The disrespect my Blazers are getting from the media yet again is funny. Most NBA journos mention Nuggets and Jazz as West favorites but rarely Portland, the like most bookies have for us is 44.5.
We won 53 last year and lost Seth Curry, Harkless, Meyers Leonard, Aminu, Turner and Kanter (who was here for about 20 games last season) and replaced them with Bazemore, Whiteside, Hezonja, Gasol and Tolliver. What gets neglected is that we also have Simons who is probably ready to play 16-18 minutes per game now and is a big talent (would have probably gone top 10 this season had he gone to college), Nasir Little who may get some minutes and is quite talented too and Zach Collins will finally get meaningful minutes. Not to mention motivated Whiteside and Bazemore are both good players, and maybe Hezonja will have a decent season too.
We got better I think and if we get Nurkic back before February I can see us fighting for the top seed in West. The big advantage we have over Lakers and Clippers in the regular season is that this group has played together before.