A very real possibility for the Portland Trail Blazers is that the team plays hard, competitive basketball night-in and night-out, improves modestly, yet still fall short of even the NBA play-in. That is where ESPN comes down when evaluating the Western Conference, pegging the Blazers one position short of the play-in at spot 11 in the West.

In his write-up of the play-in teams in the West, Ohm Youngmisuk has some reasonably good things about Portland:

The Blazers have a new owner on the way, Damian Lillard is back and Yang Hansen is an intriguing rookie for a team working toward contender status. Although head coach Chauncey Billups will have his team competing with new addition Jrue Holiday, the Blazers’ prospects seem brighter when looking beyond this season. The West has only gotten

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