Portland Trail Blazers
At the trade deadline this season, the Portland Trail Blazers entered a full-fledged “rebuild” by trading away CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington for young, future assets.
Damian Lillard still remains in Portland, but he is currently out indefinitely after having abdominal surgery and may not return this season.
However, the team has not ruled out Lillard coming back to play this year and he may be willing to give it a go should the Blazers have a real shot at making the playoffs.
Since the trade deadline, Portland has won three straight games against the Knicks, Bucks and Grizzlies, three formidable foes.
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Fourth-year guard Anfernee Simons has led the charge for the Trail Blazers all season long and he has quickly turned himself into one of the brightest, young stars in this league. Alongside Simons, other key role players in Josh Hart, Justise Winslow and veteran center Jusuf Nurkic have all played their roles to perfection, leading to Portland being 1.5 games in front of the Pelicans for the 10-seed in the Western Conference.
Many thought that the Blazers would be “tanking” following their mass exodus at the trade deadline, but this young group in Portland looks extremely motivated and out to prove all of their doubters wrong.
Currently on a four-game win streak heading into the All-Star break, the Portland Trail Blazers have a new feel to them and they really have nothing to lose this season!
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Teams that have to play them the rest of the way are really going to have to prepare for some tough matchups because Anfernee Simons is the real deal in the backcourt and Portland has been a tough rebounding team these last couple of weeks.
They may not make the playoffs, but the Portland Trail Blazers are still very much alive for a play-in tournament slot in the Western Conference.
