Blazers Rate C- At Quarter of Season

With a quarter of the NBA season down, Brad Botkin and Sam Quinn of CBS Sports graded each NBA team, awarding the Portland Trail Blazers a C-. They report that after last year’s deep playoff run, what has happened this season is not what anyone expected, but despite a host of injuries, the Blazers are doing better than they should be.

Realistically, this is a first- or second-round roster, and as bad as their record looks, the Blazers entered Sunday only 1.5 games out of the postseason despite perhaps the worst injury luck in basketball. This isn’t how anyone in Portland expected the season to play out, but for now, the Blazers can take solace in the promising development of Anfernee Simons, who has flashed star potential. The Carmelo Anthony signing looks like a masterstroke. Things are bad in Portland, but they could be far, far worse.

There is hope for Portland in players returning from injuries, but the passage of another quarter of the season is likely before that happens.

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