The Portland Trail Blazers in Just One Word

Friday Mailbag time! If you have a Portland Trail Blazers question, be sure and send it to blazersub@gmail.com!

Dave,

Ok wordy wordsmith, let's play a game.  Describe the Blazers in just one word.  You can explain it but it has to be a single word.  Go!

Mike

I accept your challenge, Mike! The word I will choose is "Limbo".

Google tells me that the definition of said word is, "An uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition." That about describes it. The Blazers are good enough that the cellar is not in their immediate future. We don't know if they're good enough to reach the heights. Nor are we sure if this summer's moves will propel them forward in any significant sense or whether they will turn out to be an elaborate game of three-card monte. As has been true in virtually every season since 2006--with 2009-10 and 2014-15 standing as notable exceptions, though ironically neither worked out--the Blazers are in "wait and see" mode. They're going to forge a path forward. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum will make sure they stick to it and gain momentum. Motivation is not in question. Whether the path leads anywhere...that's the big issue. If they don't emerge from the fog at some point, all the energy will be for naught.

I'd also employ Limbo in the other sense, as in Chubby Checker and beach parties. Portland is headed over the tax threshold. They're doing so with a three year record of 54 wins, 51 wins, and 44 wins respectively. Even the 54-win mark wouldn't necessarily merit throwing all those chips into the pot. The rising expense of the roster is going to be like a bar getting lower and lower. The franchise will have to contort to make it under without falling on their backsides...not an easy task. Watching them try is sure to be entertaining.

This may be the shortest Mailbag ever, but I want to throw Mike's questions out to Blazer's Edge readers. One word to describe this team. Go ahead and elaborate on it but stick to the central one-word theme when doing so. What word would you choose? Comment below.

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