The Portland Trail Blazers’ chances of snagging a top seed in the Western Conference took a major hit.
Center Robin Lopez broke his hand and will miss the next six or seven weeks.
Thanks for all your thoughts & support! It'll be 6 or 7 weeks til I'm on the floor again thanks to this bum hand. Can't wait!!! #NeverSayDie
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) December 16, 2014
How are the Blazers going to replace Lopez’s production? How are they going to replace one of the most efficient centers and best rim protectors in the league?
Head coach Terry Stotts finally has a few options at his disposal. If this was last season, the Blazers would have been doomed without Lopez for six weeks.
This season, Portland might have the depth to survive losing one of their best players, but it’s going to take contributions from everyone to replace Lopez. Some players are going to have to step up more than others. Here are the top three players who need to bring their “A” game for the next six weeks for keep Portland afloat in the West.
In a limited role, Kaman has excelled this season for Portland, averaging 10.0 PPG in only 19.0 minutes per game. Kaman will easily be the man Portland wants carrying the load at center.
At his age, though, I don’t know how much more Kaman can handle per game. What is Portland going to do, up his minute totals to 30 minutes per game? At that point, Portland is risking further injury to Kaman, and we don’t even know if he can handle that many minutes and still be productive.
It’s been two full seasons since Kaman averaged more than 21 minutes per game. Playing him too much would be folly, but I think Stotts need Kaman on the floor about 25 minutes per game.
The next man up is obviously Joel Freeland, who played most of last season as the Blazers backup center and is listed as the starting center tonight. Freeland is only playing 10 minutes per game this season, so I expect his minute totals to rise considerably over the next few weeks.
Freeland, though, is a somewhat limited. He’s a good offensive player and has good touch, but he’s not strong enough to play in the post against the best post players in the league. Dwight Howard tossed him around like a rag doll in the first round of the playoffs last season. Freeland will be a nice time-filler against weaker teams, but against teams with elite big men, Freeland is not a good option for the Blazers.
This is the player I’m most excited about benefiting from Lopez’s absence. Robinson hasn’t had the time in his young career to carve out a role for himself. Last season, he was the energy guy off the bench.
This season, his playing time is down and so is his production. That’s what happens on good teams, though. Portland made some adjustments from last season, and T-Rob has kind of fallen on the opposite side of the bench. Now, Portland may need him to help replace Lopez.
I think Robinson can do it, too. Last season, he showed spurts of being a capable defender and a good pick-and-role player, like Lopez. Of course, Robinson is much smaller than Lopez, so the Blazers might have to play more small-ball or keep him at power forward behind LaMarcus Aldridge, but I think that’s better suited to the Blazers’ style of play.
If Robinson can show up and show out the next few weeks, like Portland needs him too, he might play himself into a reasonable contract with another NBA team by the end of the season.