The Athletic's Zach Harper even boldly predicts that Portland will jump the Oklahoma City Thunder and secure the third seed in the West by the end of the season.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The addition of Enes Kanter has been everything Blazers fans could have hoped for since he joined the team, at least on the offensive end of the court.

History indicates that any lineup with Kanter in it is likely to hemorrhage points, and that has played out so far with the Blazers. But let's first give credit where it's due, because Kanter's offense has been impressive and exciting.

In two impressive road wins against the Nets and 76ers, Kanter has averaged 17.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in just 20.2 minutes per game, while shooting 61 percent from the field and 86 percent from the free-throw line.

Jusuf Nurkic has also been fantastic since Kanter arrived, averaging 25.5 points, 11 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks in 25.5 minutes the past two games, shooting 68 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free-throw line.

Together, the two are averaging 42.5 points, 19.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 45.7 minutes per game. Though they're unlikely to keep up quite this level of production, the argument can be made that Portland now boasts the league’s best center tandem on offense.

There are only two other teams that can boast a starter/backup combination at the center position with stats comparable to what Portland now has.

TOP NBA CENTER TANDEMS*

*Stats for Gasol and Kanter are since they joined their new teams, while stats for all other players are full-season statistics.

As impressive as Kanter has been on offense, his defense has been as bad as advertised. In the win against Brooklyn, he was mostly matched up against former Blazers center Ed Davis, who made six of seven shots and scored 15 points, only the fourth game this season in which Davis scored 15 points or more.

When Kanter has been on the court, the Blazers' defense has allowed 11.4 points more per 100 possessions.

Lineups with Kanter in them have been unproductive for the Blazers so far. The most-used Kanter lineup — Seth Curry, CJ McCollum, Rodney Hood, Jake Layman and Kanter — has been outscored by 22.8 points per 100 possessions. The next most-used lineup — Curry, Damian Lillard, Hood, Layman and Kanter — has been outscored by 19.7 points per 100 possessions.

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The Blazers surely knew about Kanter's defense when they acquired him and felt the trade-off on offense is worth it. They have to hope that once Kanter and Hood are fully integrated, and have a solid understanding of their teammates and the Blazers' playbook, the offense with those lineups will be better. It certainly merits monitoring the rest of the season, though.

Here's a look at how the Blazers fared in the most recent batch of NBA power rankings.

Editor's note: The theme of Sports Illustrated's power rankings this week is one game each team should have circled on its schedule.

What they wrote: March 7 vs. Thunder. Of the Trail Blazers’ first 12 games after the All-Star Break, 10 of them are on the road. The first home contest is against the Thunder, who Portland is 0-3 against this season. With only two games separating the teams, the Trail Blazers can still hop the Thunder in the standings even though they can’t get the tiebreaker. But if they get swept for the season series, it’s hard to see that happening. — Khadrice Rollins

What they wrote: On Monday, newcomer guard Rodney Hood will face Cleveland for the first time since the Cavaliers traded him on Feb. 4. Hood has scored in double figures just once since joining the Blazers, averaging 8.3 points in 22 minutes in six games for Portland. — Marc Spears

What they wrote: The Blazers rank 29th in post-break 3-point percentage (21.8 percent), but with the addition of Enes Kanter, they have a pair of bruising centers who both got to eat in their first two games out of the break. Jusuf Nurkic and Kanter combined for 85 points (on 33-for-51 shooting) and 39 rebounds as the Blazers outscored Brooklyn 66-56 in the paint on Thursday and outrebounded Philadelphia 53-33 on Saturday. "Our offense is going to be fine," Terry Stotts said after the Brooklyn win, before acknowledging the issue with Kanter on the other end of the floor. "Defensively, it's going to be a challenge." The Blazers are now 15-4 against the Eastern Conference and 2-0 on the seven-game trip that continues this week and includes two games — Wednesday in Boston and Friday in Toronto — against top-10 offenses. — John Schuhmann

Editor's note: The theme of CBS Sports' power rankings this week is the worst-case scenario for every team.

What they wrote: Worst-case scenario: Not only do the Blazers get knocked out in the first round, they do so in a way that exposes this team as far too reliant on Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. The noise that's been in the background of every Blazers failure the past few years — that this team has a distinct ceiling with this star backcourt — becomes overwhelming. The late-season moves (acquiring Rodney Hood, signing Enes Kanter) turn out to be solid moves, but not nearly enough for what this team needed. — Reid Forgrave

Editor's note: The theme of The Athletic's power rankings this week is one bold prediction for each team for the rest of the season.

What they wrote: Prediction: Portland Trail Blazers grab the No. 3 seed again and hope for better results.

The Trail Blazers are in the process of making up a lot of road games. They’re two games into a seven-game road trip right now. They’ll have another three and a four-game trip coming up later in this stretch run. Portland isn’t bad on the road (12-15), but they aren’t world-beaters either. They definitely prefer the friendly confines of their home arena (24-8). Even with that disparity of home versus road games being rectified by the schedule, I don’t think it’s going to deter them from going on a run and passing Oklahoma City at some point for the No. 3 seed. In a much more balanced schedule from mid-February to mid-March, the Blazers went on a run of 13 straight wins at this time last season.

They probably won’t streak like that, but the Blazers have won 14 of their last 20 games. This team’s depth and attack have been honed quite nicely throughout the season. Jusuf Nurkic is looking a lot more like the trade boost version of himself who played well right away after being traded there from Denver a couple trade deadlines ago. Portland also has the 21st easiest schedule the rest of the way. The main thing hurting this prediction is the Blazers are 0-3 against the Thunder so far, and therefore do not have the tiebreaker. But they can beat the Thunder on March 7 and gain some much needed ground. They won’t have to deal with Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis in the first-round, but they will have solve stopping James Harden based on these predictions here. — Zach Harper