After NBA.com reporter John Schuhmann dropped the Portland Trail Blazers slightly in his power rankings, a panel of experts at ESPN have done the opposite... though they were starting from a lower floor.
A large panel that includes ESPN reporters Tim Bontemps, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin, and Kevin Pelton among others worked together on the rankings and decided to lift the Blazers from 25th to 24th. In the NBA.com rankings released a few days ago, the Blazers fell from 20th to 23rd.
Kevin Pelton - a well-known Seattleite and longtime ESPN analytics guru - penned the entry for the Blazers and explained their position at 24:
The Blazers kept their slim hopes of advancing in the NBA Cup alive Friday by beating the slumping Kings before seeing their four-game home winning streak ended Sunday by the Mavericks.