Zach Collins Out Indefinitely For Shoulder Surgery

[DaVoiceMaster]

A huge blow to the team. But, that's what all teams have to go through at some point...

I'm still pissed that Olshey didn't prioritize a PF in the offseason. And no, an aging Gasol doesn't count. The Blazers need players that can play, not cheerleaders. It was silly for Olshey to go into the season talking championship, and yet only really have an inexperienced Zach and Tolliver as your whole PF rotation.

Of course Mario and Hood can play stretch PF, but they aren't going to be able to bang with real PFs.

He did prioritize a PFin the offseason...... Zach Collins. He just put a couple of pieces behind him in the rotation (Tolliver & Hezona).

[zzaj]

I would like to see the Blazers sign Faried and Darren Collison to vet minimum deals. Faried can play a role on this team that nobody else currently can. Collison can actually run a team and is a career 39% 3pt shooter. That might afford Lillard a little bit of rest...

Lillard/Collison
CJ/Simons
Hood/Bazemore
Faried/Mario
Whiteside/Skal

Cap people...where are the Blazers now financially? Are they past the apron? Can they use trade exceptions still?

[BlazersBroncos]

Collison retired, he isn't signed for lack of interest.

And Faried is a Center. He was efficient in the Houston PnR heavy system as a C (90% of his minutes there). I am not convinced he is a viable PF, but I would still sign him as a backup C to free up a potential trade of Hassan's huge EC.

[Wizenheimer]

And Faried is a Center. He was efficient in the Houston PnR heavy system as a C (90% of his minutes there). I am not convinced he is a viable PF, but I would still sign him as a backup C to free up a potential trade of Hassan's huge EC.

Faried isn't a C unless he's playing in the D'antoni system or the opponent is going small-ball without a C. The majority of his minutes in his career have been at PF

and while bbref is usually a great reference for numbers, their assignments of positional minutes suck donkey balls

for instance: last season they say CJ played 29% of his minutes at SF and that Evan Turner didn't play a single minute there. In other words, they are saying that while Turner was never a SF, CJ spent 20 games worth of his time at SF. That's just loony tunes. They also say that Kanter spent 26% of his time at PF.

here is a glaring problem for Portland:

* last season, Portland was 1st in the NBA in offensive rebounding rate; this season, they are 25th

* last season, Portland was 9th in defensive rebounding rate; this season they are 23rd

in terms of defense and rebounding Aminu > Tolliver (&Zach); Harkless > Hood; Turner > Bazemore (pretty close to even on defense). Portland has a defensive problem, big time, and defensive rebounding is a part of that. A player like Faried would solve some of that. 65 games of Tolliver as the starting PF are going to be a disaster

[BlazersBroncos]

Faried isn't a C unless he's playing in the D'antoni system or the opponent is going small-ball without a C. The majority of his minutes in his career have been at PF

The majority have been at PF but he also basically was rendered obsolete as a PF with zero range. That's why he found himself out of the rotation in Denver and BRK. And the D'antoni system of 4-out is basically what PDX and the majority of the league plays now.

A rotation of bigs with Faried and Hassan getting big minutes presents a really big spacing problem. At the same time, I would rather have a spacing problem than a Tolliver-gets-big-minutes-problem.

in terms of defense and rebounding Aminu > Tolliver (&Zach); Harkless > Hood; Turner > Bazemore (pretty close to even on defense). Portland has a defensive problem, big time, and defensive rebounding is a part of that.

Fair analyst, but leaving out Mario is a bit disingenuous. He is playing Hark / Turner minutes and if we are talking rebounding / defense, he is stacking up well. Small sample but:

19/20
Hezonja TRB% 14.4 / DBPM 0.4 / DRTG 108

18/19
Harkless TRB% 10.1 / DBPM 2.3 / DRTG 108
Aminu TRB% 14.2 / DBPM 0.8 / DRTG 109
Turner TRB% 10.9 / DBPM 0.7 / DRTG 111

Just trying to find something positive to look at with the slow start to this season. Mario has been a pleasant surprise rebounding and to a lesser extent defending.

Man did we underrate the defensive impact of Hark. Right now Mario is at 0.4.

To put the defense of this 19/20 team in perspective, that is tied for 2nd highest on the team.

Last year that would put him 7th highest on the team.

[Myth]

Faried just signed in China btw.

National TV is now starting to push the Gallo to Portland idea.

[BlazersBroncos]

National TV is now starting to push the Gallo to Portland idea.

About time.

[d-train]

Well, this is awful news. Most of the season gone. Not sure I can handle Tolliver starting 65 more games

Yeah Tolliver either needs to be really good from 3 or he isn't worth it. Right now he's really bad from 3 making him not worth it.
I know people talk about a trade but I'm just not sure what Portland can trade and still have a functioning roster with their injuries.

Maybe Bazemore, Little, 2 1sts for Gallinari.

I wouldn't trade Bazemore for Gallinari. I definitely wouldn't additionally give up Little and 2 more 1st round picks. Gallo is a really good player but he doesn't add as much to our team as Bazemore does. In a vacuum Gallo may be better, but Gallo primarily is a duplication of skills we already have. Gallo does nothing to help replace Collins.

Maybe next summer we can sign Gallo as a free agent if Hood opts out. Gallo makes more sense as an upgrade to Hood. Between Gallo and Hood, I would take the cheapest option. I would pay more for another great defender like Bazemore.

[Village Idiot]

I definitely wouldn't trade a 1st for Gallinari. Heck, the way things are going now we'll be too deep in the hole to climb back out by the time we can trade any of our new acquired or re-signed players.

Personally I'm ok giving Nurkic and Collins ample to fully recover, missing the playoffs, getting a lottery pick and starting over next year.

The kind of deal I'm interested in doing is McCollum, Tolliver and our 2021 pick for Gordon and Bamba and then let Simons, Little, Bamba and Skal get lots of playing time. Let Bazemore and Whiteside expire, resign Skal for cheap and go into next season with cap space for a change.

[Blazinaway]

I definitely wouldn't trade a 1st for Gallinari. Heck, the way things are going now we'll be too deep in the hole to climb back out by the time we can trade any of our new acquired or re-signed players.

Personally I'm ok giving Nurkic and Collins ample to fully recover, missing the playoffs, getting a lottery pick and starting over next year.

The kind of deal I'm interested in doing is McCollum, Tolliver and our 2021 pick for Gordon and Bamba and then let Simons, Little, Bamba and Skal get lots of playing time. Let Bazemore and Whiteside expire, resign Skal for cheap and go into next season with cap space for a change.

I guess the big Q about going this way is whether Dame would stand for it? He is in his prime now and might want to be more competitive and not throw this season away, he seems a great guy but how he handles this will be interesting

[d-train]

I definitely wouldn't trade a 1st for Gallinari. Heck, the way things are going now we'll be too deep in the hole to climb back out by the time we can trade any of our new acquired or re-signed players.

Personally I'm ok giving Nurkic and Collins ample to fully recover, missing the playoffs, getting a lottery pick and starting over next year.

The kind of deal I'm interested in doing is McCollum, Tolliver and our 2021 pick for Gordon and Bamba and then let Simons, Little, Bamba and Skal get lots of playing time. Let Bazemore and Whiteside expire, resign Skal for cheap and go into next season with cap space for a change.

I guess the big Q about going this way is whether Dame would stand for it? He is in his prime now and might want to be more competitive and not throw this season away, he seems a great guy but how he handles this will be interesting

Lillard doesn't have to throw the season away and I don't believe he will. Lillard has the ball and Stotts is the coach. It's up to Lillard and Stotts to develop a better game plan. Our current game plan sucks.