Thinking ahead... who do we start against the Lakers? That’s the 100 million dollar question. Does Collins start on AD? The time we beat them, Gabriel played decent defense on him. Can’t imagine we want Melo or Nurk on him.
At that point we would’ve played 8 games plus the wild card games. So Collins should have his rust shaken off by then allowing us to start him against Davis. If the only thing Melo can do is scoring than he will have no chance of doing that against Davis so we should have him come off of the bench giving him a better shot of getting points against the back up. I say we have a lineup of Lillard/CJ/Ariza/Collins/Whiteside with Trent/Melo/Nurkic all coming of the bench to give scoring and some defense. The reason why I would start Whiteside over Nurkic is simply because Nurkic haven’t played in so long that I think it’s reasonable that he will be inconsistent but he will be better than Swanigan no matter what
They are probably out there, but where are the articles about Nurkic and Collins being completely ready and training/practicing to come back?
The last two games are unclear. The Blazers won't likely play both their 7th and 8th games against the Lakers. The Blazers will likely play the Lakers for game #7 then either Miami or Orlando for game #8. Knowing the Blazers luck it will be heat.
Damian said in an interview, Nurkic was ready to come back when the league shut down. Collins said he would be ready as soon as the league started back up.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cb...rs-zach-collins-healthy-expected-to-play/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fa...-fully-healthy-expected-to-be-cleared.php?amp https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/05... Nurkic, sidelined,are now both fully healthy. https://www.google.com/amp/s/clutch...-warning-nba-about-healthy-portland-team/amp/
how are you going to start Nurk over Whiteside? Nurk is coming back from a year long + injury and has never had the numbers Whiteside has. starting Nurk this season would be foolish.
I think we'll see the starters remain the same. But the finishers... That's a different story. Terry will definitely be experimenting to find the right balance. I bet we'll see some GT2 at 3 and Ariza 4 and Collins 5 if necessary.
I can see Whiteside starting but Nurk finishing. Or certainly going a little smaller to close (Terry like that) but having Collins makes that much more feasible. Hope GTR can build on the roll he was starting.
