In less than a week since the 2016-17 NBA schedule was announced, fans and media alike have taken the time to digest and analyze this season's slate of games. While every team will play each team twice, facing the majority of conference foes four times and other intraconference teams on three occasions, there are circumstances such as travel, games on back-to-back nights and extended homestands that make some teams' schedules more favorable than others.
In analyzing each team's schedule with a projection system named SCHOENE, ESPN's Bradford Doolittle ranks the Portland Trail Blazers' 2016-17 campaign as the 27th-most difficult, while providing 2.85 extra wins. Writes Doolittle:
Trailblazers.com's Casey Holdahl provided a detailed breakdown of the schedule last week, including such factors as "tired" games vs. "fresh" games, national television appearances and back-to-backs.
The Blazers open the 2016-17 season on Tuesday, October 25 versus the Utah Jazz at Moda Center. See Doolittle's entire rankings at ESPN.com.