Winner: Portland, not satisfied
I don't mind the
Portland Trail Blazers' gamble on Contract Year
Hassan Whiteside, even if it cost them
Maurice Harkless -- meaning Portland lost both its rangy starting forwards (Harkless and
Al-Farouq Aminu) in the span of 36 hours. The Blazers have to get by with guards sliding up a position and bigs --
Zach Collins -- sliding down. (
Anthony Tolliver can fill minutes, too.)
Eh. Harkless and Aminu appear more essential in stature -- big wings who can guard other big wings -- than they are in reality. Every postseason, opponents dared Harkless and Aminu to shoot 3-pointers. Every year, they missed until Portland cut their playing time. The Blazers are just getting that process over early.
Whiteside is comfortable with almost everything Portland asks of its centers: hang near the rim on defense; gobble up offensive rebounds when opponents swarm Lillard and
CJ McCollum; and post up the occasional mismatch. His entitled pouting won't fly on Lillard's team. In Miami, Whiteside could talk himself into the (false) idea that he was both the Heat's best and highest-paid player. Neither is true in Portland. Even Whiteside must recognize that.
One Portland-specific area of concern: Whiteside has no track record making plays in space, something every Blazer screen-setter must do given how defenses trap Lillard. (Whiteside is a lazy, noncontact screen-setter to boot.)
Whiteside is a sloth with the ball. He has averaged fewer than one assist per game every season of his career save 2017-18 -- when he averaged exactly one. He makes
Enes Kanter look like Draymond Green.
Still: Whiteside will have some monster statistical games mooching off Portland's star guards, and that raw production matters over the slog of the regular season. He's a fine placeholder for
Jusuf Nurkic.
Portland's young players are primed for leaps.
Kent Bazemore and
Rodney Hood stabilize the outside shooting. Portland is still one move from being a real title threat, but it will enter this season in good position to strike.
