The Portland Trail Blazers find themselves near the bottom of USA Today’s recent NBA power rankings.

The Blazers – perhaps unsurprisingly – find themselves 26th of 30 NBA teams, according to Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today:

The Blazers showed modest improvement last season and traded for Jrue Holiday, who should bring steady leadership. Damian Lillard will be out until next season, but their growth rests on the play of shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe.

One could quibble with the notion that the Blazers’ success or failure depends on Sharpe: Deni Avdija was a Most Improved Player candidate, Toumani Camara made an All-NBA Team, and Donovan Clingan made the All-Rookie team… and none of those players are over 25. This isn’t to mention the addition of Jrue Holiday, the addition-by-subtraction of los

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