Updated Portland Trail Blazers post-free agency roster, 2019-20 rotation

3 of 6

Portland Trail Blazers – CJ McCollum and Rodney Hood (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Shooting Guard Rotation

CJ McCollum – 34 MPG

CJ McCollum is set to return en force next year, hitting the peak strides of his prime at 28-years-old. He has averaged 35 minutes per game over the last four seasons and will have the strongest depth of guards at his back thus far in his career.

Hopefully the extra support helps him comfortably return to his 2016-17 form, where he shot an incredible 42.1 percent from deep and led the league in free throw percentage. That hyper efficient version of McCollum will be needed to offset the Blazers deficiencies on defense in a deep postseason run.

Rodney Hood – 24 MPG

After taking a big discount to return to the environment he felt most comfortable in Portland, Rodney Hood can be the offensive spark off the bench the Portland Trail Blazers have been sorely missing. In a Manu Ginobli-esque fashion, Hood’s offensive arsenal offsets the star duo of guards nicely.

Hood will likely see his minutes split between shooting guard and small forward as Portland figures out how to best manage lineups between Hood and Kent Bazemore. Coming off the bench will get the ball in Hood’s hands more often, and that’s probably the ideal scenario for the Blazers moving forward.

Gary Trent Jr. – 9 MPG

Gary Trent Jr. will unfortunately probably not serve a very large role in the main rotation next year. But as mentioned earlier, the trend of load management may offer some unforeseen opportunities for the young sharpshooter.

In games where one guard sits either due to injury or rest, Trent Jr. will be the next man up. If he’s the same player that scored 31 points and went 7-for-8 from deep, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Trent Jr. as the year progresses.