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2008 Portland Trail Blazers Predictions

Written by Jack Jones

Even without their No. 1 overall draft pick in Greg Oden, the Blazers did not play half bad last year when the finished at 41-41. It was pretty surprising since the team was so excited about their chances with the big man in the middle, and then when he went down instead of moping about their loss they got off to a great start and played hard. BetUS has the over/under win total on the Blazers at 44.5.

The Portland Trail Blazers should be ready for a playoff push this year with Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge coming into their own as stars, plus with Oden back from injury. The bad news is that Martell Webster and Channing Frye will both miss the start of the season with injuries. The Trail Blazers are at +375 to win the Northwest Division.

With the 7′0″ and 285 pound Oden clogging things up in the middle, this Portland frontcourt should be one of the most talented in the league. You know Oden is going to be pulling down a healthy dose of rebounds, but offensively he might struggle after missing the year. The good news is that the team won’t rely on his inside scoring anyway with Aldridge, Webster and Travis Outlaw all capable of putting up points. Aldridge is the player to watch on this Blazer team as he showed vast improvements last season in raising his scoring output to 17.8 points per game while grabbing over seven boards. Portland is currently 20-to-1 to win the Western Conference.

While Webster will be the starting small forward when healthy, Outlaw is a capable backup who averaged 13.3 points per game in just 26 minutes of action. Webster’s numbers keep improving each year he’s in the NBA, putting up 10.7 points and 3.9 rebounds in 28 minutes of action a year ago. The Blazers are at 30-to-1 to win the NBA Finals.

There isn’t much experience for the Blazers in the backcourt, but it’s loaded with talent. Roy was an All-Star last year and is the team leader despite being only 24 years old. He does it all from his 19.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.8 assists. When the game is on the line you can bet the ball will be in Roy’s hands as well. The knock on Roy though is that he can try to do too much. Portland also found another star in the backcourt with Jerryd Bayless. He had a big freshman season at Arizona where he put up 19.7 points per game.

The frontcourt has a pair of solid contributers coming off the bench in Frye and Joel Przybilla. While the backcourt has Rudy Fernandez and Steve Blake. Blake is a veteran who can eat up minutes while Fernandez is a scoring threat at guard. He is an excellent outside shooter who can move without the ball.

Final Analysis

Our NBA predictions show that this team should be considered a playoff contender in 2008-09. The addition of Oden alone would have been key, but getting Bayless and Fernandez has to have Portland fans excited about what their Trail Blazers are capable of.

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