3 on 3 Blazers

On this week's episode of KGW's 3-on-3 Blazers podcast, KGW's Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley gauge their worry level about Dame's supermax extension, the Blazers' draft position, the surging New Orleans Pelicans, Jusuf Nurkic's injury history, the Dame-Ant vs. Dame-CJ question, the recent play of Anfernee Simons and Josh Hart and the new guys, well, mainly Keon Johnson.

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The Portland Trail Blazers have won four in a row since trading away CJ McCollum and two other starters prior to the NBA trade deadline. The expectation was that the Blazers were positioning themselves to lose as many games as possible to increase their chance of a Top 4 pick in this summer’s NBA draft. But the strong play of Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic and newcomers Josh Hart and Justise Winslow is turning that plan on its head. The Blazers are suddenly winning again while playing an up-tempo, exciting brand of basketball.

The Blazers now have a week off as the NBA heads into its All-Star break. Portland’s remaining schedule is road-heavy (14 of its remaining 23 games are away from the Moda Center) but it's not full of winning teams. The Blazers’ remaining strength of schedule ranks 29th out of 30 teams, according to tankathon.com, which means it may not be as easy for the Blazers to tank (lose games in hopes of increasing their chances of a high lottery draft pick) as many fans would hope.

The Blazers' recent stretch of good play and how that impacts the upcoming offseason is the main topic of this week’s 3-on-3 Blazers podcast with KGW's Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley.

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Portland Trail Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin has a plan to build a winning roster around Damian Lillard. Step 1 of that plan was to trade away CJ McCollum and other high-priced veterans on the team like Norman Powell, Robert Covington and Larry Nance Jr. Now the Blazers have a ton of cap space, some interesting draft picks and a plan to try to recruit high-end talent to join Lillard this summer. Can Cronin execute the next step of his plan? KGW's Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley discuss this and more on this episode of KGW's 3-on-3 Blazers podcast!

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On Thursday after the NBA trade deadline passed, Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin, joined by head coach Chauncey Billups and president of business operations Dewayne Hankins, spoke to the media about the trades the Blazers made the past week and what's next for the team.

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The Blazers traded Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers and they're getting Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson and a second-round pick. KGW's Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley do a quick breakdown of the trade and what it means for the Blazers moving forward as the Feb. 10 trade deadline draws near.

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The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 10 and the Portland Trail Blazers have been mentioned in plenty of trade rumors. KGW's Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley got together on Thursday to talk about the Blazers and what to expect at this year's trade deadline.

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Portland Trail Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin made a positive impression on the team's fanbase during a conversation (don't call it a press conference) with media on Thursday. He gave off a warm, positive vibe, answered questions with confidence and provided the impression he'll be given the autonomy to make major moves with the team's roster.

This week was also full of drama surrounding Blazers superstar guard Damian Lillard and national media, first with a report from The Athletic's Shams Charania and Sam Amick and then with an article by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that many suspected used former Blazers general manager Neil Olshey as a main source. Lillard was critical of both pieces and then spoke out during shootaround this week, saying he wanted to stay in Portland and wasn't demanding a trade.

On this week's episode of KGW's 3-on-3 Blazers podcast, Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley share their first impressions of Cronin, discuss the articles that were written about Lillard and the Blazers this week and whether Lillard's reaction to them was justified, and assess the current state of the Blazers on the court.

Meet the 3-on-3 Blazers team

Orlando Sanchez is the sports anchor and report for KGW News, Sports Sunday and Friday Night Flights. Orlando has covered multiple NBA Finals, NCAA basketball tournaments and World Series. Jared Cowley is the digital executive producer for KGW News. He writes about the Blazers and other topics for kgw.com. Jared has written about the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors as a sports editor at two daily newspaper.

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KGW sports anchor Orlando Sanchez and digital executive producer Jared Cowley talk about Neil Olshey, Larry Nance Jr. and potential lineup changes in this week's episode of KGW's 3-on-3 Blazers podcast.

3:15 — Neil Olshey

41:37 — Impact of Larry Nance Jr.

48:03 — Nurk vs. Nance

54:40 — Nas vs. RoCo

1:01:03 — Home vs. road

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The Trail Blazers are coming off an 0-3 road trip and Damian Lillard's season-opening slump has reached 8 games. Are the Blazers a bad team or is their poor play mostly a product of Lillard's lack of production? KGW's Orlando Sanchez and Jared Cowley discuss Lillard's slump, the Blazers' road woes, the new four-guard lineup, and then make predictions for the next four games.

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