PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers have won four in a row since trading away CJ McCollum and two other starters prior to the NBA trade deadline. The expectation was that the Blazers were positioning themselves to lose as many games as possible to increase their chance of a top draft pick this summer. But the strong play of Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic and newcomers Josh Hart and Justise Winslow is turning that plan on its head. The Blazers are suddenly winning again while playing an up-tempo, exciting brand of basketball.
The Blazers now have a week off as the NBA heads into its All-Star break. Portland’s remaining schedule is road-heavy (14 of its remaining 23 games are away from the Moda Center) but it's not full of winning teams. The Blazers have the second-easiest remaining schedule, according to tankathon.com, which means it may not be as easy for the Blazers to tank (lose games in hopes of increasing their chances of a high draft pick) as many fans would hope.
The Blazers' recent stretch of good play and how that impacts the rest of the season and the upcoming offseason is the main topic of this week’s 3-on-3 Blazers podcast with KGW sports anchor and reporter Orlando Sanchez and digital executive producer Jared Cowley.
This week's topics
- What if the Blazers are too good to tank? Is Joe Cronin's plan dead?
- What's different about this team since the trades?
- Anfernee Simons is reaching new heights. What's his ceiling?
