Portland Trail Blazers: 3 things to watch for in 2017-18 season opener

Here are three storylines to keep an eye on when the Portland Trail Blazers kick off the 2017-18 NBA regular season against the Phoenix Suns.

The Portland Trail Blazers finished out their preseason strong with a 129-81 victory over Israeli team Maccabi Haifa, improving their exhibition record to 5-1. This was a great opportunity to see second unit guys like Jake Layman, Pat Connaughton and Meyers Leonard in action, each of them showing a great deal of improvement since last season.

In case you missed that game, Layman led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc. Archie Goodwin — who was waived after the game — finished with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

Three other Blazers players scored in double digits, including Connaughton (18), Zach Collins (17) and Leonard (10). Jusuf Nurkic played 12 minutes, tallying 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Blazers now head into the 2017-18 regular season to face off against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at Talking Stick Resort Arena, and funnily enough, this contest is shaping up to be more interesting than the Blazers’ offseason and preseason combined!

That’s because there are a number of different intriguing storylines to follow as the Blazers head to Arizona to meet the Suns, but let’s just dive into the top three.