Getting off to strong starts has been a year-to-year struggle for the Portland Trail Blazers, a task that figures to get no easier on the upcoming 2021-22 schedule. NBA.com’s John Schuhmann took an in-depth look at the regular season slate, illustrating how Portland could be one of the bigger victims this year.
Portland will find itself at a rest disadvantage, drawing the misfortune of being one of only three teams leaguewide with an eight-games-in-12-nights slate. Though, as Schuhmann also notes, aside from this stretch, teams will have more days of rest between games, which opens up times for potential practices, something that could be of major benefit with a first-year head coach in Chauncey Billups.