Zach Collins, Portland Trail Blazers.
Trevor Ariza, Portland Trail Blazers.
Rip City fans are rightfully disappointed by the Portland Trail Blazers five-game exit in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. They can be proud of the heart and determination their team showed in the Orlando bubble and look forward to better things ahead. There is one huge area the Blazers need to improve if they want to get to the next level.
During the seeding games, it wasn’t as evident, but the Portland Trail Blazers have a depth problem among their group of forwards. As of now, it looks to be getting worse, not better. They can’t rely on their guards to win every game.
All season long, the Blazers played without center Jusuf Nurkic. Power forward Zach Collins lasted three games before he was lost long-term as well. If it weren’t for the COVID-19 delay, it’s unlikely the tall tandem would have played together this season. While the big men were on the injured list, Portland signed 36-year-old free agent Carmelo Anthony in mid-November to team up with new center Hassan Whiteside.
The Trail Blazers were a competitive team but played to a sub-.500 29-37 record when play was halted for COVID-19. However, Portland went 24-24 from November 25 through the stoppage. That was a good performance, but their lack of depth was evident.
Given a few extra months to heal, Nurkic and Collins returned for the eight seeding games in Orlando. Consequently, with a near-full roster (missing Trevor Ariza and Rodney Hood), Portland went 6-2. Anthony made a seamless move to back to the three to replace Ariza, and Whiteside came off the bench. The Blazers overcame a three-and-half game deficit to finish in eighth place in the Western Conference then eliminated Memphis in a play-in game to reach the postseason.
Carmelo Anthony, Portland Trail Blazers.
Los Angeles had the best record in the west, beating them in a seven-game series was a challenging task at the outset. Then it was announced Collins would miss the series due to an ankle injury. With two seven-footers in the Lakers lineup, Blazers could afford to play Melo at the three, head coach Terry Stotts started the series with Wenyen Gabriel in Collins’ spot. He played hard but was overmatched.
Stotts then went Whiteside and Nurkic in the starting lineup. Unfortunately, Portland’s revamped version of the twin towers never worked well together. To make matters worse, Damian Lillard injured his knee in Game 4, which finished him for the series. Gabrial was unable to go in Game 5 because of an injury that cut the Blazers roster to nine.
First of all, no team can overcome losing a talent like Lillard. Even so, C.J. McCollum, Gary Trent Jr., and Anfernee Simons formed a nice three-man backcourt rotation. Next, a lack of quality depth shouldn’t be confused with attrition. But who was hurt and where exposed the depth problems. Portland is not deep enough up front.
There is a huge hole at the three-spot. Trevor Ariza will be 36 next season, and it’s more likely he gets bought out for $1.5M rather than the Blazers pick up his $12M option for 2020-21. Hood is coming off of Achillies surgery, which requires a long rehabilitation. His return is up in the air. Anthony is a pending free agent. The 36-year-old said he wants to return to PDX and probably won’t be too expensive. But how much does he have left in the tank? It looked like Melo was starting to wear down in March, before the break.
Jusuf Nurkic, Portland Trail Blazers.
Center is Nurkic’s position. When he’s on, Nurk is a double-double machine. His defense, however, can be hit and miss.
Whiteside proved himself to be a valuable rebounder and shot-blocker this year. Additionally, Count Blockula was outstanding coming off the bench in the seeding games. The pending free agent played for over $27M in 2019-20. Whiteside doesn’t deserve a pay cut. So how much is Portland willing to pay him to be a backup center next season?
Finally, Portland’s lack of depth at the four-spot reared its head. Zach Collins is by no means an all-star. But he plays hard and was in his element in the Blazers big lineup. When he went down, so did the dominoes that led to their series loss.
As mentioned before, Anthony isn’t the answer, and Gabriel doesn’t have enough talent to play significant minutes. Despite his 6-8 frame, Mario Hezonja looks like he’d rather play like a guard rather than banging bodies in the paint. What the Portland Trail Blazers needs is a banger to come off the bench, who isn’t afraid to fight on the boards and do the little things to make his team better.
To sum up, the Portland Trail Blazers looked great when their five starters were on the court. Once the playoffs started, Los Angeles exposed the Blazers lack of frontcourt depth. LeBron James is too good of a facilitator, and Anthony Davis is the best center in the NBA, they took advantage of the mismatches available.
Further, due to injuries and free agency, Portland is in danger of losing even more forward depth due to a combination of free agency, age, and injury.