2. Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are a rebuilding squad that may be as easy an out as the Memphis Grizzlies, but maybe not. The Blazers took the Los Angeles Lakers to the limit recently and despite not having Damian Lillard anymore, the Blazers still have some stellar scorers on the team, like second-year guard Shaedon Sharpe.
That isn’t all they have, as Jermi Grant is having a solid year offensively, and Malcolm Brogdon is someone who is putting up stats everywhere on the stat sheet. If Brogdon could improve his shooting figures, he’d probably have a first-round pick or two offered up for him by now.
Not to mention, that guys like DeAndre Ayton and Scoot Henderson are on the team. While both men are just treading water for right now, both could have breakout games at any point, and considering how bad the Jazz’ defense has been, it could be against Utah.
By no means is this intended to say that the Blazers are a good squad, they aren’t and they shouldn’t be. They’re very young and most of their players over 25 will likely get traded if a deal is offered. But as long as they have these pieces in place, they are going to be able to match the pace of most teams offensively.