RealGM

first of all, logical assumption would be terry stotts goes with 10 men rotation (but given our quality depth, it wouldnt suprise me if stotts goes with 11 men rotation) and obviously, we know our starting five to start the season and its lillard, cj mccollum, covington, djj & nurk, but the question remains about whos coming off the bench

trent jr, carmelo and kanter are a lock, no question about that, even stotts said it about carmelo and kanter and trent jr will most likely back up cj mccollum, as he really emerged last season

however, when collins comes back (projected mid january), were gonna have simons, hood and collins competing for two positions and thats why i dont see giles getting minutes, except on rare occasions

personally, i think collins will surely be part of the rotation, so it will be between simons and hood for the last spot and i think hood might be in for a rude awakening, as were gonna need someone to run the pg position and if its simons out, then lillard and cj mccollum will need to play all 48 minutes

i just cant see djj or collins out of the rotation, as both guys provide defense and djj will score those easy points with alley-oops and backdoor passes and collins himself can shoot 3-pointers as for a guy whos between power forward and center, his 32.4% from downtown is solid

to start the season:

lillard/simons
cj mccollum/trent jr
covington/hood
djj/carmelo
nurk/kanter

when collins comes back:

lillard/simons
cj mccollum/trent jr
covington/collins (when collins checks in, hes gonna switch positions with djj/carmelo)
djj/carmelo
nurk/kanter

Playing time will be resolved by who is healthy and who can best fill the team's needs. All we know now is we start with Lillard, CJ, and Nurk. Everything after these 3 is up for grabs. We know RoCo has an inside track and will probably be 3rd in MPG ahead of Nurk because of load management. DJJ will probably be our 5th starter opening night, but his hold on that status is tenuous at best. Collins, DJJ, Melo, Hood, Trent, Giles, Kanter, and Simons will all have an equal chance to take minutes as the 3-5th man on the court. The most minutes will go to the players who earn it. It's a competition. We need to have the fight to see who wins.

My prediction is that the rotation will be VERY loose for the first month of the season, and I expect the Blazers to make a trade shortly after Collins comes back to do a bit of consolidation and get the roster to 10 man, upgraded rotation.

Edit: To be clear, Collins could be the odd-man out. or Kanter, or Giles, or Simons... but I don't think they will mess with the top 6-7.

Zach is supposed to be out until mid-late January. Giles is an unknown for people have been waiting on him to
get healthy since his junior year in HS but I could see the team treating him with kid gloves, giving him more rest
and sitting him out of games ala Kwahi if he consistently produces on the court. Simons is going to play.