Nurkic - what to do?

[Goldbum]

Starters:
Dame
CJ(Trent)
DJJ
RoCo
Kanter

Bench:
CJ(ANT)
Trent
Little
Melo
Giles

Breaks up the Kanter/Melo problem. Little and Giles help GTJ get more shots.
Kanter can live on interior efficiency and rebounding. Littles board crashing and hustle prevent Hood from seeing the court and make up for some of the interior play lost by Kanter.

[d-train]

I might trade Collins for McGee if that were available. He seems like he could bring rebounding and defense which are two things Portland could use. And he has been on a championship team. Collins has potential but we don't even know if he will play this season, and if he does it will be right before the playoffs and probably not at a high level. And Portland really needs to not have 2 of their main bigs be injury prone (Nurkic and Collins). McGee also doesnt seem like the type that would be a problem when Nurkic comes back and his minutes might change.

I think it's a safe assumption Collins won't play this year. We don't know if he will play next season. We don't know if he will be a Blazer next season. Zach has an expensive QO, so he'll likely be an UFA, unless his injury status is far more favorable than my assumptions.

Still, I wouldn't trade Zach for McGee. We will do just as well without McGee.

[Epicurus]

Well, with being on the court the same time as Covington and Jones, Kanter will certainly get opportunities what he does best, offensive rebounding with putbacks.

[d-train]

Zach could back sometime in the next 2-3 weeks and would almost certainly be the
choice when he returns. I think they will opt to play small until Zach returns.

Where do you get this information?

[DusterBuster]

Start Giles. Honestly think he would have a big run...

[GEE]

It seems to me there are 3 choices:
1) Start Kanter, The next man up approach: The more traditional move, but would greatly shake up the rotations, and IMO take away some of Kanter's recent sparkle due to the starting C vs bench C competition.

2) Start Giles. The plug in approach: This keep the rotations relatively the same, and would be like signing a new guy, since Giles hasn't really played at all this year. How much can Giles match the production of Nurkic becomes the major issue along with foul trouble concerns.

3) Start ROCO. The Small-Ball approach: Very similar to the Giles scenario. It, IMO is the worst choice, but also the choice I think Stotts would most want to go with, as I also feel he sees only the offensive side. I now worry about ROCO's health, as he'll get hurt (not necessarily injured) playing against traditional Cs.

I chose Kanter because we know he can start, and do a decent job doing so, we've all seen him do it well before. Also, while Kanter puts up big numbers against opposing benches, the Melo/Kanter pairing does seem to be an issue for debate. For me, it's about also shaking that up a bit. I think the result might be OK, to tread water for the next 8 weeks. Stay the course for the next month at least... then re-evaluate and explore further actions like trades if things go horribly, but I don't think it's a disaster, unless Stotts creates one.

Dame
CJ/GTJ
Jones Jr/Hood
ROCO/Melo
Kanter/Giles


On a side note, I too love Hood and hate the idea of just dumping him. Why? Has he been the problem? He's been getting a handful of minutes here and there and hasn't thrilled, but also hasn't really hurt our team either. It looks like he's showing a slow improvement and I'd like to keep trotting him out there to take those baby steps, knowing he could be clutch again for us come playoff time. I hope he's a Blazer for years to come, as long as he can get back to 90% of what he was. Of course I'd prefer sooner than later, but his efforts are courageous and I hope he keeps it up.

[Matt800]

Zach could back sometime in the next 2-3 weeks and would almost certainly be the
choice when he returns. I think they will opt to play small until Zach returns.

Where do you get this information?

That might be a hopeful guess. Last I heard he was out indefinitely and it was speculated to be a similar time table to the first time so maybe 4 months.

And regarding McGee, I haven't watched him play enough to know how good he is, but he seems to give the Blazers trouble often enough. This season he's getting 8.5 pts, 1.1blk, 6.7 rb, 1.3 ast in 17mpg and is also at 40% 3 point shooting although on small volume. And Cleveland probably doesnt need/want him after just getting Allen from Brooklyn.

[Wizenheimer]

RoCo played 72% of his minutes at C last season. He managed a 1.2 DBPM, 105 DRTG to go along w/ 2.2BPG and 8RPG. He is very capable of playing small ball C.

