Zach Lowe makes this very clear: his seventh annual NBA League Pass rankings are not power rankings. Instead, with this column, he tries to quantify each NBA team’s watchability on any given night of the season. The Portland Trail Blazers ranked 12th, between the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans (thwarted once again by the Pelicans – when will the misery end?)
Lowe grades teams in five categories: zeitgeist, highlight probability, style, league pass minutia, and unintentional comedy.
Portland’s placement on the list appears most contingent on Damian Lillard‘s and CJ McCollum‘s brilliance as a backcourt, always primed for big plays and stretches where no one can guard them:
“Damian Lillard transforms into fire incarnate for at least one two-week period every season.