I’ll admit it. I underestimated these Portland Trail Blazers. Sure, I expected improvement and tenacious defense, but I didn’t expect… this. Not so early in the season at least. John Gonzalez of CBS Sports is right there with me, listing the Portland Trail Blazers in a list of six teams who appear to have been underestimated.

Deni Avdija is scoring nearly eight points more per game than last season for a team that plays fast and is second in pace. The Blazers are eighth in defensive rating and led at that end by Toumani Camara who is everywhere all the time. No one looks at the schedule and thinks oh cool let’s get on a plane and fly to the corner of the NBA map to play a bunch of try-hards.

It’s a perfect Portland team.

Maybe this is the perfect Portland team. The Blazers are often the

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