Vegas Over/Under: 42.5

Fromal’s Record Projection: 43-39
The Bet: Prevent but lean over
The Western Conference is brutally difficult, and the Portland Trail Blazers’ preceding cap missteps will end up breaking themas they did not have a lot of routes with which they can boost their roster.
They even had to give up on Allen Crabbe as part of a cost-cutting sequence, trading him to move closer to preventing luxury-tax penalties and future interactions with the dreaded repeater tax.
But Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are still in Rip City, plus they will team up with Jusuf Nurkic to maintain this squad in playoff contention. Right now, it is hard to oversell precisely how important that last part is.
The huge guy, who had been acquired in the Denver Nuggets in a midseason trade, broke out in a big way once he found himself in a new environment. He was more focused on the defensive end than previously and flashed some facilitating flourishes which never showed up in the Mile High City.
Though the Bosnian was on the floor, Portland outscored the opposition by 9.2 points per 100 possessions–much better than the minus-1.9 net rating earned .
But is that sustainable? Only time will tell, though competitions have a scouting report on Nurkic this year. Conditioning concerns may also pop up since he is tasked with enjoying extensive moments for the very first time.
Especially with little convincing depth on the wings, do not anticipate the Blazers to take massive strides ahead. Nurkic should help the star-studded backcourt maintain its playoff-caliber degree, but the team’s ceiling still feels fairly capped.

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