Scalma
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https://theathletic.com/2459252/202...llins-and-the-fate-of-stotts-blazers-mailbag/
Highlights:
Okay, okay, okay … LaMarcus Aldridge, PJ Tucker, or DeMarcus Cousins? Who heals what ails the team most? —Tanner R.
LaMarcus Aldridge … but only if San Antonio buys out his contract.
Remember two factors with the Blazers as they head toward the deadline: finances and fit.
The most desirable way for the Blazers to improve is through the buyout market because it will be cheap and it doesn’t require sending out an asset. The Blazers have one open roster spot and are $1.8 million under the luxury tax. They desperately do not want to go over to avoid the repeater tax (they are likely to go over next season, when Damian Lillard‘s salary jumps from $31 million to $43 million and C.J. McCollum from $29 million to $30 million). If Aldridge is bought out, they can sign him at the veteran minimum and take a cap hit of around $700k. So financially, it would work.
Aldridge returning to the Blazers would not only be a great reunion story, I think he would be a great fit as a backup power forward and center. I realize Aldridge is 35 and he may have lost a step defensively, but in a must-win game, or a playoff game, I would rather the backup center minutes going to Aldridge more than Enes Kanter or Robert Covington.
In the last two weeks, coach Terry Stotts has started to favor playing small, and there are factions within the organization that think a three-guard lineup — Lillard, McCollum and Gary Trent Jr. — with Carmelo Anthony and Covington as “bigs” could be this team’s most dangerous lineup. It would have five shooters, and as Stotts has pointed out, allows the unit to play a more aggressive, trapping style of defense. It is the Blazers’ attempt to recreate a version of Golden State’s vaunted “Death Lineup” — when the smaller, but skilled unit of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green suffocated the NBA.
The lineup has had its moments. After Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday, Stotts the next day against Minnesota didn’t play Kanter in fourth quarter, instead putting Covington on Towns, who went scoreless.
But as we’ve seen over the last month, this small lineup can run into problems against bigger players. Robin Lopez almost single-handily led the Wizards to the win in Portland. DeAndre Ayton was dominant in a 32-point win. And the Spurs’ Jakob Poeltl had a couple back-breaking tip-ins late.
And no knock against Trent Jr., but I just don’t see him effectively guarding LeBron James, or Kawhi Leonard over the course of a playoff series.
Aldridge would give the Blazers the versatility to still have five shooters on the court, while also having the size and brawn to check centers, while allowing Covington to slide to forward to guard the likes of James and Leonard.
Plus, Aldridge has great pick-and-roll chemistry with Lillard, would be comfortable with his surroundings, and as he told me two years ago, would love to reunite with Lillard to finish his career.
And again, for emphasis: he would be cheap, and wouldn’t force the Blazers to part with a young, up-and-coming player like Little or Anfernee Simons.
As for Cousins and Tucker? A source has told me the Blazers won’t pursue Cousins, and Tucker is an undersized, declining defensive player who can make corner 3s. The Blazers have a better version of that in Covington … plus, Tucker just got traded to Milwaukee.
Any news on Zach Collins? If it’s a possibility he can return before the playoffs does that shift the calculus at all for Olshey regarding the deadline? — Ryan B.
I’m being told the team is gaining hope that Collins could return for the playoffs, if not before the regular season is over on May 16. He had a second surgery on his left ankle on Dec. 30, and Collins said the typical recovery time is 4-to-6 months. The first time he underwent the surgery — after the Orlando bubble — the team targeted his return for mid-January, or 4 1/2 months. He was on schedule for that until he started to feel pain at the 3 1/2 month mark, which was revealed to be a refracture of the same area.
The hope is that this surgery better fuses the break, and I’ve been told the signs so far are encouraging and that a four-month return isn’t out of the question. However, considering Collins has said he doesn’t want to rush back, I would bet the end of May is more realistic than the beginning of May.
“I’m definitely not rushing back,” Collins told The Athletic in February. “I can’t afford to go through this again, so I’m going to be more cautious about coming back early.”
The big question is will the Blazers still be playing when he is ready? If he comes back at four months, he will have nine games in May to acclimate himself for the playoffs. If he comes back at five months, it will be during the first round of the playoffs. Past that? At this point, as Portland see-saws between the fifth and sixth seed, it looks like it would take an upset for them to win a first-round series.
But to the second part of the question: Does Collins’ progress shift Olshey’s thinking at the deadline? Yes and no. I still think Olshey feels he can get by with his stable of big men (Jusuf Nurkic, Kanter, Covington, Giles and possibly Collins) and that he would prefer to add wing depth more than a big man before the deadline. And by wing depth, I mean someone who Olshey feels is better than Rodney Hood or Nassir Little. But the buyout market for wings is looking scarce at the moment, so it will have to involve a trade, which complicates matters. Portland doesn’t have a first-round pick to offer in 2021 (Covington trade) and therefore can’t offer one in 2022 (Stepien rule), leaving Hood and his $10 million contract as the most significant trade piece.
So I guess in a roundabout way I’m saying the Blazers aren’t counting on Collins and would view his return this season as a bonus, but the uncertainty of his status isn’t prompting action.
