4. Rodney Hood
The official role for Rodney Hood is still in question. The decision on whether he should start at small forward or plays the part as a crucial sixth man off the bench remains to be seen, but the expectations from him this season clear nonetheless.
Hood made a statement with his performance throughout the Trail Blazers playoff run in the spring of last year and they will be banking on history repeating itself with Hood’s career performance. He will be expected to be reliable and consistent. He showcased his offensive arsenal at times and seems ready to elevate his game into the legitimate third scorer the Blazers have long sought after.
On the rare occasions we see Lillard and McCollum struggle to find a rhythm, Hood needs to be ready for those nights. His ability to shoot off the dribble and catch and shoot from deep makes him a tremendous third option for this Trail Blazers team.
With the uncertainty of Nurkic’s return and with the loss of Aminu and Harkless, Hood should be looking to elevate his scoring contribution in the regular season as well, instead of saving that explosion for the postseason. In the 27 games Hood played with the Trail Blazers, he averaged just 9.6 points per game, but expect that to be number to more in mid to low teens as the season gets underway.
— Brown
3. Hassan Whiteside
Despite our best efforts over here at Rip City Project, many of the Blazers faithful refuse to believe that Hassan Whiteside can become a major contributor on a championship roster. His albatross contract, locker room issues in Miami, and general demeanor are seen by some as too much baggage to be introducing into the Portland locker room.
As you may have noticed, the narrative on Whiteside in recent weeks has switched from, “overpaid headcase past his prime,” to, “overpaid headcase that values stats more than winning.” We’d like to think we played a small part in this transition.
In a blind poll of 294 people, 75 percent chose Whiteside over other highly valued rim-running centers like Andre Drummond, Clint Capela and Steven Adams.
When speaking to Jason Quick of the Athletic, Whiteside seemed ecstatic about the possibility of having real shot creators on the perimeter to dish it out to, “They have so much movement, they have so many different plays and reads, I can probably get a triple-double with assists here. You know, I’ve been getting so many assists and dimes… I’m playing more like a point-center here… There’s scrimmages we have where I have six, seven assists like that.”
Of course, instead of giving the man credit for trying to overcome his ball-hog tendencies in the paint, critics are now painting him as a stat sheet stuffer. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty Whiteside can improve upon. He could set better screens. He could have a more versatile arsenal of post moves. But he’s not a big man Russell Westbrook. And he will be an incredibly valuable asset for Portland next season.
— Carroll