I like baze with the first unit because he’s a better complimentary scorer than Hood. What I mean by that is he does more off the ball. He’s also a better defender and rebounder despite being shorter (he makes up for it with his wingspan) As for PF, obvious choice is Collins but I wouldn’t be surprised if both Skal and Hezonja put themselves in the mix. As the roster stands now, Collins has at least 18 minutes to play at center every night, but probably more like 20-25. That’s why I think it’s important we add another center. I don’t wanna be throwing Zach at guys like Jokic when Whiteside gets in foul trouble
Hood and Collins. I've bought into the Simons hype train, and I think the plan will be to bring him off the bench in a Crabbe/Connaughton/Hood (from last year) role. He'll be told to look for his own offense first and pass second, and CJ will run backup PG. (I know it's not a popular idea for CJ to run backup PG, but it's probably what will happen. As Simons gets more comfortable, the hope is the roles reverse and Simons takes over more PG duties, but that isn't going to happen on day 1.) Defenses tend to put bigger, rangier guys on our guards, and often hide their point guards on our SF. Hood notoriously feasts when he gets a matchup on a shorter player, though, so that plays right into his wheelhouse. So you start him at SF. Whiteside can give you 28mpg at center. The other 20 minutes will be Zach. I think you have to start Collins in a Noah Vonleh kind of role, where you give him minutes and see how he produces (and if he fouls). If it looks like it's going to be one of those game where he's going to foul a lot, you sub him out early and bring in Tolliver. And you save Collins for the rest of the game as just a backup center. 22-24minutes. If Zach looks good, well, then he's going to get 32-38mpg, because he's young and agile and you ride that horse as long as you can just for his defense. Tolliver's role expands or shrinks depending on how good Zach looks. Portland will play around a lot with all the new wing toys coming off the bench, but I bet Bazemore gets the majority of minutes when the dust settles.
All this talk about Zach spelling Whiteside is why I want Skal to show out and be named the starter. Would rather Zach come off the bench to replace Skal 6-8 minutes in, and then move over to center whenever Hassan needs to sit.
There are so many unknowns going into this summer league and next season. Is Ant ready? Is Skal ready? Will Mario be a big part of the rotation? We have a lot of young guys that need to step up.
I love how much you love Skal. Did @Scalma pay you off? In seriousness, I want whoever the best player is to play. I loved watching Skal in the Sac game, I wish I could see what he does in practices, maybe he just needs time. I'll say this having Skal there to put pressure on Zach I think is good for both of them. They can push each other.
In all seriousness, I play up the whole Skal thing for fun. I like him but I’m not dying on his hill just yet. Actually I don’t think I’m ready to die on any of our unproven players hills yet. Gary is the one guy that gets a lot of shit that I like to defend the most, but even with him I haven’t seen enough to draw a line in the sand. I do think Skal is way better than the guy he was traded for though. That I know.
Out of all our young guys, Trent is the least exciting. But he might be the easiest to fit into the rotation if he could hit threes at a high percentage.
Maybe I’m just trying to temper expectations for myself, but I think Dame CJ Hood Collins Whiteside Are the only cats we should really EXPECT to be dependable at this point. Baze probably. Simons maybe. Nas I like as a lotto ticket, but he could very well be in the g league all year. All the other dudes could be a giant pile of garbage for all we know. Hezonja? I mean, he could be out of the league by January. Skal? Same. Idk.
This is going to sound extremely anti-Blazer fan boy, but I want to see a lot more of all their young guys before I really "draw my line in the sand", Zach, Simons, Skal, Trent. I have some "preliminary" opinions on them, but I'm still hesitant to say they're the future, or that they're all future all-stars, or even that they're all bad. I just don't know. Zach's shown some signs of being great and some signs of not so great, but they're all young, and they can all be good (I think).
