Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from 4-game road trip

We know who the Blazers are at this point

The Blazers are 22-21 heading into their Tuesday home matchup against the Phoenix Suns. That places them seventh in the West, tied with the Denver Nuggets but ahead of them due to tiebreakers. They currently sport a +0.5 point differential, tied for seventh-best in the conference. The team is also 5-5 over last 10 games, tied for seventh in the West in that span.

Basically, with over half the season elapsed, it’s clear where this team stands in the West. They are a playoff team, but they will be a lower seed that will not possess home-court advantage.

We’ve already discussed that this roster is giving all that it can. The team puts out effort every night. Sometimes it leads to impressive performances like the win in Oklahoma City. Other nights it leads to flat games like the loss to Minnesota.

Only a trade can divert Portland’s current path to a lower-seed playoff berth. With the trade deadline on Feb. 8, we already have some moves in mind that might help the team’s cause.

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This road trip ultimately solidified Portland’s place in the Western Conference. If they want to compete in the Western Conference, they may want to take heed to one of those trade ideas floating around. Otherwise, seventh-best is really all they can give.