First off, really good article, easy to read and well structured. A little ashamed I didn’t know you wrote. I don’t have a ton to add, but I would like to see if the Blazers could start Collins at the 4, Aminu at the 3 and Harkless could be the ‘sub’ for Them.
First off, thank you. No shame neccessary. It has been awhile since I have written an article. I don't know that I posted the last one here. Yeah I talk briefly about that in my article. Starting Collins at the 4 is an option, one that will eventually happen. Like I pointed out though, our front court lacks depth and starting Collins would make that hole feel a bunch bigger. Aminu plays better at the 4. If Collins started I think it would be Aminu coming off the bench. I think we will sesee Harkless at the 4 a good bit too, so Stotts doesn't have to play Meyers too much.
Yeah I think you’re right about Aminu. How do you feel about early in the season throwing Steaksauce or Trent JR out at the 3 they’re shooting could theoretically be valuable and they aren’t undersized by much (if at all). So they could end up having Harkless and Aminu both coming off the bench if one of those guys and Collins works out.
Both Stauskas and Trent Jr. will see time at the 3. More so if another shake at Turner doesn't pan out. I have a really good feeling about Trent Jr. Stauskas will be used like Steve Smith, subbed in for quick doses of 3's. His defense is in question though, so his minutes may suffer accordingly.
Since he hasn't been a regular starter in a couple of years, so I guess it would actually be "retooling".
Initial rotation will probably look like this imo Dame CJ Harkless Aminu Nurkic CJ Curry Turner Collins Leonard Hopefully guys like Baldwin and Trent force their way onto the court. Maybe even Layman or Biggie, because I’m over the Leonard story.
I won’t cheer ‘against’ ML while he’s a Blazer and I know some feel like ‘this is the year’ again, but I’m so over the experiment...
I was born in Portland Or. and raised about 30 miles north of there. When I turned 18 I hit the road and have not really looked back. It is not that I do not like the place it is just that life is short and there is a lot to see before you croak. I love the game of basketball namely the Blazers. I do not have cable and I refuse to pay the online fees to watch basketball not at their prices anyway. So I do not get much in the way of news. I rely on a lot of you guys here to tell me what is going on with the team. There is about 8 people on this forum that should take most of the NBA's sports writers jobs and that is no joke. Thank you for this article Chris it is a really good read. My gut feelings for this season is this: Steaksauce or Meat will break the rotation. 1. Steaksauce: New team, New Leadership (Dame can make dam near anyone better) 2. Meat Leonard: basically he is fighting for his basketball career and really has to prove that he belongs in the NBA he knows at the end of the season no matter what he does he is an expiring contract and a waiver if he does not do better. We are done with him but he might have a place on the East Coast. 3. CJ is traded before the deadline but I think it will happen before the season starts. 4. Zach starts game 1 regular season with Harkless off the bench. Let him foul out in the NBA a couple of times to get his name known and get some real NBA minutes for developing. 5. Caleb is the wildcard here I believe he is in the same position as 2.
Meyers and Caleb are not replacement quality NBA players. Stauskas is a 3rd string vet min. All 3 are irrelevant. CJ is very good, he isn't the problem, we need a better starter with him and Dame on this roster. Swapping our second best player for another very good starter doesn't improve the team. I'd likely only trade CJ if it is the beginning of a rebuild where we evaluate trading Dame too.
Meat, Caleb and Stauskas are all playing for their NBA careers. Maybe I did not quite put it the way I meant. 1 of them will play well enough to be used as trade fodder(salary fill in) without being waivered the other will go or be traded and waived . Meat is gone no matter what. Caleb will probably stay since he has a rookie contract and developed. CJ staying will stagnate the team I believe we will make the trade for Butler or attempt it. If he stays we will be good enough to stay out of the lottery but be bad enough to make our 1st round exit. I like CJ but I do not think we will go anywhere with him paired up with Dame
Post all-star break, is it time to revisit this column? From Stotts' radio interview yesterday, it's pretty clear that Moe will continue to start unless something catastrophic happens. He also specifically mentioned Seth, Rodney, Jake, and Enes as valuable sources of bench scoring, so it sounds like all of them are expected to be in the rotation. I think Meyers is basically out, and Collins is the 11th man. I'd guess we'll see Turner, Hood, Layman, and Kanter comprise the bench mob, with either Curry or Collins situationally.
if Stotts essentially relegates Meyers and Zach into sometimes-in-sometimes-out rotation players, I'd think it had better be a really successful rotation because I would wonder how Olshey would react if it failed. Olshey has been a huge fan of both Meyers and Zach in the past. If they start logging DNP-CD's and Portland fails again, especially if it's another first round fold, I'd think the first thing to happen would be Stotts looking for work. Of course, it was Olshey that brought in Hood and Kanter. That may have been him recognizing that Portland needed boosting, but it also may have been just opportunities to get decent players cheaply to help the playoff run. Olshey did cut bait on Swanigan quickly, but Biggies' flaws and weaknesses were painfully obvious....sorry, keyboard version of babbling now without much point but some high octane coffee this morning
