The Portland Trail Blazers have been one of the NBA’s biggest disappointments this season. After making a Conference Finals appearance in 2019, they currently sit outside of the playoff picture with a 29-37 record.
Most have already lost faith in their chances to make the postseason, but LeBron James is still a believer.
In fact, in an appearance on the “Road Trippin'” podcast, James explained why the Blazers could make some significant noise in the West.
“You got Dame Lillard who can go for 50, a CJ McCollum that can score 40, a Carmelo Anthony that if he gets hot, which we know in the postseason could go for 35/40 as well." – LeBron on the Blazers being an 8 seed pic.twitter.com/mCu4iXPkXP
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) March 26, 2020
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-Nd4eXh-kp
With Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Carmelo Anthony, the Blazers have a deep and talented roster of scorers. With Nurkic set to return alongside Hassan Whiteside, they have rebounders and shot blockers in the paint.
But their main problem remains on the defensive end. They struggle to stop their opponents, especially on the perimeter. They rank in the bottom ten in opponent 3-point percentage and points allowed.
To even make the playoffs, the Blazers will have to improve on that end of the floor to beat out the Pelicans, Kings, Grizzlies. It’ll be an uphill battle, but you shouldn’t count them out completely.
LeBron certainly hasn’t.
