the abilities of a Blazers team with all pieces intact.