Portland Trail Blazers: Collins, Nurkic should start over Melo, Whiteside

With the return of Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collin,s the Portland Trail Blazers should start them over Carmelo Anthony and Hassan Whiteside.

This week we touched on Carmelo Anthony moving to the bench and Zach Collins replacing him in the starting lineup, but the Portland Trail Blazers should start Jusuf Nurkic in place of Hassan Whiteside too.

With a very tough projected schedule for the NBA’s return in Orlando, and the fact that the Blazers want to avoid a play-in tournament by winning enough games to pass the Memphis Grizzlies in the standings.

The only way to do this, though, is to start playing defense. If they play at the level they did all season on that end, which is the 26th ranked defense, they won’t make the postseason.

Though Whiteside led the NBA in blocks before the season’s postponement, the Blazers have only been a little bit better defensively when he was on the court. Considering the options there have been at backup center, you would think Whiteside would have made the team defense significantly better.

Nurkic is a better defender, and in smaller stretches from the bench, Whiteside can back him up well. Nothing is lost offensively by starting Collins and Nurkic. Both are good passers and excellent defenders. Nurkic is a better shooter than Whiteside, and Collins can stretch the floor even if he isn’t as good a shooter as Melo.

Nurkic’s combination with Damian Lillard was a vital component of the team that was so successful in last year’s regular season. Nurkic is a far better screener than Whiteside, and with Lillard’s newfound efficiency on deep threes, Nurkic’s massive screens will help him get open.

No matter how good they are offensively, they won’t be able to beat the good teams consistently with a frontline of Melo and Whiteside defending the rim. They won’t lose anything rebounding wise by starting Collins and Nurkic, Nurkic’s boxing out alongside Collins rebounding and strength will ensure they still rebound at a similar level.

Though we may not see it when the season returns, Nurkic has also been working on stretching the floor out to three-point range. He has lost weight since last regular season, meaning he can hopefully get up and down the floor more comfortably, making his return just that little bit more manageable.

There’s no reason to think that the Blazers will be weaker with Melo and Whiteside on the bench. These two will still be valued members of the squad and probably play 20 plus minutes a night. If they are struggling offensively, then Melo can play more, with Collins doing the same if they struggle defensively.

The biggest positive is that rookie Wenyen Gabriel and the disappointing Caleb Swanigan won’t need to play as backups anymore. This means both sides of the ball will have competent front-court play for 48 minutes.

Also, Melo won’t need to play the five anymore. Though it was only a small amount of minutes, playing out of position like this severely impacts the rim protection and rebounding.

Hopefully, Melo and Whiteside will embrace the bench roles if asked. They should do the best thing for the team if they want to make the postseason.