The Portland Trail Blazers may be this season's pleasant surprise in the NBA. They may be the team to watch next season.
This claim is supported by Zach Lowe of ESPN, who declared that the Blazers have accelerated their rebuilding process and skipped the tanking phase. The team was written off to the lower tier of the Western Conference but now, they are well within the playoff race.
"Portland is the best NBA story outside Oakland -- a selfless, hard-charging group that has blitzed to a 17-4 record since early January and seized a playoff slot that looked hopelessly above their pay grade two months ago," Lowe wrote. "The Lillard-McCollum Project has worked better than even (Portland GM Neil) Olshey expected."
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are now worthy rivals to the Splash Brothers of the Golden State Warriors. The Blazers actually dealt the Warriors their worst loss of the season with a 137-105 shellacking.
This is a breakthrough season for both of them, as Lillard ascended to become the team's certified alpha dog. But McCollum might take the nod as the NBA's Most Improved Player, as Blazer's Edge speculated.
"CJ McCollum has long been the frontrunner for the NBA's Most Improved Player Award," TBE stated. "His jump into the Portland Trail Blazers' starting lineup was accompanied by a production increase of an incredible 14.0 points per game. He is more aggressive than he was last season; he is more balanced than he was last season; he is even more efficient than he was last season-something you might not expect from a third-year guard dealing with more defensive attention."
The team's performance may have them groomed as a free agent destination, and that could take the rebuilding process at least two steps forward.