Meyers Leonard may be out awhile with his dislocated shoulder. Does anyone know how long one of those takes to heal? It looks like Stotts will have to tinker with the lineup... He could move Davis to the starting PF position: PG - Dame Lillard SG - McCollum SF- Aminu PF- Davis C - Plumlee But Plumlee and Davis together hurts us offensively....though it may look good rebounding wise. Or Stotts could start Vonleh: PG - Dame SG - McCollum SF - Aminu PF - Vonleh C - Plumlee Or he could opt for a smaller line up and put Aminu at the 4 and start either Henderson or Harmless at the 3. PG - Dame SG - McCollum SF - Hendo/ Harmless PF - Aminu C- Plums Stotts could even insert Hendo at the starting 2 in any of these lineups. The biggest challenge is to keep the starters and bench as balanced as possible...if we insert Hendo, Harkless's, or Davis into the starting lineup it takes away from the potency of our bench ( not that it's been very potent since the Detroit game) Who should Stotts start at PF now that Meyers is injured? Should Hendo start over McCollum? Should we try a small lineup with Aminu at the PF?
Plumlee can't shoot but he's not completely useless away from the basket because of his dribbling and passing skills. I say start Davis and Plumlee, especially since we're playing Memphis.
PG = Dame SG = CJ (until Henderson is fully in game shape) SF = Harkless PF = Aminu C = Plumlee As much as people like to hate Meyers (again), he's going to be missed. He spaces the floor well and generally makes the right decisions on the offensive end. You can't really play Davis/Plumlee together. You can't really play Vonleh at all. Aminu is okay, and maybe better as a PF, but his offense is really hard to watch. Honestly, Kaman should probably get the start. He's earned it more than anyone else has.
Hello Cliff Alexander!!!!!!!!!!! I think Meyers is going to go through the Joel Freeland shoulder rehab...took a long time to heal
I think you start vonleh. He has sucked so far, but stotts seems to like to keep his rotation as is and start the guy from the bench not in the rotation. It's a lost season anyways, so may as well give him a shot
They need to play Davis. He is just good enough that if they allow him to pad his stats he could turn into a valuable trade piece. With the cap increasing, solid rotation guys like Davis are going to be commanding much higher salaries next summer. His cap friendly deal plus a solid performance in an increased role could make him very desirable. After the trade deadline, they need to give Vonleh and Hark as many minutes as they can handle.
I think Stotts would start Hark or Hendo. Davis is an option too, but I think Stotts likes going small and we would also have no backup center.
http://www.csnnw.com/blazers/trail-blazers-leaving-town-more-concerns-just-three-game-losing-streak If we want two big men starting I'd put Kaman out there. He only needs to play 7 minutes at the start of the halves. That leaves Harkless as a key man off our bench and doesn't screw with the role of a young Vonleh. If we want to play small I'd go with Hendo at SF and slide Aminu to PF.
It's a good excuse to move Henderson into the lineup if the original plan was really to start him and use CJ as the super-sub. That way, when Leonard comes back or another PF proves worth of starting (Plumlee and Davis together is too little interior threat, even if Leonard rarely ventures in there), moving CJ to the bench is more a reshuffling than a demotion.
I'm not sure if Vonleh or Harkless would benefit from starting, if so start them. It may help them develop more by keeping them in consistent bench roles. Kaman can go from DNP's to starting to DNP's and we don't have to worry about his development. Yeah I'm thinking it will be one of Hendo or Kaman starting.
Lillard/McCollum Henderson/Crabbe Aminu/Harkless Plumlee/Davis Kaman/Vonleh This would be my A and B squad