I don't believe that stat for a second. When I look on BBREF at Houston's lineups last season, 2 of their top-3 most used lineups had Clint Capela in them, as well as 7 of their top 11 lineups. Capela played 39 games for them which was more than half the season.

and when you look at Covington, I don't see a single lineup he was in that didn't have PJ Tucker. And when I say Houstion, Tucker spent most of the time guarding opposing C's when Capela wasn't in

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2020/lineups/

and what I saw fits the numbers at 82games. They say Covington only played 1% of Houston's C minutes. Tucker 33%, and Capela 36%; Hartenstein 7%; Jeff Green 7%; Tyson Chandler 6%

http://www.82games.com/1920/1920HOU.HTM

I've seen that number before about Covington. It's bogus IMO. Besides that, Portland will get crushed on the boards if RoCo is the C. A couple of minutes here and there, sure...more than that start looking at lottery picks

something else too: Blazers can't depend on Nurkic and Zach. Injury magnets. They need to permanently replace at least 1

[Nitro912]

Get andre drummond to Portland!

[d-train]

Get andre drummond to Portland!

Can't afford him this season with his big contract. Next season, when he gets a smaller contract, we still can't afford him.

[d-train]

Blazers aren't going to use Rockets as a model for team success. Rockets traded Capela for RoCo because Capela was out for the season. And, Morey had to win now or their was no next season for him. Morey wanted the best player he could get for an injured player that could do nothing to save his job.

Rockets small ball had a far better chance than anything Blazers can do. Blazers don't have a small ball lineup that can match the physical strength of Tucker, House, Gordon, Harden and Westbrook. RoCo was the light weight in Rockets small ball. Even Rivers is stronger than all our SF's with possible exception of Melo and Little.

[Norm2953]

Zach could back sometime in the next 2-3 weeks and would almost certainly be the
choice when he returns. I think they will opt to play small until Zach returns.

Where do you get this information?

Oops, I was looking at the first ankle surgery. He's out indefinitely , headed down the same road as other Blazer bigs.

It'll be interesting if Portland matches any offers he gets in the off season. Amazing the history of Blazer bigs in team
history for one can say the one Blazer big that was able to stay on the court and have a long, productive career
was perhaps LA.

[PDXKnight]

Start kanter for now with Cov picking up some of the center mins.

[Case2012]

Hear me out...

Taco.

Fall.

Eh?? Eh????

[BlazersBroncos]

I've seen that number before about Covington. It's bogus IMO. Besides that, Portland will get crushed on the boards if RoCo is the C. A couple of minutes here and there, sure...more than that start looking at lottery picks

I concede that 72% at C may be a error on BBREF's part, but the 1% you referenced almost certainly is bogus as well.

I am not saying we use RoCo alot at C, but 8 - 10 minutes per game could present us with some interesting lineups IMO.

I think Kanter starts at the end of the day.

[Sinobas]

And Enes Kanter gets injured in 5,4,3,2....

[dunlop212]

I have to admit it but lately I have been spending more time on the Celtics board. Started because I was curious about how they were reacting to Pritchard (they are euphoric). A way more active board. They love Fall; the board lights up when he gets minutes. An intriguing player, reminds me of Mark Eaton.
Anyway, productive minutes from Giles would do a lot to make this board less gloomy.

[Goldbum]

Rolling Kanter out with the starters replicates our WCFs starting lineup. Giles in the second unit eliminates the Melo/Kanter pairing. Little over Hood is a bit more forward thinking but he would be that units best perimeter rebounder and a dynamic defender in space. Probably struggles for 3-4 games while he settles in but it feels like a better idea than watching the cadaver in Hood's jersey play like he's 2 bottles of nyquil in...

[Soulyss]

I actually like the Giles / Melo pairing better than the Kanter / Melo pairing.. Neither Giles nor Kanter is Nurk, but I suspect we'll be able to ride out this and stay in the playoff picture until Nurk is back.

It's unfortunate that it's Nurk's dominant hand, which will take him a but longer to get his feel / touch back while it heals.

[Soulyss]

As far as the "second part" of this thread... I think everone except Dame, CJ, Nurk, Roco, Melo (simply because it would look bad) should be on the table for an upgrade in Feb after the moratorium expires on DJJ's & Hood's contract.