Vegas Over/Under: 42.5

Fromal’s Record Projection: 43-39
The Bet: Avoid but lean over
The Western Conference is brutally difficult, along with the Portland Trail Blazers’ preceding cap missteps will end up costing themas they didn’t have a lot of routes with which they could improve their roster.
They even had to give up on Allen Crabbe within a cost-cutting sequence, trading him to move nearer to preventing luxury-tax penalties and future interactions with the dreaded repeater tax.
However, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are still in Rip City, and they’ll team up with Jusuf Nurkic to keep this squad in playoff contention. Right now, it’s hard to oversell precisely how important that last part is.
The huge guy, who had been obtained in the Denver Nuggets in a midseason trade, broke out in a big way after he found himself in a new environment. He had been more focused on the defensive end compared previously and flashed some easing flourishes that never showed up in the Mile High City.
Though the Bosnian was around the ground, Portland outscored the opposition by 9.2 points per 100 possessions–far superior than the minus-1.9 net rating earned .
But is that sustainable? Only time will tell, though opponents have a scouting report on Nurkic this season. Conditioning issues may also pop up as he’s tasked with enjoying extensive moments for the first time.
Especially with little persuasive depth on the wings, don’t expect the Blazers to take huge strides forward. Nurkic should help the star-studded backcourt keep its playoff-caliber level, but the group’s ceiling still feels rather capped.

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