Trail Blazers open preseason vs. Jazz: Lineup predictions
By David MacKay
Tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. PDT, the Portland Trail Blazers will play their preseason opener on the road against the Utah Jazz. According to OregonLive’s Joe Freeman, Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts has stated that he intends to play the starters and bench players about equal minutes, but is still deciding which bench players will be receiving those minutes.
#Blazers coach Terry Stotts says he will play starters Tuesay in preseason opener at Utah. But they won't play more than 20-25 mins.
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) October 6, 2014
Stotts said he was still ironing out details of his rotation beyond the starters and couldn't say how many #Blazers would play vs. Jazz.
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) October 6, 2014
Stotts has the following bench players at his disposal:
| Steve Blake | PG | 6’3” |
| C.J. McCollum | PG/SG | 6’3” |
| Diante Garrett* | PG/SG | 6’4” |
| Will Barton | SG | 6’6” |
| Allen Crabbe | SG | 6’6” |
| Darius Morris* | SG | 6’5” |
| Dorell Wright | SF | 6’9” |
| Victor Claver | SF | 6’9” |
| James Southerland* | SF | 6’8” |
| Thomas Robinson | PF | 6’9” |
| Joel Freeland | PF/C | 6’10” |
| Chris Kaman | C | 7’0” |
| Meyers Leonard | C | 7’1” |
Blake and Kaman are guarantees to play, just as they will be in the regular season. Although preseason is a time for lineup experimentation, they will likely receive the lion’s share of the minutes at point guard and center off the bench. As the only new additions to the team that will be around through the regular season, they need practice playing in Stotts’ system against other teams before the games really matter. This is their time to work out the kinks and get comfortable in their new roles.
Garrett, Morris, and Southerland are the least likely to see the court. Each of them is in Portland on a non-guaranteed training camp deal. They serve their purpose as warm bodies in practice, but will be an afterthought come game time. While they are not without their merit, Stotts has no incentive to play guys that will be elsewhere a month from now. Barring injury, these three will spend most, if not all, of their time on the sidelines.
Barton and McCollum will fight each other for minutes at shooting guard, but Barton will probably win out tomorrow. They are facing Utah, after all. If the Jazz give their new backcourt tandem of Trey Burke and Dante Exum extended run, the Trail Blazers will need Barton’s length and energy to contain the equally long and explosive Exum. Of course, Stotts could take an ‘either-or’ approach and play one of the two exclusively, saving the other for a future preseason matchup. We could end up seeing just Barton or just McCollum tomorrow.
The frontcourt is a little less interesting, but still full of question marks. Robinson and Kaman will hold down power forward and center respectively, but one of either Freeland or Leonard may sneak into rotation as well. Probably not both. Stotts has been tinkering with Leonard as a power forward, so we may see him try to exploit a Trevor Booker (6’7”) mismatch. It would be interesting to see Leonard play alongside Kaman for an all seven-footer frontcourt if the Jazz try to pull any funny business with the enormous Rudy Gobert.
Aside from Dorell Wright, most everyone else will remain seated tomorrow. We may see spot minutes from Crabbe for spacing since this half-and-half starters/bench split allows for experiments with an extended rotation, but Stotts is not going to find minutes for everyone. The most likely players to sit this one out will be Claver, Crabbe, Garrett, Morris, Southerland, Freeland, and/or Leonard; Maaaybe McCollum, but only if Stotts is feeling especially bold.
The Trail Blazers’ bench players that will likely see the most playing time in the Trail Blazers’ preseason opener are: