The Trail Blazers have played nearly half of their 2020-21 regular season schedule, with many of those games taking place with a significant number of starters sitting out due to injury. And after 30 games, Portland has shown themselves to be a team that can win on any given night verus any team if shots are falling, particuarlly those leaving the hand of Damian Lillard. In games versus lesser competition, they don't even need to be at their best offensively to come away with a win -- sometimes "Dame Time" is enough -- though against the better teams, they have to be at almost their absolute best in order to stay competative.
Getting CJ McCollum back some time in the near future will certainly help, and the same can be said for when Jusuf Nurkic returns (hopefully) some time in the next few weeks, and at that point, they'll need to start getting wins versus some of the teams near or above them in the Western Conference standings. They've done a remarkable job of staying afloat despite injuries, but at some point, just getting by likely won't be enough.
Here's how the Trail Blazers came out in the Week 9 Power Rankings...
• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 8 this week, one spot better than last week...
The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Bucks at No. 7 and ahead of the Nuggets at No. 9.
• John Schuhmann at NBA.com also has the Trail Blazers at No. 9 this week, which is also one spot better than their ranking last week...
And just like his peers at ESPN, Schuhmann has the Trail Blazers behind the Bucks at No. 7 and ahead of the Nuggets at No. 9.
• Colin Ward-Henninger at CBS Sports has Portland at No. 6 this week, one spot worse than last week...
Ward-Henninger has the Trail Blazers behind the Lakers at No. 5 and ahead of the Raptors at. No. 7.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic has the Trail Blazers at No. 7 this week, a two-spot improvement over last week...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the 76ers at No. 6 and ahead of the Bucks at No. 8.
• Michael Shapiro at SI.com has the Trail Blazers at No. 8 this week, one spot better than last week...
Shapiro has the Trail Blazers behind the Bucks at No. 7 and ahead of the Nuggets at No. 9.
• Brad Rowland at UPROXX is the only ranker to have Portland outside of the top 10 this week, putting the Trail Blazers at No. 12, four spots worse than last week...
Rowland has the Trail Blazers behind the Pacers at No. 11 and ahead of the Heat at No. 13.
• Mo Dakhil at Bleacher Report has the Trail Blazers at No. 8 in this week's rankings, two spots better than last week...
Dakhil has the Trail Blazers behind the Spurs at No. 7 and ahead of the Bucks at No. 9.
• Corey Rausch at Hoops Habit has the Trail Blazers at No. 7 this week, three spots better than last week...
Rausch has the Trail Blazers behind the Lakers at No. 6 and ahead of the Nuggets at No. 8.