Blazers See Power Rankings Boost After Trade Deadline

The Portland Trail Blazers are getting better after the trade deadline.

Portland Trail Blazers center Yang Hansen reacts to a call during the first half against the Memphis Grizzlies. | Soobum Im-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers are winners of consecutive games after beating the Memphis Grizzlies in a two-game series at home.

The victories against Memphis snapped a six-game losing streak and gave the Blazers some momentum going into the final week of the first half of the season. NBA.com writer John Schuhmann viewed those wins favorably as well, placing the team one spot higher in his weekly power rankings. After placing at No. 21 last week, the team is now at No. 20.

"Before Friday, the Blazers had a six-game losing streak. But they remain comfortably in the Western Conference Play-In Club, having swept their weekend back-to-back with the 11th-place Grizzlies," Schuhmann wrote.

"The Blazers’ five-game homestand concludes with a visit from their Sixers on Monday. They’ll then play eight of their next 10 games on the road, closing out their pre-break schedule in Utah on Thursday night. With the two weekend wins over Memphis, the Blazers are 10-3 against the five teams behind them in the West standings."

Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant and guard Vit Krejci. | Soobum Im-Imagn Images

Blazers Seeing Improvement in Power Rankings

The teams that rank below the Blazers are the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies, Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings.

The Blazers were not the most active team at the trade deadline, but they did make a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, swapping center Duop Reath for three-point specialist Vit Krejci, who has immediately improved one of Portland's weak spots.

"The Blazers have seen the league’s third biggest jump in 3-point rate, from 41.8% of their shots (17th highest) last season to 46.4% (fourth) this season," Schuhmann wrote.

"And they’ve taken more than half of their shots from beyond the arc in five of their last nine games. New Blazer Vít Krejčí has taken 15 of his 20 shots from beyond the arc and, while he’s just 5-for-15 on those 3-point attempts, Portland has scored an efficient 124.3 points per 100 possessions in his 63 minutes on the floor."

The team also has optimism with the return of former No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, who has spent most of the season on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

"Scoot Henderson made his season debut on Friday, scoring 11 points and dishing out nine assists in 21 minutes off the bench," Schuhmann wrote.

"Henderson obviously hasn’t lived up to the pre-Draft hype over his two-plus seasons, but as the Blazers went 23-18 over their final 41 games last year, they were 7.4 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor (plus-7.2) than they were with him off the floor (minus-0.2)."

With Krejci and Henderson on the floor for the Blazers the team hopes that it will be enough to get Portland back in the postseason for the first time in four years.