Portland Trail Blazers

Vegas Over/Under: 42.5

Fromal’s Record Projection: 43-39
The Bet: Avoid but lean over
The Western Conference is brutally hard, and the Portland Trail Blazers’ previous cap missteps will wind up breaking them, as they didn’t have a lot of routes with which they could improve their roster.
They even had to give up on Allen Crabbe within a cost-cutting sequence, trading him to move closer to preventing luxury-tax penalties and potential interactions with the dreaded repeater tax.
But Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are still in Rip City, and they will team up with Jusuf Nurkic to keep this squad in playoff contention. Right now, it is tough to oversell precisely how important that last part is.
The huge guy, who was acquired from the Denver Nuggets at a midseason trade, broke out in a big way once he found himself in a new environment. He was focused on the defensive end than previously and flashed some easing flourishes that never showed up at the Mile High City.
Though the Bosnian was on the ground, Portland outscored the opposition by 9.2 points per 100 possessions–much superior than the minus-1.9 internet rating earned without him.
But is that sustainable? Only time will tell, though opponents will have a scouting report on Nurkic this season. Conditioning issues could also pop up since he’s tasked with playing extensive minutes for the first time.
Especially with little persuasive depth on the wings, do not expect the Blazers to take huge strides forward. Nurkic should help the star-studded backcourt maintain its playoff-caliber level, but the group’s ceiling still feels rather tight.

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