Trail Blazers 2017-18 Schedule: Top Games, Championship Odds, Record Predictions

Unable to make any significant improvements in the offseason, the Portland Trail Blazers may face an uphill climb to make the playoffs for the fifth straight season. 

Because of last summer's spending spree by general manager Neil Olshey, the Blazers had almost no financial flexibility. They head into the 2017-18 campaign with the fifth-highest payroll in the league, according to Spotrac.

While Portland has a talented, young core of stars, many of the teams around it made big splashes in July. The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Paul George, the Denver Nuggets signed Paul Millsap, the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Jimmy Butler and the Houston Rockets acquired Chris Paul.

The Thunder and Rockets finished above the Trail Blazers in the standings, so their moves may not impact Portland all that much. But both the Nuggets and Timberwolves failed to reach the postseason, with the former finishing just a game behind the Blazers.

Portland remains on strong footing, both in terms of its roster and organizational stability; fans shouldn't be surprised if the team declines slightly in the season ahead.

2017-18 Details

Season Opener: Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Phoenix Suns (10 p.m. ET)

Championship Odds: 200-1 (via OddsShark)

Full Schedule: NBA.com

Top Matchups

Utah Jazz: Nov. 1, 

Cameron Browne/Getty Images

Feb. 11, Feb. 23, April 11

When the Utah Jazz exited the second round of the playoffs at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, they seemed to have a bright future ahead. Gordon Hayward changed that when he signed with the Boston Celtics.

Hayward averaged a career-high 21.9 points per game and shot 39.8 percent from three-point range, and Utah did little to replace all of that lost production.

The Jazz finished 10 games better than the Blazers in 2016-17, but the gap between the two teams should be much closer. Portland may even surpass Utah in 2017-18.

Just as the Timberwolves and Nuggets looked primed to climb up the Western Conference standings following the offseason, the Jazz appear headed for a fall. It will be important the Blazers claim the season series against Utah since the franchises may be jostling for playoff position.

Last year, three games separated the seventh and ninth seeds in the West. Two years ago, the fifth-seeded Blazers were four games ahead of the ninth-seeded Jazz. Every regular-season game counts the same, but the tussles between Portland and Utah could carry extra weight.     

Denver Nuggets: Nov. 13, Dec. 22, Jan. 22, April 9 

Bart Young/Getty Images

The same applies to the Nuggets and Blazers.

Signing Millsap was a great move for Denver in that it supplements the team's young core without saddling the franchise with a lengthy contract that'd look regrettable in three or four years. Millsap will receive $61 million over two years, and he has a $30.5 million club option in 2019.

Millsap joins a roster that already showed promise with young guards Jamal Murray and Gary Harris and center Nikola Jokic. At the very least, Denver would've had enough to post its first winning record since 2012-13.

Throw Millsap into the mix and the Nuggets could easily finish as high as fifth or sixth in the conference.

Not only is Denver competition for Portland in terms of a playoff spot, the Nuggets will also be a measuring stick for the Blazers.

Perhaps the Blazers have enough to compete in the second tier of the Western Conference—outside of the Warriors, Thunder, Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and perhaps the Timberwolves. Should Portland struggle to compete with Denver, it could signal the roster is in need of a marquee addition as the final piece of the puzzle.

Record Prediction

Much of the Blazers' hopes in 2017-18 will rest on the performance of Jusuf Nurkic.

He was a revelation upon arriving in the middle of last year, averaging 15.2 points and 10.4 rebounds in 20 games for the team. According to NBA.com, the Blazers had a 9.6 net rating per 100 possessions with him on the court during that stretch. They had a minus-0.1 net rating when he was on the bench.

The trouble with relying on Nurkic to continue that level of production is that he averaged 7.5 points and 5.9 rebounds in 139 games for the Nuggets. His field-goal percentage was also slightly worse in Denver (45.8 percent) compared to Portland (50.8 percent).

Most importantly, Nurkic has never played more than 65 games in any of his three years in the NBA.

If the second half of Nurkic's 2016-17 season represents a taste of what's to come, then the Blazers should have little trouble making the playoffs and improving slightly on last year's record. Should he return to his Nuggets self, though, Portland could revert to a team that was 24-35 through last February.

Prediction: 42-40