The trouble with them together
With Collins and Leonard playing significant minutes together as the backup front court, the Blazers could get bulldozed on the interior, both on the glass and in the post. And while having floor-spacers is good, having no post presence means a dimension of Portland’s offense will be lost when they share on the floor. The team could become stagnant and predictable.
Yes, all these reactions are coming off just one preseason game, so maybe this should be classified as that – reactions rather than analysis. But Collins and Leonard must show more in their next outings to warrant playing them together with the second-unit.
For Leonard, he needs to continue shooting consistently and show more fight on the glass. Otherwise, he’ll be relegated back to the bench like last season.
For Collins, he (or Stotts) need to figure out where his best spots are on offense and show more of that same grit he showed in Summer League defensively. At Media Day, Collins spoke about being ready to start. Right now, he seems far from it.
If they cannot make the proper adjustments, the Blazers will be flimsy and fragile for 20 or so minutes each game. For a team that so desperately wants to show their previous season was not a fluke, this is a recipe for disappointment.