This is just who the 2020-21 Trail Blazers are.
They’ll run off three-straight wins, as they did to start their now-completed five-game homestand, and just as you think they’re on the verge of a breakthrough, they string together a couple of losses. For example, in their last 25 games, Portland has only followed up a single loss with a single win, and vice versa, twice. Otherwise, they win a couple then lose a couple, then do the same thing over again. They’ve managed to make it work, inasmuch as they sit in sixth the West despite CJ McCollum just returning to the lineup and Jusuf Nurkic still in street clothes, but there’s got to be a better way.
Executing a trade, as a number of reports would indicated Neil Olshey and has staff have tried to do the last few weeks, would provide a shakeup. However, with the assumption being that their are more buyers than sellers this season -- the addition of the play-in game gives teams that might have pulled the court by this point in the season cause to remain competitive -- it’s very possible that no move materializes. The 2021 deadline for trades expires Thursday at noon Pacific, so we’ll know soon either way soon enough.
Here’s how the Trail Blazers came out in the most recent Power Rankings.
• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers just inside the Top 10 at No. 9 this week, unchanged from last week...
The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Nuggets at No. 8 and ahead of the Mavericks at No. 10.
• John Schuhmann at NBA.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 10 this week, two spots better than last week...
Shuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Nuggets at No. 10 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 11.
• Colin Ward-Henninger at CBS Sports has Portland at No. 9 this week, a four-spot improvement over last week...
Ward-Henninger has the Trail Blazers behind the Lakers at No. 8 and ahead of the Mavericks at No. 10.
• Mo Dakhil at Bleacher Report also has Portland at No. 9 this week, two spots better than last week...
Dakhil has the Trail Blazers behind the Clippers at No. 9 and ahead of the Mavericks at No. 10.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has Portland at No. 8 this week, a four-spot jump from last week...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Suns at No. 7 and ahead of the Mavericks at No. 9.
• Corey Rausch at Hoops Habit also has Portland at No. 9 this week, another two-spot improvement over last week...
Rausch has the Trail Blazers behind Thursday’s scheduled opponent, the Miami Heat, at No. 8 and ahead of the Clippers ay No. 10.