If the NBA had the same format for the playoffs as it does now (top 8 teams make it each conference) the Blazers would've made the playoffs from 1974-75 until 2002-03. The year in the 80's they missed, 81-82, Portland was the 8th seed. Not sure why they took so long to add the 7th and 8th seeds, since the league had 22 teams from 1980-1983. 83-84 was the year they expanded the playoffs to the current 8 teams per conference. Also, and this is something I didn't know, the NBA used to give byes to the top 3 teams who made the playoffs. I knew about the top 2 seeds being given byes, but not the top 3. So in 74-75 and 75-76, Portland was the #6 seed and 7th seed. In 76-77, they changed it to 6 teams being in the playoffs, and of those 6 teams, the top two seeds received first round byes.
