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

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Portland Trail Blazers, (Photo by Alex Milan Tracy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) /

1. Portland locks in the 5-seed in the West

Were I asked to name my top eight seeds in the West and forced to bet money on it, I would begin by naming the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder as my top four.

I would hesitate to name every seed after that. While the Minnesota Timberwolves are definitely the favorite to win the fifth seed, I think the Portland Trail Blazers are fully capable of contending for the fifth seed come spring.

Again, that has a great deal to do with Nurkic. According to NBA.com, the Blazers posted a +4.3 net rating following Nurkic’s first game for Portland (Feb. 15), which ranked sixth in the NBA. Prior to that date, their net rating stood at -2.5 (22nd).

Next: 30 reasons to be excited for the 2017-18 NBA season

If the Blazers can replicate that success over the course of 82 games, it’s entirely plausible to expect Portland to be a top-six team in the NBA this season.

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