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Swanigan might have a rebounding advantage as well. I like a team that dominates the boards. Collins is a good rebounder too though.

 

That's my feeling as well. And he can play with Davis because he can step out and shoot, or he can slide into the paint if he's playing with Meyers, and fill more of a center style position.

 

There fact that Casey thinks it's not possible is unsettling to me.

 

I definitely want to see Collins start at PF with Swanigan off the bench. Not a knock on Swanigan at all. I just think he'll be highly effective in that role, and Collins will be effective as a starter next to Nurk.

 

I was on the C-Bo To Start train but now I’m all over the Collins train. They’re both great but Zach has shown a bit more dynamism to his game which makes that starting gig more his thing to take.

 

Why?

This is just his opinion which is just as valuable as any of ours IMO.

 

He didn't say it wasn't possible, he just said he didn't know how good of a fit Collins would be with Nurk in the starting line-up. He doesn't give a reason, but it could be as simple as him thinking that Collins is just too inexperienced for that role at this point. I mean, Nurk's only 21 and this will be his first full season of starting for the Blazers. You could argue that having either Davis or Aminu as the starter is a better move until both Nurk and Collins get a little more experience.

 

I'm all in on the Collins starting at PF train. Choooo Choooo

It just seems to fit right for what we need out of our starting 5 and maybe more importantly what Biggie can bring to our bench.

 

I think Swanigan is being over-hyped. He looks like he can be a decent backup. But it's not like he's much of an inside scoring threat, and he'd be a liability defensively on the perimeter, and isn't big or athletic enough to be much of a rim protector.

 

Ha! I coined that comparison during the first pre-season game. I think Collins will be a much better shooter though, and of course, being 7-1 is going to make him more of a defensive presence inside. He reminded me of AK47 because of his length and how quick/agile he was defensively, good instincts to bother defenders and challenge shots.

Zach was a monster in the low post though, which is something I"ve not seen from Swanigan.

 

Stop. There has been no Swanigan "hype". People are getting excited by what they SEE him do on the court.

Also, perimeter defense and rim protection weren't the reasons we drafted him.

 

Disclaimer: I've yet to watch a SL or preseason game in its entirety. Just a few highlights here and there.

With that said, I'm not surprised people have cooled a little bit on Swanigan. Not to the point of being down on him, by any means, but not quite the unbridled enthusiasm of a month ago. The reason being my earlier voiced concern that he looked too slow in college to defend in the NBA, so I was withholding judgement on his strong SL play until seeing him up against the real next level of competition.

There's no questioning his heart, but I do have reservations about his mobility keeping him from being more than "just" a fan favorite, blue collar, hustle player.

 

I'm watching him too, but see somehow who could be a decent rotational player, but not a guy that is who you say "wow we found our piece at PF". He seems more like a Dante Cunningham level player to me.

 

The cool thing is neither opinion is right or wrong. We'll find out. I feel like his defensive concerns are more a narrative than something based on his play. I haven't seen him struggle that much on that side, and certainly not enough to be considered a liability. But like I said, we'll find out.

 

This is a good breakdown of his defensive issues. And while he has a nice jump shot for a big man, he's got no post game.

 

Can make anyone look the way you want editing clips together.

And yes he struggles on the perimeter. That's nothing new. There are ways to hide that.

 

Right, but that wasn't a "hit piece" it's meant to be a thorough analysis. He concludes that Caleb is a good pick at #26. Swanigan is 6-8, and not fleet-a-foot, so I think you can imagine how his defensive issues are legit.

 

Against guards and wings sure. He's an old school four. He can bang against the Favors of the league. Against smaller teams we can move him to the five. His length and strength has bothered guys in the preseason. Yes he has weaknesses, but he also has strengths. He's smart. He's got long arms. He's strong. He's a worker. I don't believe that he'll be a negative on defense. Just my opinion.

 

It's interesting to me that a lot of us really like the idea of Collins starting with Caleb coming off the bench.

If so many of us 'fans' can see it, why can't the coaching staff?