The Trail Blazers will be entering the 2016-17 campaign riding a wave of momentum off of their surprising finish to last season. Many pundits projected Portland to finish near the bottom of the Western Conference in the ramp-up to the regular season last fall, but they were able to shock the world by advancing to the second round of the playoffs. Even after a strong season, most experts are still picking the Trail Blazers to finish behind two teams in their own division.
Portland finished eleven games behind Oklahoma City in the final standings last season, which is a manageable gap to close when you factor in the Kevin Durant departure.