Exclusive Retooling The Blazers Rotation

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TorturedBlazerFan said:
First off, really good article, easy to read and well structured. A little ashamed I didn’t know you wrote.

I don’t have a ton to add, but I would like to see if the Blazers could start Collins at the 4, Aminu at the 3 and Harkless could be the ‘sub’ for Them.
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First off, thank you. No shame neccessary. It has been awhile since I have written an article. I don't know that I posted the last one here.

Yeah I talk briefly about that in my article. Starting Collins at the 4 is an option, one that will eventually happen. Like I pointed out though, our front court lacks depth and starting Collins would make that hole feel a bunch bigger. Aminu plays better at the 4. If Collins started I think it would be Aminu coming off the bench.

I think we will sesee Harkless at the 4 a good bit too, so Stotts doesn't have to play Meyers too much.
 
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Chris Craig said:
First off, thank you. No shame neccessary. It has been awhile since I have written an article. I don't know that I posted the last one here.

Yeah I talk briefly about that in my article. Starting Collins at the 4 is an option, one that will eventually happen. Like I pointed out though, our front court lacks depth and starting collins would maie that hole feel a but bigger. Aminu plays better at the 4. If Collins started I think it would be Aminu coming off the bench.

I think we will sesee Harkless at the 4 a good bit too, so Stotts doesn't have to play Meyers too much.
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Yeah I think you’re right about Aminu. How do you feel about early in the season throwing Steaksauce or Trent JR out at the 3 they’re shooting could theoretically be valuable and they aren’t undersized by much (if at all). So they could end up having Harkless and Aminu both coming off the bench if one of those guys and Collins works out.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
Yeah I think you’re right about Aminu. How do you feel about early in the season throwing Steaksauce or Trent JR out at the 3 they’re shooting could theoretically be valuable and they aren’t undersized by much (if at all). So they could end up having Harkless and Aminu both coming off the bench if one of those guys and Collins works out.
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Both Stauskas and Trent Jr. will see time at the 3. More so if another shake at Turner doesn't pan out. I have a really good feeling about Trent Jr. Stauskas will be used like Steve Smith, subbed in for quick doses of 3's. His defense is in question though, so his minutes may suffer accordingly.
 
Initial rotation will probably look like this imo

Dame
CJ
Harkless
Aminu
Nurkic

CJ
Curry
Turner
Collins
Leonard

Hopefully guys like Baldwin and Trent force their way onto the court. Maybe even Layman or Biggie, because I’m over the Leonard story.
 
Scalma said:
Initial rotation will probably look like this imo

Dame
CJ
Harkless
Aminu
Nurkic

CJ
Curry
Turner
Collins
Leonard

Hopefully guys like Baldwin and Trent force their way onto the court. Maybe even Layman or Biggie, because I’m over the Leonard story.
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Yeah, pretty sure I'd rather see Layman/Collins at the 4/5 than Collins/Leonard.
 
Chris Craig said:
Both Stauskas and Trent Jr. will see time at the 3. More so if another shake at Turner doesn't pan out. I have a really good feeling about Trent Jr. Stauskas will be used like Steve Smith, subbed in for quick doses of 3's. His defense is in question though, so his minutes may suffer accordingly.
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His defense isn't questionable, it's certified awful!
 
I was born in Portland Or. and raised about 30 miles north of there. When I turned 18 I hit the road and have not really looked back. It is not that I do not like the place it is just that life is short and there is a lot to see before you croak. I love the game of basketball namely the Blazers. I do not have cable and I refuse to pay the online fees to watch basketball not at their prices anyway. So I do not get much in the way of news. I rely on a lot of you guys here to tell me what is going on with the team. There is about 8 people on this forum that should take most of the NBA's sports writers jobs and that is no joke. Thank you for this article Chris it is a really good read.

My gut feelings for this season is this: Steaksauce or Meat will break the rotation.
1. Steaksauce: New team, New Leadership (Dame can make dam near anyone better)
2. Meat Leonard: basically he is fighting for his basketball career and really has to prove that he belongs in the NBA he knows at the end of the season no matter what he does he is an expiring contract and a waiver if he does not do better. We are done with him but he might have a place on the East Coast.
3. CJ is traded before the deadline but I think it will happen before the season starts.
4. Zach starts game 1 regular season with Harkless off the bench. Let him foul out in the NBA a couple of times to get his name known and get some real NBA minutes for developing.
5. Caleb is the wildcard here I believe he is in the same position as 2.
 
Meyers and Caleb are not replacement quality NBA players. Stauskas is a 3rd string vet min. All 3 are irrelevant.

