Derrick Jones Jr. to be a starter

[BlazersRizing]

Stotts, entering his ninth season as Portland’s head coach, said Robert Covington, acquired via trade this offseason from Houston, and Derrick Jones Jr., signed as a free agent last week after spending the last two season with the Miami Heat, are currently the favorites to start at the forward positions as the team prepares for the start of the regular season in late-December.

“I think Robert and Derrick will probably be the starters and we’ll go from there,” said Stotts. “Rodney (Hood) is coming off the injury so he might be on some restrictions going into the season. So I think coming into this, that’s kind of what we’re looking at.”

[Village Idiot]

It seems really premature to appoint DJJ as a starter before training camp even starts but whatever.

[BlazersBroncos]

I think Hood compliments the starting lineup more than DJJ but he is coming off a huge injury so easing him back makes sense.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I would guess it all depends on Hood and what he can do. With the starters, I think you want a shooter out there, which is NOT Jone's Jr. I'd prefer to have Jones Jr with the other young guys so they can run more. If Hood can return to form (for the most part), I think he fits better with the starters.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

this is the best or second best line-up blazers can put out there

blazers needed to surround nurk with some other defenders, cause as good as he is on the defensive end, he cant do it all alone, so covington and jones jr will provide much needed perimeter defense and when it comes to offense, theres enough points between dame, cj mccollum and nurk and then covington and jones jr will add some points too, so offense wont be a problem

joner jr will play like vonleh or layman did, he will score on nurks (and dames) backdoor passes, so there will be a lot of easy dunks for him and we dont need more from him, same goes for covington, as dame, cj mccollum and nurk will score majority of the points and they will run our offense too

however, its possible that collins starts instead of jones jr once hes ready to play big minutes, but whichever line-up terry stotts chooses, im fine with it, as i consider both line-ups to be good

[DeBlazerRiddem]

The inside track at a starting position may have been what set Portland apart from other teams offering Jones the MLE, but Stott's answer of 'well see from there' is really soft and non-committal so I dont see much reason to worry, its just the pecking order going into pre-season but its not set in stone or anything.


It's REALLY nice to have the problem of good players coming off the bench, that is something Blazer fans haven't experienced much of recently. Trent, Hood, Melo, Collins, Kanter all off the bench is making me giddy. I honestly don't care who starts, and who finishes will be on a case-by-case basis. In fact, on a deeper squad it might make some sense to adjust your lineups based on the opponent and what kind of complementary skills you want out there.

[Khazim]

It seems really premature to appoint DJJ as a starter before training camp even starts but whatever.

I'm assuming that's why Stotts used the qualifier "probably".

[Brandon-Clyde]

Remember that Stotts often starts some players as injury replacements so the rest of the rotation stays normal. He may want to keep Anthony in a scoring role off the bench and Giles will have the backup pf role.

[JRoy]

It will be interesting to see how the lineups shake out once ZC gets back.

Not going to lie, it’s nice to have a team with nba level players top to bottom again.

[d-train]

It will be interesting to see how the lineups shake out once ZC gets back.

Not going to lie, it’s nice to have a team with nba level players top to bottom again.

It's great because whoever emerges as the starter, they have to be a very good player. We have a long list of can't lose candidates, Collins, DJJ, Melo, Hood, Giles, Trent, and Little.

Depth at each position:

1- Lillard, CJ, Simons
2- CJ, Hood, Trent, Simons, CJ2
3- RoCo, DJJ, Melo, Hood, Trent, Little, CJ2
4- Collins, RoCo, Melo, Giles, DJJ, Little
5- Nurk, Kanter, Giles, Collins

This is obviously our deepest Blazrrs team post the Aldridge era.

[DusterBuster]

Both Olshey and Stotts have pretty much confirmed it. No real drama for who's going to start unless someone gets injured (or COVID) between here and the season opener...

Dame/Simons
CJ/GTjr
DJJ/Hood
RoCo/Melo
Nurk/Kanter

That's your top 10. Collins won't be ready to start the season, Giles probably is out of the rotation until Nurk or Kanter gets hurt.

I honestly don't think Collins will see much PT this year... Even once he's back, I think he's a backup at best. Guess we'll see tho... If Simons is still struggling, GT probably sees a lot of SG minutes with CJ taking Dame's PG backup minutes, then everyone down the line slides up a position and Collins can get some backup PF... but yeah... it feels like they aren't planning on him being part of the rotation... or at the very least, they aren't betting on it by keeping a spot open for him.

