ESPN just came out with their annual "Ultimate Team Rankings", where they use a formula to rank franchise on various factors about the team.The ranking system is quite detailed, and whoever worked on this project put a buttload of time into it. The categories they ranked teams on were "bang for the buck", fan relations, ownership, affordability, stadium experience, players, coaching and something called "title track". Each of those categories even has sub-categories.
Your Portland Trail Blazers come in at number 31 overall. If you're just talking about NBA franchises, the Blazers are ranked 7th on the list. The 3 categories that they ranked highest in are fan relations, stadium experience, and players. Those things are definitely what the Blazers are good at, especially with the current roster. The two weakest categories for Portland were "bang for the buck", and obviously the "title track" one. No surprise there.
Many of the franchises at the top of this list have one thing in common and it's this: they tend to be in smaller markets, which seems to increase fan access and usually decreases the costs of actually going to watch a game. If you're wondering, the top five are the Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Angels, and San Antonio Spurs.
