The Portland Trail Blazers have been better than ever with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum on the floor together. The only problem, they’re pretty lackluster without them.
From the season’s outset, Head Coach Terry Stotts has emphasized playing his star-studded backcourt in Damian Lilllard and CJ McCollum more together. And so far, the plan has mostly worked. The Portland Trail Blazers are a high-powered team with their two premier guards. However, with this strategy, the team must also account for minutes without either player on the floor, and these minutes have been less impressive.
John Schuhmann of NBA.com recently published a “One Team, One Stat” article focused on the Blazers and the discrepancy between their lineups with and without the tandem. In it, he mentions that Portland has outscored opponents by 6.3 points per 100 possessions with the pair together, which is their highest mark in their four seasons together. However, he also points to the fact they’ve been outscored by 7.8 points per 100 possessions with Evan Turner manning the second-unit offense without Dame and CJ.
Since preseason, Turner has been relied upon to be an anchor of sorts for the bench. As a player who has always struggled shooting but needs the ball in his hands to be effective as a facilitator, the role made sense during the first month of the season. The plan seemed to be let Turner find opportunities for a shooter-heavy bench in Seth Curry, Meyers Leonard, Zach Collins, and Nik Stauskas while putting pressure on opposing backup point guards to matchup with the oversized playmaker.
Only Turner has not been the same bolstering, captain-type force he was advertised to be after the club’s first 15 or so games. And with the Blazers’ recent acquisitions of Rodney Hood and Enes Kanter, and their dismissal of Stauskas and lessened playing time for Collins and Leonard, it appears the team may be changing their strategy for the minutes without Lillard and McCollum.
While the team has remained solid with those lead-Turner minutes, there’s space to wonder how they could improve their bottomline.
Staggering Lillard and McCollum again likely isn’t the answer for two reasons. First, this would probably diminish the effectiveness and length of their minutes together. And second, as Schuhmann points out, the club was outscored by 6.5 points per 100 possessions with CJ on the floor without Dame last season.
Instead, Portland should look for a new stabilizing presence during these starless minutes.
Hood may be the answer. In his 52 minutes without Lillard and McCollum on the floor, the Blazers have outscored opponents by 12.4 points per 100 possessions. His ability to be a microwave scorer off the bench could make him a more surefire option to contend with opponents than Turner’s turnover-prone facilitation does.
However, Hood will need to become more consistent to truly embody this role. His debut against the San Antonio Spurs (14 points on 6-for-7 shooting) and his season-high 27 points against the Charlotte Hornets were great performances. But as someone who fell apart last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland should want to see him putting up reliably efficient numbers night-in and night-out to lean on him to be this new second-unit leader. Thus far, he’s shown flashes of his ability but still hasn’t been that rock to rely on.
He could become that rock, no doubt. His ascendance with the Utah Jazz earlier in his career make this a reasonable outlook. With only 18 games left, the Blazers may have no better option than to put their eggs into his basket.
For this offseason though, Portland should make it a priority to find a legitimate sixth man. If they want to continue playing Lillard and McCollum more together than staggered, then there has to be someone who comes off the bench to keep the pressure on opponents when they sit.
Turner likely isn’t that option. If Hood proves to be, then they should very seriously consider bringing him back next year. If Hood ultimately flames out, Portland should readily depart with him and look for a new spark plug to bolster their second-unit.