Portland Trail Blazers: Playing “hot or cold” on the Blazers’ 2020-21 award aspirations

First-time All-Star Jusuf Nurkic? Most Valuable Player Damian Lillard? This season, tons will be up for grabs for the Portland Trail Blazers. But what’s realistic and what isn’t?

It’s been a week of temperaments for the Portland Trail Blazers. One week after being heralded as the unofficial “winners of the offseason,” the Blazers were victims of an analytical avalanche, most of which suggesting that they would be on the outside looking in on the Playoff picture.

Here’s what we know about the Blazers: they’ve set a pattern of consistently defying those odds as a team. Overlook them from October to April — in some form or another, you’ll be watching them in May.

Over the last few seasons, one CJ McCollum has become an excellent example of that. When February’s All-Star voting rolls around, he’s seldom found. Call it a byproduct of playing in a small market. This year’s dynamics could be a bit different, though, for one simple reason: the Blazers are actively talking about getting the year off on the right foot and challenging for awards.

Yesterday, we discussed how different the Blazers are as a team in October compared to what they do post All-Star break. It’s often been fuel for them. The caveat is that they’re going to need to be self-motivated from the jump.

Since 2015-16, it’s been a mixed bag. Over those five seasons, they’ve had two losing records at the break, two winning records, and one .500 finish.

Ask Damian Lillard and Enes Kanter, though, and you’ll find that the “c-word” has been used actively in Blazers hubbub. Doing so would mean supreme focus from the opening tip. If they do, here’s a deeper look into how their award aspirations could play out.