CJ is very good, he isn't the problem, we need a better starter with him and Dame on this roster. Swapping our second best player for another very good starter doesn't improve the team. I'd likely only trade CJ if it is the beginning of a rebuild where we evaluate trading Dame too.
 
Meat, Caleb and Stauskas are all playing for their NBA careers. Maybe I did not quite put it the way I meant. 1 of them will play well enough to be used as trade fodder(salary fill in) without being waivered the other will go or be traded and waived . Meat is gone no matter what. Caleb will probably stay since he has a rookie contract and developed.

CJ staying will stagnate the team I believe we will make the trade for Butler or attempt it. If he stays we will be good enough to stay out of the lottery but be bad enough to make our 1st round exit. I like CJ but I do not think we will go anywhere with him paired up with Dame
 
Chris Craig said:
https://www.blazersland.com/816-2/
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Post all-star break, is it time to revisit this column?

From Stotts' radio interview yesterday, it's pretty clear that Moe will continue to start unless something catastrophic happens. He also specifically mentioned Seth, Rodney, Jake, and Enes as valuable sources of bench scoring, so it sounds like all of them are expected to be in the rotation. I think Meyers is basically out, and Collins is the 11th man.

I'd guess we'll see Turner, Hood, Layman, and Kanter comprise the bench mob, with either Curry or Collins situationally.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
Post all-star break, is it time to revisit this column?

From Stotts' radio interview yesterday, it's pretty clear that Moe will continue to start unless something catastrophic happens. He also specifically mentioned Seth, Rodney, Jake, and Enes as valuable sources of bench scoring, so it sounds like all of them are expected to be in the rotation. I think Meyers is basically out, and Collins is the 11th man.

I'd guess we'll see Turner, Hood, Layman, and Kanter comprise the bench mob, with either Curry or Collins situationally.
Click to expand...

https://www.blazersland.com/revisiting-the-blazers-rotation/
 
PtldPlatypus said:
Post all-star break, is it time to revisit this column?

From Stotts' radio interview yesterday, it's pretty clear that Moe will continue to start unless something catastrophic happens. He also specifically mentioned Seth, Rodney, Jake, and Enes as valuable sources of bench scoring, so it sounds like all of them are expected to be in the rotation. I think Meyers is basically out, and Collins is the 11th man.

I'd guess we'll see Turner, Hood, Layman, and Kanter comprise the bench mob, with either Curry or Collins situationally.
Click to expand...

if Stotts essentially relegates Meyers and Zach into sometimes-in-sometimes-out rotation players, I'd think it had better be a really successful rotation because I would wonder how Olshey would react if it failed. Olshey has been a huge fan of both Meyers and Zach in the past. If they start logging DNP-CD's and Portland fails again, especially if it's another first round fold, I'd think the first thing to happen would be Stotts looking for work. Of course, it was Olshey that brought in Hood and Kanter. That may have been him recognizing that Portland needed boosting, but it also may have been just opportunities to get decent players cheaply to help the playoff run. Olshey did cut bait on Swanigan quickly, but Biggies' flaws and weaknesses were painfully obvious....sorry, keyboard version of babbling now without much point but some high octane coffee this morning
 
Chris Craig said:
https://www.blazersland.com/revisiting-the-blazers-rotation/
Click to expand...

Below is their assessment and I think it is pretty accurate. My main concern is who is playing in crunch time, and to be honest Dame is the only sure thing. The rest of the lineup should be determined on on who is playing best that particular game. There is now enough depth at SG, SF, PF and Center to make them earn their minutes. I still like a Dame CJ Hood Jake and Nurk lineup for the most part at the end of games, but Aminu, Harkless, ET, Curry, and Kanter and even Collins can certainly finish as well if they are having a good game. I know some will say we need Hark or Aminu in there for defense and that might be true in some matchups, but I am not sold that they are that much better on D than Jake or Hood that would make up for the difference on the offensive side.

Starters

Damian Lillard
CJ McCollum
Maurice Harkless
Al Farouq Aminu
Jusuf Nurkic

Bench

Seth Curry
Evan Turner
Rodney Hood
Jake Layman/Zach Collins
Enes Kanter

Odd Men Out

Meyers Leonard – though based on foul trouble/match-ups we may see him here and there
Skal Labissiere
Anfernee Simons
Gary Trent Jr
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Below is their assessment and I think it is pretty accurate. My main concern is who is playing in crunch time, and to be honest Dame is the only sure thing. The rest of the lineup should be determined on on who is playing best that particular game. There is now enough depth at SG, SF, PF and Center to make them earn their minutes. I still like a Dame CJ Hood Jake and Nurk lineup for the most part at the end of games, but Aminu, Harkless, ET, Curry, and Kanter and even Collins can certainly finish as well if they are having a good game. I know some will say we need Hark or Aminu in there for defense and that might be true in some matchups, but I am not sold that they are that much better on D than Jake or Hood that would make up for the difference on the offensive side.

