Don’t Underestimate Powell’s Upside in Year Two with the Blazers

The Church of Roy podcast returned this week to discuss where the Trail Blazers are landing in the annual player rankings. Before getting to the rankings from Sports Illustrated and ESPN, hosts Brian Wilcox and Steve Dewald take a deep dive into the burgeoning relationship between center Jusuf Nurkic and coach Chauncey Billups.

Brian and Steve touch on the noteworthy quotes from post from The Athletic’s Jason Quick. Steve highlights that the Klutch appears to be on the same page when it comes to having Billups and Nurkic on the same page. Brian discusses the optics of players openly discussing the mentality behind a contract year.

In the second part of the show, Brian and Steve compare the differences between the rankings from SI and ESPN. Is there an argument for placing Norman Powell above Robert Covington? One thing is clear, both Brian and Steve are buying stock in Powell’s follow-up year in Portland.

Finally, it wouldn’t be an offseason podcast without mentioning the Ben Simmons drama with the Sixers.

You can download today’s show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.