[BlazersBroncos]

I honestly don't think Collins will see much PT this year... Even once he's back, I think he's a backup at best. Guess we'll see tho... If Simons is still struggling, GT probably sees a lot of SG minutes with CJ taking Dame's PG backup minutes, then everyone down the line slides up a position and Collins can get some backup PF... but yeah... it feels like they aren't planning on him being part of the rotation... or at the very least, they aren't betting on it by keeping a spot open for him.

This is where I am, except I dot think Simons should see any minutes. Zach will get minutes, but he only remains a starter if we want continuity from last season. Slotting him into the starting lineup doesn't put our best 5 on the floor. I think he sees 15-20mpg this year, with Nurkic playing less than we think (Not due to play but to keep rested and healthy) and Kanter will be closer to 15mpg than the 22 he saw in his first sting.

The only way to get GTJ the minutes he deserves at SG is to use CJ as the backup point. I am not excited about that, especially in the playoffs, but giving Simons minutes just because he has PG size doesnt make a lick of sense. Gary needs 22-24mpg, he is ready and a net positive when on the floor. Simons just isnt.

[d-train]

Both Olshey and Stotts have pretty much confirmed it. No real drama for who's going to start unless someone gets injured (or COVID) between here and the season opener...

Dame/Simons
CJ/GTjr
DJJ/Hood
RoCo/Melo
Nurk/Kanter

That's your top 10. Collins won't be ready to start the season, Giles probably is out of the rotation until Nurk or Kanter gets hurt.

I honestly don't think Collins will see much PT this year... Even once he's back, I think he's a backup at best. Guess we'll see tho... If Simons is still struggling, GT probably sees a lot of SG minutes with CJ taking Dame's PG backup minutes, then everyone down the line slides up a position and Collins can get some backup PF... but yeah... it feels like they aren't planning on him being part of the rotation... or at the very least, they aren't betting on it by keeping a spot open for him.

I believe you have the probable opening starting 5 correct, other than that I would say most of your assumptions are wrong. So, maybe there is lots of room for unexpected drama. I believe Giles has an excellent chance for significant rotation minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if Giles gets more PT than Trent, Simons, and Kanter while Collins is out. And, I wouldn't be surprised if Simons gets more PT than Trent, but wouldn't predict this happening. I am most certain that Collins will have a very significant role when he is healthy. Collins will start or play as much as any starter other than Lillard, CJ, and RoCo. I think Nurk's minutes might be down around 28/game.

[Pattycakes]

Both Olshey and Stotts have pretty much confirmed it. No real drama for who's going to start unless someone gets injured (or COVID) between here and the season opener...

Dame/Simons
CJ/GTjr
DJJ/Hood
RoCo/Melo
Nurk/Kanter

That's your top 10. Collins won't be ready to start the season, Giles probably is out of the rotation until Nurk or Kanter gets hurt.

I honestly don't think Collins will see much PT this year... Even once he's back, I think he's a backup at best. Guess we'll see tho... If Simons is still struggling, GT probably sees a lot of SG minutes with CJ taking Dame's PG backup minutes, then everyone down the line slides up a position and Collins can get some backup PF... but yeah... it feels like they aren't planning on him being part of the rotation... or at the very least, they aren't betting on it by keeping a spot open for him.

That depth chart is stacked. If CoVid doesn’t **** up the lineup often, were a contender.

[GEE]

I think D-Train's (Healthy) depth chart is spot on. With Collins on IR, that puts ROCO as the starting PF, and slides Jones into the starting SF spot.

I also agree with the assessment that Hood is the backup SG. Love GTJ, but he will be backing up Hood in case he struggles to return to form. Melo will backup the PF position and should see 28min/game, until Collins can work his way back into the starting lineup, which I expect will happen, eventually.