Starters

Damian Lillard
CJ McCollum
Maurice Harkless
Al Farouq Aminu
Jusuf Nurkic

Bench

Seth Curry
Evan Turner
Rodney Hood
Jake Layman/Zach Collins
Enes Kanter

Odd Men Out

Meyers Leonard – though based on foul trouble/match-ups we may see him here and there
Skal Labissiere
Anfernee Simons
Gary Trent Jr
Click to expand...

I think that's pretty accurate. The one wildcard I see is Moe Harkless's knee. If he can't go, or if his knee reduces his productivity, Stotts' job managing minutes gets a lot easier. Hood would probably slide into the starting 3 spot with Layman getting the backup minutes.
 
wizenheimer said:
if Stotts essentially relegates Meyers and Zach into sometimes-in-sometimes-out rotation players, I'd think it had better be a really successful rotation because I would wonder how Olshey would react if it failed. Olshey has been a huge fan of both Meyers and Zach in the past. If they start logging DNP-CD's and Portland fails again, especially if it's another first round fold, I'd think the first thing to happen would be Stotts looking for work. Of course, it was Olshey that brought in Hood and Kanter. That may have been him recognizing that Portland needed boosting, but it also may have been just opportunities to get decent players cheaply to help the playoff run. Olshey did cut bait on Swanigan quickly, but Biggies' flaws and weaknesses were painfully obvious....sorry, keyboard version of babbling now without much point but some high octane coffee this morning
Click to expand...

I think Meyers will play less than Collins, but depending on matchups/injuries we will see him. Layman and Collins will share the backup 4 mins.

Olshey doesn't care as long the Blazers win. He obviously sees Hood and Kanter as upgrades and knows Enes Kanter will play over Meyers/Collins. I don't see it failing per say. Maybe it won't change much. I think the Blazers took a step up.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
Below is their assessment and I think it is pretty accurate. My main concern is who is playing in crunch time, and to be honest Dame is the only sure thing. The rest of the lineup should be determined on on who is playing best that particular game. There is now enough depth at SG, SF, PF and Center to make them earn their minutes. I still like a Dame CJ Hood Jake and Nurk lineup for the most part at the end of games, but Aminu, Harkless, ET, Curry, and Kanter and even Collins can certainly finish as well if they are having a good game. I know some will say we need Hark or Aminu in there for defense and that might be true in some matchups, but I am not sold that they are that much better on D than Jake or Hood that would make up for the difference on the offensive side.

Starters

Damian Lillard
CJ McCollum
Maurice Harkless
Al Farouq Aminu
Jusuf Nurkic

Bench

Seth Curry
Evan Turner
Rodney Hood
Jake Layman/Zach Collins
Enes Kanter

Odd Men Out

Meyers Leonard – though based on foul trouble/match-ups we may see him here and there
Skal Labissiere
Anfernee Simons
Gary Trent Jr
Click to expand...

I agree it probably to some degree depend on who is hot and who is not. It will also depend on matchups. It will be the starters with Layman, Hood, Kanter, sometimes Curry sprinkled in.
 
e_blazer said:
I think that's pretty accurate. The one wildcard I see is Moe Harkless's knee. If he can't go, or if his knee reduces his productivity, Stotts' job managing minutes gets a lot easier. Hood would probably slide into the starting 3 spot with Layman getting the backup minutes.
Click to expand...

True Moe's knee is persistant. Stotts usually goes with Turner or Layman in his absence. Hood would be interesting.
 
I can see Layman and Collins to share the 4 but also see Turner and Curry sharing to at the point. We can go small or big with that second unit.

Curry
Turner
Kanter
Hood
Layman
Or
Turner/Curry
Hood
Kanter
Collins
Layman
 
Our bench got out score 48-28 last night that not good. But they was not all against the bench but our bench got tore up in that 1st half due to our defense was poor and the offensive was even poorer. Due to it was 1st game back from the all Star break I will give them break on the offensive but defense no break for that effort in the 1st half. Stotts need figure out with that unit if want's offense on that unit without no defense present or have at least some defense present in there like Collins along side Kanter and the others. Kanter was like the mantodor in bull fight saying o'lay in the middle.
 
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