The Portland Trail Blazers are technically not out of play-in contention, thanks to the tough schedule of the teams above them, but their postseason hopes are slim. They also are missing multiple players, with Robert Williams done for the year, Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton seemingly unavailable for the foreseeable future, and rotation players Scoot Henderson (concussion protocol), Anfernee Simons (arm soreness) and Toumani Camara (foot soreness) appearing on the injury reports.
Of course, the Blazers are mired in a small group of teams (Bulls, Spurs, Heat) that will likely pick 8-11, barring some lottery luck. If there was ever a time for Portland to tank to a top pick in a high-quality draft, well... it would have been two months ago. The second-best time was every game since then. But the third-best time is right now.
However, Portland’s schedule is at least squishy, if not just plain soft. Tankathon lists them with the 21st toughest remaining schedule. They have a tough game tomorrow against the Knicks, and games against the Warriors and Lakers at the end of the season, where those teams may be resting. Otherwise, they play the Bulls, Hawks, Spurs, Raptors, and Jazz. They may need to make a special effort to lose games, such as sitting players, which is something the NBA is watching closely. But some teams are working around it with tactical benchings, like the Raptors seemed to do against Portland.
But let’s open this question up to the readers:
There are eight games left. If you were supreme ruler of the Portland Trail Blazers, how would you have the team approach these games?
Chat about it in our comments, and we’ll find out what the Blazers do tomorrow afternoon, a 3:00 game against the Knicks.