[Wizenheimer]

Portland appears to be over-correcting this year in favor of defense. Maybe that's a good thing but we can't be sure until we see 25-30 games of this new team

I don't have any significant issue with beginning the season as Jones starting at SF. Hood is coming off Achilles surgery. That was less than a year ago so history suggests he won't be what he was; maybe not ever. And Melo isn't quick enough to be a full time SF. The forward positions are pretty interchangeable any way. I do have serious questions about how well Jones will fit in the Stotts offense. The things Jones does well: transition, lobs, back-cuts, are things that Stotts has never utilized

the biggest flashing warning light, IMO, is rebounding with RoCo as the starting PF. Portland's rebounding cratered last season at the same time their defense failed. Covington has a career rebounding rate of 10.3%. That's miles away from what traditional PF's posted. Maybe it won't matter as much in the 'evolved' NBA that plays lots of small ball. Maybe Giles will help buttress Portland on the glass

[Blazinaway]

Portland appears to be over-correcting this year in favor of defense. Maybe that's a good thing but we can't be sure until we see 25-30 games of this new team

I don't have any significant issue with beginning the season as Jones starting at SF. Hood is coming off Achilles surgery. That was less than a year ago so history suggests he won't be what he was; maybe not ever. And Melo isn't quick enough to be a full time SF. The forward positions are pretty interchangeable any way. I do have serious questions about how well Jones will fit in the Stotts offense. The things Jones does well: transition, lobs, back-cuts, are things that Stotts has never utilized

the biggest flashing warning light, IMO, is rebounding with RoCo as the starting PF. Portland's rebounding cratered last season at the same time their defense failed. Covington has a career rebounding rate of 10.3%. That's miles away from what traditional PF's posted. Maybe it won't matter as much in the 'evolved' NBA that plays lots of small ball. Maybe Giles will help buttress Portland on the glass

Giles is a good rebounder, we'll see how well he plays and fits in, if healthy I think he makes a significant impact

[BlazersBroncos]

Giles is a good rebounder, we'll see how well he plays and fits in, if healthy I think he makes a significant impact

I mean, depends on your definition of significant. If he could give us Skal caliber minutes, that would be great. But I wouldnt consider that significant.

I am fairly high on our offseason but the number of people here who think adding some nice role players is elevating us to contention is pretty startling. The only way this team contends is if our top-3, all or some of them, manage to improve. Given age that isnt overly likely IMO.

Prior to the offseason we were defenders and top end talent away from contending. We addressed defense to an extent (Albeit we are far from the 00' Pistons or 11' Mavs) but not top end talent. We are better off than a few weeks ago, but not out of the middle seed treadmill forest IMO.

[GEE]

Giles, I feel is a very interesting signing and a smart one. Olshey has essentially lit a fire under the ass of Collins. Collins will start on the IR with 0 minutes. When declared healthy, he will likely backup ROCO. He then has the ability, or opportunity, to either earn his starting spot back, but if he doesn't meet expectations, Giles might step in and could possibly make Collins expendable, or at least a cheaper resigning in the future.

With every contract, there's an understanding of what the player is being brought in to do. I think the players jobs have already been assigned, along with those expectations. Giles' deal, I imagine, is as 3rd string C day one, getting maybe 4 min/game, with every opportunity to compete for additional minutes at C or PF. This type of healthy competition for minutes should be welcomed by all, and will likely occur on several fronts, with several players on this loaded roster.

As for Derrick Jones Jr.... He will likely start day one, but with Hood, ROCO and Melo... Hopefully there will be that same open competition for minutes, along with smart decisions by Stotts to consider the matchup, gameplan accordingly, and plan ahead. It's up to Terry to find the mixes, and conduct this team like a symphony orchestra.

Finally, I really want to see shorter, harder stints... Especially from the VETS. Play fast and ferocious, for 48 minutes. Never walking the ball up. We shouldn't try to match up against teams, we should try to balance out the starters with a monster punch off the bench, and crush most teams by the end of the 3rd. Most importantly, no heavy minutes for anyone. Personal success vs. Team success is an issue IMO.

[Blazinaway]

Giles is a good rebounder, we'll see how well he plays and fits in, if healthy I think he makes a significant impact

I mean, depends on your definition of significant. If he could give us Skal caliber minutes, that would be great. But I wouldnt consider that significant.

I am fairly high on our offseason but the number of people here who think adding some nice role players is elevating us to contention is pretty startling. The only way this team contends is if our top-3, all or some of them, manage to improve. Given age that isnt overly likely IMO.

Prior to the offseason we were defenders and top end talent away from contending. We addressed defense to an extent (Albeit we are far from the 00' Pistons or 11' Mavs) but not top end talent. We are better off than a few weeks ago, but not out of the middle seed treadmill forest IMO.

"significant" to me means more that we've seem from Zach since he's been here, more efficient and more impactful in similar minutes