Portland Trail Blazers: Who makes the starting 5 in a play-in tournament?

Jusuf Nurkic? Hassan Whiteside? Carmelo Anthony? Zach Collins? When the NBA returns, who should start for the Portland Trail Blazers?

11:30 am, June 3. The exact moment NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski hit the send button on the biggest and most important basketball tweet of 2020 so far.

Sounding like a Michael Jordan fax in the 90’s, Woj kept it simple. “The NBA’s back”. If 2020 needed anything, a revamped playoff system in Disney World, Orlando certainly fits the bill.

For the Portland Trail Blazers, this decision keeps their season alive (just). According to the new system, if the Blazers finish in the 9th spot, but are 4 or more games behind the 8-seed, then they will not make the playoffs or a play-in tournament. If they are within 4 games of the 8-seed, they then enter a play-in tournament, which is single elimination for the 9-seed, and double elimination for the 8-seed.

A slightly complicated process, but it means the Blazers have a chance of staying alive. With the now guarantee of more games, this also means something else. Before they suit up on July 31, Portland have some line-up questions to answer.

This extended lay-off has given both Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins time to fully recover. In Nurkic and Collins, the Blazers get back two extremely talented defenders, something this team has missed badly.

In Nurkic’s case, the Bosnian’s return also helps things on the offensive ends; Nurk gives Portland another option down low, and his passing and skill really opens things up for Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.

So with Nurk and Collins back in the mix, who should start? While the two big men have been on the sidelines, the Blazers have brought in Trevor Ariza and Carmelo Anthony, while Whiteside arrived last summer. Do Nurk and Collins go straight back in, or should the Blazers use them as a boost off the bench?

The Blazers success last year came with having two elite defenders in the wing positions, and while it’s impossible to completely recreate this, Ariza and Collins at the 3 and the 4 isn’t too far off. This isn’t a slight on Melo either; the vet has come in and actually exceeded expectations on the defensive end, but you can’t expect him to guard elite wings in the playoffs anymore.

Melo coming off the bench helps the second unit out with some much-needed scoring (the Blazers are currently bottom in bench PPG, with 26.5), and it shores up the defensive issues in the starting 5.

Then, we have the Nurkic vs Whiteside problem- I say problem, it’s a very good problem to have. I haven’t been too hot on Whiteside this year, but he hasn’t underperformed, and has held his own in a difficult situation. 16.3 points, 14.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game is nothing to be ashamed of, and I think Whiteside will stay in the line-up, for a couple of reasons.

First, I think it’s fair to honour his current season, and give Whiteside an opportunity to at least continue what he’s been doing. Secondly, and more importantly, I don’t think it’d be wise to throw Nurk into the starting 5 straight away. The Bosnian went down in March of 2019; that’s over 19 months without playing, and it’ll be even more once the NBA actually returns at the end of July.

Not to say Nurk shouldn’t be starting if the Blazers sneak into the playoffs, but from the off? Let’s stick with Whiteside. So, when the NBA returns, the Blazers could look a little something like this:

PG: Damian Lillard

SG: CJ McCollum

SF: Trevor Ariza

PF: Zach Collins

C: Hassan Whiteside

Bench: Jusuf Nurkic, Carmelo Anthony, Nassir Little, Gary Trent Jr, Mario Hezonja,Anfernee Simons

In a playoff-style rotation, the Blazers may only need 3 or 4 bench players, which will most likely be Nurk, Melo, GTJ and possibly Little. To me, that’s strong, and not an 8 seed any team would want to be facing.

Get excited, RipCity. The Blazers are back, and they’ve got reinforcements.