The Portland Trail Blazers were headliners in the first-ever NBA Play-In Tournament. Given its excitement, experts are pushing for it to return in 2021.
Now that the dust has settled and the NBA proved it could orchestrate a season in the middle of a pandemic, is it too early to declare the Orlando bubble as sort of a blessing in disguise? The overall quality of play appeared to improve, and along the way, the NBA uncovered new changes that should probably stay for the long haul.
There’s a laundry list of additions that experts and fans alike want to see have a carryover when the league returns to normalcy. Among those are the Play-In Tournament, a provision that allowed the Portland Trail Blazers an opportunity to salvage their season, and make a (successful) push for the Western Conference’s eighth and final Playoff spot.
For the few in need of a refresher, the Trail Blazers came to Orlando with bruises and bandages. Only four teams leaguewide lost more games to injuries than them, a problem that was only further exacerbated by the fact that the easiest part of their schedule was yet to come. The solution? If they could just hang within striking distance of the eight-seeded Grizzlies, a Play-In Game would be necessary.
Not only did the Trail Blazers win their Play-In, but they overtook the Grizzlies as a whole, only needing one win.
Experts’ mindsets are working in harmony in the idea that the NBA could continue to do so. It not only adds spice to the end-of-season postseason race, but gives teams ravaged by injuries a resuscitation. On a recent episode of the Lowe Post Podcast, Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons put in a positive word for it. Lowe had this to say about it:
"“The Play-In Tournament should be a thing. I think the NBA was already trending that way for a couple of years, and I think seeing Phoenix make a run at it, seeing Brooklyn and Memphis … I’m sorry, Portland and Memphis … Portland having to win that last game against Brooklyn and then the Memphis Play-In, like I just think the buzz for that, we’ll always remember Phoenix in the bubble because of the possibility of a Play-In Tournament.”"
Simmons made the point that if the NBA plans to shorten the season, the NBA should absolutely continue that gimmick.
Hearing some of the NBA’s most reputable analysts advocating for the continuation of the Play-In tournament has potential blessing in disguise written all over it for the Portland Trail Blazers. We remain a ways out for the start of the 2021 NBA season.
But, given how challenging the Western Conference continues to be, any assistance the Blazers can have in remaining a perennial Playoff team should be looked at as positive.
Vegas oddsmakers had the Trail Blazers pegged at the No. 13 spot in championship odds, and seventh in the Western Conference. It’s a reasonable prediction. And any slip-up could see the Blazers once again clawing for one of the final spots in the Playoffs.
Here’s one way to illustrate just how much the Blazers have been reliant on late-season pushes for a final seed. Since 2015-16, here’s where Portland has ranked in the Western Conference at the All-Star break:
— 2015-16: 27-27, 7th in West
— 2016-17: 23-33, 10th in West
— 2017-18: 32-26, 6th in West
— 2018-19: 34-23, 4th in West
— 2019-20: 25-31, 9th in West
That five-season stretch averages out to 7.2, or a seven-seed. Next season, the Trail Blazers are likely to try and open the season with a sense of urgency, should health permit. But given their reputation, it would certainly be a benefit if they need the Play-In Tournament as a boost to their Playoff hopes.
Over the rest of the podcast, Simmons and Lowe went back-and-forth with wild, intriguing potential trades for the summer.
One topic point of note is that they noted that there was very little trade demand for players like LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan, two players that have been linked to Portland in rumors this past summer. For those interested, the rest of the podcast can be found above.