Portland Trail Blazers: Four statistical milestones to watch for during Orlando play

No. 3: Portland is hoping to avoid having the NBA’s lowest-scoring bench

The year 2000 feels so long ago; once upon a time, the Portland Trail Blazers had the Gregg Popovich-esque ability to platoon-swap whole five-man lineups and still win games because of how excellent their second unit was.

Chris Webber once said it best in 1999, when Portland managed to accrue the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with Rasheed Wallace playing Sixth Man for nearly half of the season: “They have two starting lineups.”

Can ‘Sheed, Bonzi and Co. ice up and suit up in 2020? We’re asking for a friend.

Jokes aside, the Blazers’ returning calvary leave them well-positioned to avoid the dubious honor of having the lowest-scoring bench in the NBA — they currently score 26.5 points per game, and Boston is No. 29 at 27.2 points per game — for the third time in eight years.

In a vacuum, perhaps it doesn’t matter. The Blazers have found sustained success despite never truly having a Lou Williams-type scorer within their second unit. And, because the Blazers play their starters more than any team besides Houston, they could survive in spite of it. And if Anfernee Simons and Gary Trent Jr. lead the charge in scratching their respective ceilings in Orlando, then look out.

Nonetheless, here’s how the numbers shake out:

Blazers bench:
— 15.4 average minutes per game (No. 29)
— 26.5 points per game (No. 30, last in NBA)
— -2.4 +/- (No. 28)
— Outscored the opposing team’s bench 43.9 percent of time (No. 17).

Flexibility Is a given with this updated roster. And all of a sudden, the Blazers look like they can run one of the deepest teams in the Association. But how this team operates with the likes of Lillard, McCollum and Anthony on the sidelines will be something to watch for.