Portland Trail Blazers: Who closes games will be a season-long question

The wings

Nik Stauskas has (surprisingly) emerged as a closer for the Blazers this season. He has shot extremely well from the field in both the Lakers and Wizards games (12/21), warranting him this position.

If he can continue shooting the lights out from deep and coming up big when called upon, then there’s no reason he shouldn’t continue being part of closing lineups. Of course, it’d be nice if his defense continues improving to make him a more complete player. But for now, I’ll happily take his bursts of offense.

A combination of Stauskas’s recent performances and Maurice Harkless’s injury is likely keeping Moe from consistently closing games. We saw him close against the Spurs, but it wasn’t necessarily a tight game at that point. Still, he was a very good +5.0.

If Harkless can shoot from beyond the arc like he did last year (41.5 percent) and defend like he has throughout his career, he will likely take Stauskas’s position in these groups.

Al-Farouq Aminu seems like a solid option in these closing groups. He is more than capable of defending superstar wings like LeBron James, and he has an ability to shoot from deep – even if he’s been pretty cold to start this season. He picked it up against the Wizards (3/5), making him a much more effective player.

Jake Layman could also eventually become an option. He has yet to really do anything this season besides log some pretty invisible starting minutes. But if he can have a good game in these beginning weeks, Coach Stotts may ride him out into the fourth quarter like he has with Stauskas.

Layman could be a deep threat, a supplementary shot-creator when things get stagnant, and a better defender than Stauskas. Perhaps, if he can put something together, he would be the ideal small or power forward in an ultra-small ball lineup for the the Blazers.