Trail Blazers to hint at new lineup decisions against Nuggets
By David MacKay
The Portland Trail Blazers have traveled to the Pepsi Center to take on the Denver Nuggets on the road tonight at 6:00 p.m. PDT. With three games remaining in their NBA preseason campaign, they are at the point where experimental lineups will fade into practice rotations for the regular season. Yesterday, Head Coach Terry Stotts stated that the starters will stay on the court a bit longer against the Nuggets, while new options in the second unit are less likely to be explored:
"“I think we’ll probably extend the starters’ minutes a little bit. Playing at altitude tomorrow night will be a good test. We’re not really looking at a lot of new things, but I think we’ve got the things in that we need. Now it’s just making sure that we’re consistent and dialed in to what we need to do opening night.”"
When asked about playing time, Damian Lillard confirmed that he expects to log heavier minutes with his fellow starters, as well as the first few guys expected to come off the bench during the upcoming regular season:
"“Maybe play a little more minutes and just be on the floor with the guys we’re going to be on the floor with a lot, which is each other and our first couple guys off the bench. I think the main thing is just to be on the floor longer. We obviously haven’t been out there like we will be out there so I think to just get used to being out there longer.”"
Tonight may be our first real look at Stotts’ regular season cards as he plays his preseason hand. Up to this point, the lineups have been all over the place. The biggest question marks remain at the shooting guard and power forward position. Will Barton and C.J. McCollum have outplayed each other in alternating fashion, while we’ve seen more Meyers Leonard and less Thomas Robinson in the frontcourt than anticipated. It seems likely that the first to enter the game at each position is the favorite to do so moving forward.
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In the Trail Blazers’ most recent preseason game, against Maccabi Haifa, McCollum tallied 17 minutes of play to Barton’s 10. Barton also did not play until the fourth quarter, when the Trail Blazers had already secured a more than comfortable 40-point lead. McCollum appears to be emerging as the favorite (especially after scoring 19 points in the game before), but nothing is etched in stone just yet.
Robinson vs. Leonard (vs. Joel Freeland?) is equally tricky. While Robinson has the highest upside, Stotts has taken to pairing Leonard with center Chris Kaman for spacing purposes. Leonard may end up the beneficiary of a “better together” arrangement if Stotts decides that the best way for the bench to hold even with opponents is to score accordingly instead of making stops. I would still give the edge to Robinson, but this is closer than it should be.
Pay attention to who’s on the hardwood and who’s riding the pine tonight. It won’t be a formal declaration of permanent strictures, but it may be a sign of things to come.