Portland Trail Blazers Likely to be Great According to Hollinger Odds

ESPN has released the first edition of Hollinger's Playoff Odds for the 2014-15 season. Developed by former-ESPN guru John Hollinger, the system famously gives a percentage chance for each team to make the playoffs, win their division, hold the top seed in their conference, make the finals, or win this year's championship. We know you're burning with curiosity about the Portland Trail Blazers assessment, so here you go:

Odds of Making the Playoffs: 99.5%  Rank #1 in Western Conference

Odds of Winning Their Division: 99.1%, Rank #1 in Division (and Conference)

Odds of Earning the #1 Seed in the West: 18.2%, Rank #3 in Conference (Golden State 29.5%, Dallas 20.6%)

Odds of Making the NBA Finals: 17.5%, Rank #3 in Conference (Dallas 24.8%, Golden State 20.2%)

Odds of Winning the Title: 9.8%, Rank #4 in League (Toronto 37.5%, Dallas 15.8%, Golden State 11.8%)

The salt is granular enough to bowl with at this early stage of the season, of course. The Toronto Raptors are given a near-90% chance of earning the #1 seed in the East and a near-70% chance of making the Finals, for instance. They're doing well, but that may be a wee bit high. Still, it's nice to see the Blazers mentioned among the percentage favorites at any time during the season.

Hat tip to HiPo Steve for bringing this to our attention in the Fanshots.

--Dave blazersub@gmail.com / @DaveDeckard / @Blazersedge