(7) Portland Trail Blazers:
Reasons for hope: This team has a ton of young players who have tremendous upside, including Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and, of course, rookie center Greg Oden, who missed all of last season due to injury. Rookie guard Rudy Fernandez is a veteran of FIBA play who could have an immediate impact. Reasons to mope: Although there have been young teams that came out of nowhere to win a championship--including the 1977 Trail Blazers--the usual pattern is that young teams have to make step by step progress in the postseason. Oden's health is also a question mark until he proves that he can make it through an entire season injury-free, something that he has not done since high school. Bottom line: Portland has the talent, depth and youthful exuberance to not only make the playoffs but cause some real headaches for the upper echelon teams, much like Atlanta did to Boston in the Eastern Conference playoffs last year.
