Portland Trail Blazers: A look at where experts rank the Blazers heading into Week 6

Where are experts ranking the Portland Trail Blazers after Week 6?

NBA.com — No. 9 (↑ 1 from last week)

In his weekly Power Rankings, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann always offers something to think about in the coming days. Prior to the Blazers-Thunder game, Portland entered with a 6-2 record over their last eight games. But, their net rating of (-29), in some ways suggests they were more pretender than contender.

They’ve eked out a few wins by the skin of their teeth — think the 112-111 win over Toronto, or six-point wins over the Hawks and Kings. Those make for excellent SportsCenter highlights and Twitter clips. But it feels indicative of a team that lacks the necessary “kill” in the regular season.

Portland’s slate of mediocre opponents, paired with an inconsistency in beating those teams makes it difficult to throw them in the upper echelon already. They commanded respect heading into the year. But in thinking about them thus far, one can’t help but visualize this picture. A largely unfinished product.

ESPN.com — No. 11 (↑ 1 from last week)

After that somewhat-negative tangent, Royce Young’s take on the Portland Trail Blazers is appreciated. As he notes, the Blazers have been able to at least be competitive and withstand the long-term injuries to CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic.

The formula for that success was, in a way, simple. Some added offensive oomph from Damian Lillard — 34.0 points, 7.8 assists, and 5.8 rebounds on 46-36-98 percentage lines — and enough jive from his background dancers.

Multiple supporting Blazers have ramped their scoring, namely Carmelo Anthony (14.8), Gary Trent Jr., (13.3), Anfernee Simons (12.0), Enes Kanter (10.5), and Rodney Hood (10.3).

SI.com — No. 12 (↑ 2)

SI.com’s Michael Shapiro offered a neat transition from negative to positive, looking into how McCollum’s injury could help Lillard add padding to his Most Valuable Player case.

Having Lillard play “hero” in the face of injuries year-after-year is a consistent case of ad hockery. Lillard has been the ultimate Band-Aid for this franchise, covering up for injury-after-injury. But, he’s given little reason for doubt; since 2018-19, Lillard has averaged 30.1 points, 8.9 assists, and 4.9 rebounds 45-42-91 percentages in 18 games without his backcourt mate.

CBS Sports — No. 10 (- from last week)

Over his last two games, Anfernee Simons has been putting the NBA on notice, and CBS Sports columnist Colin Ward-Henninger made a brief mention of that. He noted that for Simons, the key word will be “consistency.”

Taking a glance at his 2019-20 game log, Simons had 26 games of double-digit scoring, and on 13 different occasions, he scored in single-digits in the next. On the contrary, Simons almost always contributes heavily with consistent playing time. Two games into the new situation in 2020-21, he’s been brilliant, at 21.0 points on 62 percent shooting.

Bleacher Report — No. 11 (↓ 1 from last week)

B/R’s Mo Dakhil offered a more future-based assessment. A victory over the Thunder would have done this group wonders, given their six-game road trip over the next week-and-a-half.

As he points out, finding rest for the soon-to-be-overexerted Lillard will be key. In that realm, the five-game break in games was a blessing in disguise. The Blazers only have one back-to-back over the road trip, so finding rest (and enough players) won’t be an impossible task. Winning and playing with a sense of urgency, though, could be.

HoopsHabit — No. 20 (↓ 9 from last week)

The steepest drop of the week for the Portland Trail Blazers came from HoopsHabit’s Corey Rausch, who, like most, doesn’t view this team with the utmost confidence after the McCollum injury.

It should also be noted that his rankings dropped before the Blazers’ victory over the Knicks, the NBA’s No. 3 defense (or No. 1, depending on whom you ask). Portland has been an inconsistent bunch, which, to a degree is understandable, since very little has been consistent over the last two calendar years. Perhaps a bounce back is on the horizon.

The Athletic — No. 13 (↓ 2) (subscription-required)
NumberFire — No. 16
NBC Sports Northwest — No. 17 (↓ 1)