Portland Trail Blazers: 5 bold predictions for 2017-18 NBA season

4. Portland wins the Northwest Division title

The Portland Trail Blazers play in the Northwest Division, which everyone expects to be the toughest division in the NBA this season.

Not only do the Blazers have to contend with the likes of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony in OKC, but they can expect a challenge from Paul Millsap and the Denver Nuggets, Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz, as well Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Jimmy Butler and the young Minnesota Timberwolves.

Just as I mentioned earlier: each of those teams — aside from the Jazz — have added a high level player to their roster this past summer, whereas the Portland Trail Blazers added…no one.

While the Big Three in OKC may look scary on paper, I fully expect them to — like every other super-team in NBA history — have their share of problems working out the kinks. By the same token, I think a young team with nothing to lose like Minny is much scarier.

With that being said, the Blazers have already figured out last year how to get the most out of their three stars. I think that — coupled with any level of improvement the team could undergo over the course of the season — could prove to be a factor against a team like OKC.