Highlights:
Okay, okay, okay … LaMarcus Aldridge, PJ Tucker, or DeMarcus Cousins? Who heals what ails the team most? —Tanner R.
LaMarcus Aldridge … but only if San Antonio buys out his contract.
Remember two factors with the Blazers as they head toward the deadline: finances and fit.
The most desirable way for the Blazers to improve is through the buyout market because it will be cheap and it doesn’t require sending out an asset. The Blazers have one open roster spot and are $1.8 million under the luxury tax. They desperately do not want to go over to avoid the repeater tax (they are likely to go over next season, when Damian Lillard‘s salary jumps from $31 million to $43 million and C.J. McCollum from $29 million to $30 million). If Aldridge is bought out, they can sign him at the veteran minimum and take a cap hit of around $700k. So financially, it would work.
Aldridge returning to the Blazers would not only be a great reunion story, I think he would be a great fit as a backup power forward and center. I realize Aldridge is 35 and he may have lost a step defensively, but in a must-win game, or a playoff game, I would rather the backup center minutes going to Aldridge more than Enes Kanter or Robert Covington.
In the last two weeks, coach Terry Stotts has started to favor playing small, and there are factions within the organization that think a three-guard lineup — Lillard, McCollum and Gary Trent Jr. — with Carmelo Anthony and Covington as “bigs” could be this team’s most dangerous lineup. It would have five shooters, and as Stotts has pointed out, allows the unit to play a more aggressive, trapping style of defense. It is the Blazers’ attempt to recreate a version of Golden State’s vaunted “Death Lineup” — when the smaller, but skilled unit of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green suffocated the NBA.
The lineup has had its moments. After Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday, Stotts the next day against Minnesota didn’t play Kanter in fourth quarter, instead putting Covington on Towns, who went scoreless.
But as we’ve seen over the last month, this small lineup can run into problems against bigger players. Robin Lopez almost single-handily led the Wizards to the win in Portland. DeAndre Ayton was dominant in a 32-point win. And the Spurs’ Jakob Poeltl had a couple back-breaking tip-ins late.
And no knock against Trent Jr., but I just don’t see him effectively guarding LeBron James, or Kawhi Leonard over the course of a playoff series.
Aldridge would give the Blazers the versatility to still have five shooters on the court, while also having the size and brawn to check centers, while allowing Covington to slide to forward to guard the likes of James and Leonard.
Plus, Aldridge has great pick-and-roll chemistry with Lillard, would be comfortable with his surroundings, and as he told me two years ago, would love to reunite with Lillard to finish his career.
And again, for emphasis: he would be cheap, and wouldn’t force the Blazers to part with a young, up-and-coming player like Little or Anfernee Simons.
As for Cousins and Tucker? A source has told me the Blazers won’t pursue Cousins, and Tucker is an undersized, declining defensive player who can make corner 3s. The Blazers have a better version of that in Covington … plus, Tucker just got traded to Milwaukee.
Any news on Zach Collins? If it’s a possibility he can return before the playoffs does that shift the calculus at all for Olshey regarding the deadline? — Ryan B.
I’m being told the team is gaining hope that Collins could return for the playoffs, if not before the regular season is over on May 16. He had a second surgery on his left ankle on Dec. 30, and Collins said the typical recovery time is 4-to-6 months. The first time he underwent the surgery — after the Orlando bubble — the team targeted his return for mid-January, or 4 1/2 months. He was on schedule for that until he started to feel pain at the 3 1/2 month mark, which was revealed to be a refracture of the same area.
The hope is that this surgery better fuses the break, and I’ve been told the signs so far are encouraging and that a four-month return isn’t out of the question. However, considering Collins has said he doesn’t want to rush back, I would bet the end of May is more realistic than the beginning of May.
“I’m definitely not rushing back,” Collins told The Athletic in February. “I can’t afford to go through this again, so I’m going to be more cautious about coming back early.”
The big question is will the Blazers still be playing when he is ready? If he comes back at four months, he will have nine games in May to acclimate himself for the playoffs. If he comes back at five months, it will be during the first round of the playoffs. Past that? At this point, as Portland see-saws between the fifth and sixth seed, it looks like it would take an upset for them to win a first-round series.
But to the second part of the question: Does Collins’ progress shift Olshey’s thinking at the deadline? Yes and no. I still think Olshey feels he can get by with his stable of big men (Jusuf Nurkic, Kanter, Covington, Giles and possibly Collins) and that he would prefer to add wing depth more than a big man before the deadline. And by wing depth, I mean someone who Olshey feels is better than Rodney Hood or Nassir Little. But the buyout market for wings is looking scarce at the moment, so it will have to involve a trade, which complicates matters. Portland doesn’t have a first-round pick to offer in 2021 (Covington trade) and therefore can’t offer one in 2022 (Stepien rule), leaving Hood and his $10 million contract as the most significant trade piece.
So I guess in a roundabout way I’m saying the Blazers aren’t counting on Collins and would view his return this season as a bonus, but the uncertainty of his status isn’t prompting action.
