Greg Crawford On Basketball, For October 5th, 2014

By Gregory Crawford----TV, Print and Radio Basketball Analyst---on twitter @wchoops @crawssportsbiz @kcsportsmgmt

AN NBA Finals Team----In the short version, here is why I think the Portland Trail Blazers will be in the NBA Finals this year and eventually lose to the Chicago Bulls in 7 games.

If you really look at the entire NBA, the Blazers' have a winning big time formula, that has won many teams,  many regular season victories and playoff wins.

There is no question they have an experienced and very good coach in Terry Stotts, who seems to have a great perspective on not only the NBA, but life.

There is also no question that the Portland Trail Blazers have one of the top 5 starting line-ups in the NBA with players like Damian Lilliard, Robin Lopez, Wesley Matthews, Nicholas Batum and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Of course everyone knows that Lillard and Aldridge are in the top 3 of their respective positions in the NBA depth charts.

It is totally fair to say that no one wins in the NBA without a good bench. The addition of Chris Kaman could turn out to be huge. We have never really been able to see how good Kaman is, because of his constant injury problems. If the Blazers can even get 10 good minutes out of Kaman this year, they will have a tremendously elevated bench.

Another player who has shown signs at times, especially in playoff performances off that bench is Will Barton. He very easily could have a breakout season in 2014-15.

These players also can be very good at times and will help with bench depth, giving NBA quality minutes: Thomas Robinson, C. J. McCollum, Joel Freeland and Allen Crabbe.

Of that group, Crabbe could really become a future star in the NBA, with his ability to big time shots under pressure as he did at California during his college career.

The best might be last. Portland has a great NBA owner in Paul Allen and he has now tasted a championship with his ownership of the Seattle Seahawks, but for sure basketball is his first love and he knows this team has the capability of winning it all and will be supportive when needed.

Yes, they called me crazy 3 years back when I said Damian Lillard would be a super-star in the NBA, enough said. Blazers in the NBA Finals in 2015.

Gregory Crawford's other blogs:

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