An eye-opening climb up the Western Conference standings has the Portland Trail Blazers taking an ears-open approach to NBA trade season. If they want to add All-Star talent, that option appears available. If they feel like snagging a rock-solid support piece, that might be in the cards, too. And if they simply want to clean up their financial outlook, that seems surprisingly possible.
The external avenues ahead lead to any number of possibilities, but internally, things might be even more exciting. Because Portland appears in the midst of an accelerated metamorphosis from asset-collecting tanker to legitimately feisty competitor. With an 11-4 record to show for the last month, the Blazers have clearly become a club no one should overlook.
Portland's postseason outlook might be a lot rosier than just a Play-In Tournament invitation.
Over the campaign's first two months, the Blazers flashed a few fleeting moments of encouragement in between prolonged struggle sessions. Since late December, though, this team has finally stabilized to produce the kind of sustained success that, if kept on track, could help turn distant playoff goals into ahead-of-schedule realities.
While it takes more than 15 games to change an organizational identity, the Blazers are giving fans reasons to believe—and Western Conference foes reasons to take notice. Because amid these 11 victories are two triumphs over the Houston Rockets, another over the San Antonio Spurs, and a double-digit dismemberment of the Los Angeles Lakers.
In other words, this is less about taking advantage of a favorable schedule and more about an elevation to the level of competition. Only the Los Angeles Clippers have fewer losses than Portland's four dating back to Dec. 28.
The Blazers might not be routinely routing their opponents, but they are finding ways to win on both ends of the court. During this stretch, they're sitting ninth in defensive efficiency and 12th on offense, per NBA.com. This is where it's worth noting that history has generally held that top-10 rankings in both are the signs of a full-fledged contender.
While it'd be premature to proclaim Portland suddenly qualifies as such, there's so much room for internal growth—and so many options for external upgrades—that putting any kind of cap on this climb feels foolish. With Deni Avdija continuing his All-Star emergence, Shaedon Sharpe coming into his own, Caleb Love rocketing up redraft boards, and Donovan Clingan controlling the interior, the Blazers are marking off a number of boxes on their best-case-scenario checklist.
If teams aren't paying attention now, then they'll probably become the next team to get bulldozed by the Blazers. If trade season is even remotely as successful as this scorching stretch has been, then the Rose City could become a true thorn in the side of the basketball world at large.