As experts reflect on a busy offseason and look ahead to next season, the Portland Trail Blazers often find themselves grouped in the tier of teams that are likely to make the 2020 NBA playoffs. There’s still a full season ahead, of course, but it’s a fun exercise to predict how the Western Conference will shake out.
Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe went through Western Conference playoff picture on the latest Lowe Post podcast. Lowe asked Simmons if there was a team out of six consensus playoff locks — the Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets, Jazz, Blazers and Rockets — that he isn’t prepared to call a lock just yet.