PORTLAND, Ore. — While everyone in the East is trying to figure out what is going so sideways with the Knicks and the Nets, the West is puzzling over how the Portland Trail Blazers, who won 33 games last season, are off to a 16-3 start, the best in the conference. If there was any question that their start was a fluke, the Blazers answered by dealing the Indiana Pacers their second loss of the season on Monday and outgunning the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-104, on Wednesday.

Skepticism over the Blazers’ first six weeks is fair. They are not particularly athletic and are only passable on defense. Most of their scoring comes from jump shots, a sometimes frail foundation on which to build a winner. But Trail Blazers Coach Terry Stotts has seen such a system work before: in 2010-11, when he was an assistant in Dallas and helped build an N.B.A. championship offense around the 7-foot forward Dirk Nowitzki’s shooting range and the Mavericks’ crisp ball movement.

In Portland, it’s LaMarcus Aldridge who, like Nowitzki in his younger days, has fought the perception that, because he is 6-11, he should not take so many jump shots. Aldridge is just as deadly as Nowitzki from 20 feet. He almost single-handedly brought the Blazers back against the Thunder in the third quarter, making 8 of 9 shots — all jumpers from his favorite spots on the court: the top of the key and the left block. He finished with 38 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and no turnovers.

With Aldridge and Damian Lillard, last season’s rookie of the year, the Blazers have playoff talent. But what makes this team intriguing is how elegantly the rest of the pieces fit together. General Manager Neil Olshey and his front office did not upgrade only in talent; they also found players who enjoy one another on and off the court.