3 questions that will be unanswered for Trail Blazers if season is cancelled

If the NBA season is cancelled, not only will there be disappointments, but a lot of questions will be left unanswered for the Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers season was one of ups and downs, but just as the team was about to get its guys back, the season was postponed and now we may see it cancelled. This leaves so many questions unanswered for both fans and the team itself. What are these questions?

How does Jusuf Nurkic look when he returns?

This is one of the most important questions facing the franchise, not just for this season but for Jusuf Nurkic‘s future with the team and his career. After being out for almost a year when the season was postponed, Nurk was actually only a week away from returning around the time of the announcement.

Though Nurkic’s game isn’t based on athleticism, a lot of his game is based on strength. Getting to the line, finishing at the rim, rebounding on both ends, boxing out, setting screens.

So with a player who is one of the biggest in the league, a fans natural inclination is to worry about his strength and movement when he returns. We can’t predict how Nurk will do when he gets back, but it’s important to note that he has lost weight and looks to be in better overall shape than when he was last playing an NBA game.

Nurk is so important to this team, having to wait until next season would be very difficult when looking at strategy for the franchises personnel.

How do Nurkic and Whiteside fit together?

The first question above is linked directly to the second one. Hassan Whiteside has provided great production this year, but he has been inconsistent. His defense especially, has been really patchy. Whiteside has still been better than expected this season, but he has struggled for consistency on the less glamorous end of the floor.

The question of how he fits with Nurkic has been posed ever since Neil Olshey traded for Whiteside last summer. The Blazers needed a starting level center with Nurk out, and Whiteside fit the bill.

Now that Nurk will be ready to return when the NBA kicks off again, Terry Stotts and co need to figure out some new big men rotations. The first thing that will likely happen is that Caleb Swanigan and or Wenyen Gabriel will disappear from the rotation altogether. Moses Brown won’t get any more call-ups from the G-League also.

Then Nurk will start with between 14 and 20 minutes a game. I don’t think it will be less than that and for at least the first week or two, it won’t be more. Swanigan and Gabriel are currently playing a combined 20 minutes a night, so Nurk will eat into that first.

Depending on what happens with the season, if Nurk shows he’s fit and healthy then he will without a doubt eat into Whiteside’s 30 minutes a night. This doesn’t include garbage time though.

Nurkic isn’t élite at guarding the perimeter, but he will likely do a lot better than Whiteside, who only just a few weeks ago let aging Phoenix Suns big man Aron Baynes hit nine three-pointers on him.

If Nurk got into game-shape quickly I could see him having identical minutes to Whiteside depending on what the season and game structure ends up being. In terms of how each player would take this small amount of minutes remains to be seen. Both have had attitude problems in the past but Whiteside in a contract year and a more mature Nurkic than his younger days should mean the competition for minutes is a healthy one.

How will Zach Collins look, and how will he go at power forward?

Zach Collins dislocated his shoulder after only three games of the NBA season. An absolutely gutting injury for the 21-year-old who had just taken over as the starting power forward this season. Not only had he looked great in preseason, but he had three very strong games to start the season.

Zach’s unique combination of size and skill makes him the prototypical big man for today’s modern NBA. He can block shots or step out and shoot. Fans of the rest of the league haven’t seen Zach with a bigger role so it’s understandable that they aren’t that excited about him.

But Rip City as a collective know that Zach has a long NBA career ahead of him. The first thing to note is that there was longterm damage from his shoulder injury. This is excellent news.

As far as the power-forward position goes, Zach is probably suited to playing here until he bulks up and works on his defensive positioning and foul rate. He has decent lateral quickness for a big and is a good help defender so the four is works well for him at the moment, especially while the Trail Blazers rotation is shorthanded.

Though the four is more a scorers position in today’s NBA, Zach’s versatile game means that nothing will be taken off the table for this team when he is at the four. He can finish at the basket while also being able to shoot from midrange and three.

He has also shown some improved passing in last years playoffs too. Zach will be huge for this team when the NBA returns.

We may not get answers till these questions until next season if the NBA decides it’s too difficult to restart the season. This would be a shame, but hopefully the NBA could then start a new season ASAP to bring basketball back into our lives.