With free agency all but over and the start of training camp a month and a half away, we have officially entered the doldrums of the NBA news cycle. The FIBA World Cup will provide some relief for the supremely basketball-starved and regular-season schedules will be released some time in the not-to-distant future, but other than that, now is the one time of the year in which the NBA truly takes a break.
Which makes it a good time to ponder the hypothetical, such as the latest batch of way-to-early offseason power rankings. The Trail Blazers, coming off a trip to the conference finals, are about where you would expect a team that had success last season, but didn't add All-Star caliber players in their prime like a number of their Western Conference contemporaries. Of course, there's not much to base rankings off of more than two months before the start of the 2019-20 season, but that's never stopped anyone from giving out their opinion before, and there' no reason to start now.
• John Schuhmann of NBA.com, in rankings posted on July 29, has the Trail Blazers ranked at No. 7 among Western Conference teams...
Schumann has the Trail Blazers behind the Warriors at No. 6 and ahead of the Spurs at No. 8.
• The panel of voters at ESPN has the Trail Blazers at No. 8 in their most recent, post-free agency offseason power rankings, posted on July 15...
The folks at ESPN have the Trail Blazers behind the Celtics at No. 7 and ahead of the Jazz at No. 9.
• Reid Forgrave at CBS Sports, in rankings posted on July 8, has the Trail Blazers at No. 8...
Forgrave has the Trail Blazers behind the Nuggets at No. 7 and ahead of the Celtics at No. 9.
• Zach Harper at The Athletic, in rankings posted on July 17, has the Trail Blazers at No. 7...
Harper has the Trail Blazers behind the Rockets at No. 6 and ahead of the Lakers at No. 8.
• Jonathan Reichenberger at Fansided.com, in rankings posted in mid-July, has the Trail Blazers at No. 7...
Reichenberger has the Trail Blazers behind the 76ers at No. 6 and ahead of the Jazz at No. 8.
• Kurt Helin at NBC Sports, in rankings posted on July 15, has the Trail Blazers at No. 9...
Helin has the Trail Blazers behind the Warriors at No. 8 and ahead of the Celtics at No. 10.
• Charles Curtis at USA Today's "For The Win," in rankings posted on July 10, also has the Trail Blazers at No. 7...
Curtis has the Trail Blazers behind the Jazz at No. 6 and ahead of the 76ers at No. 8.
• Andy Bailey at Bleacher Report, in rankings posted on July 19, has the Trail Blazers ranked at No. 11...
Bailey has the Trail Blazers behind the Raptors at No. 10 and ahead of the Pelicans at No. 12.
• Scott Davis at Business Insider, which seems to provide more lists than business and/or insider knowledge, has the Trail Blazers at No. 7 in rankings posted on July 12...
Davis has the Trail Blazers ranked behind the Lakers at No. 6 and ahead of the Rockets at No. 8.
• The staffers at Scout.com have the Trail Blazers at No. 12 in their "computer power rankings" which are based on "the percent chance each team has of winning the NBA Championship"...
Whatever formula Scout.com is using has the Trail Blazers behind the Pistons at No. 11 and ahead of the Raptors at No. 13. Go figure.