Can The Portland Trail Blazers Win The Western Conference?

When people look into their crystal ball to predict who will win the Western Conference and potentially the NBA title, two teams from the West generally get all the buzz — the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The fact that both of these teams have won the West for the past three years means they are certainly in the mix, but bubbling under the surface are the dangerous Portland Trail Blazers.

Last season, the Portland Trail Blazers went 54-28 and secured themselves the fifth seed in the NBA playoffs (would have been fourth but they lost the tiebreaker to the Houston Rockets). They split the regular season series with the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs 2-2 and also split their four meetings with the Oklahoma City Thunder two apiece.

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That shows you just how close the Trail Blazers are to the best teams in the league. As they entered the postseason against the more favored Houston Rockets, Portland played with the belief they had used all year and caused an upset, sending the Rockets packing and moving on to the next round.

While they would succumb to the eventual NBA champs in just five games. the writing was already on the wall. This group of young stars are going to be very, very good – now and into the future.

The Portland Trail Blazers are a team that balance their roster with stars at each position, serviceable backups who play bench roles and also a couple of “specialists” or x-factors that can influence a game depending on the matchups. Through the NBA draft and also by making smart trade decisions and free agency signings, the Portland Trail Blazers have positioned themselves as a contender.

Having overcome the loss of franchise star Brandon Roy and moving past the draft selection of Greg Oden over Kevin Durant — the Blazers are back.

LaMarcus Aldridge might be one of the very best power forwards in the game. His ability to stretch the floor with his shooting ability and range gives opposition frontcourts plenty to worry about. Damian Lillard is fast becoming one of the best point guards in the league — almost making Team USA for the FIBA World Cup in Spain and Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews are terrific small forwards shooting guards.

When you add in Robin Lopez as the center – you have a very balanced and potent lineup.

One of the most attractive features of the Portland team is the balance on the floor. Coach Terry Stotts does a terrific job of pairing players with complimentary skills together and the Blazers team make it work. Batum, Lillard and Matthews are all brilliant shooters. LaMarcus Aldridge has that post/mid-range game and Lopez is a low block banger who blocks and rebounds.

They are a very dangerous unit and taking games from the NBA’s best teams doesn’t happen by accident.

This season, if the Trailblazers want to really make some noise, they are going to have to continue their upward trajectory. Lillard and Batum will naturally be better again (as part of the superstar development curve), Aldridge will once again put together and All Star worthy season and Wesley Matthews will be the leagues premier “D & 3” man – so where will the extra handful of wins come from and will they be able to get past the second round?

This off-season the Trail Blazers made a couple of minor moves. They lost Mo Williams and replaced him with Steve Blake (who returns to the franchise he once played for) and they added big man Chris Kaman. These two moves fall in with the strategy employed by Portland — trying to secure depth behind their starting unit.

It may not be headline grabbing, but it does make the Blazers better. They also have a couple of young players who have the talent to really become something special.

C.J. McCollum is basically Damian Lillard-lite. The pure shooting point guard battled injury for the first half of the season but became a valuable asset late in the year. With an injury free preseason, you can expect him to improve and play a larger role in the team this year.

Meyers Leonard is a lightly built center who has struggled to find his feet at pro level yet, but will only be asked to play limited minutes and to learn and develop behind Lopez and Kaman.

As we await the start of the NBA season where the Portland Trail Blazers will do battle with division rival and a Western Conference favorite in the Oklahoma City Thunder, start looking outside the box. Portland are talented and balanced enough to cause plenty of trouble out west — and now they might have the depth to win it all.