It only took one scrimmage for Portland Trail Blazers twitter to erupt, arguing over the starting lineup. It looks like Jusuf Nurkic may start at the four.
It’s great that Portland Trail Blazers basketball is back. After a four-month hiatus, our favorite team is back on the court. With the return of Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic, though, it only took one scrimmage game for Blazers twitter to erupt while discussing the front-court rotation.
After comments from Damian Lillard and Coach Terry Stotts after the last few weeks, it seemed clear that Collins would be the starting four next to Nurkic.
This move seemed straight forward. Nurkic is stronger defensively and offensively than Hassan Whiteside, and Collins would move into the four spot as Carmelo Anthony slides down to cover the small forward position vacated by Trevor Ariza.
The main issue with this though, was that it left Melo as the only backup four. Wenyen Gabriel is more of a five, and Mario Hezonja‘s place in the rotation is probably up in the air after an inconsistent season.
Melo can be the backup four, but with a lack of options at the three, he needs to play significant minutes at that position.
Trail Blazers beat writer Casey Holdahl had a legitimate explanation though when we asked him who he thought was the starting four. After seeing the lineups that Stotts was working on during the scrimmage, Holdahl explained that he thought Nurkic was going to be the starting four as Stotts probably wouldn’t focus on these types of lineups if he weren’t intending on playing them.
Nurkic. My assumption is that's why they've been working on that. If you assume starters are playing extended minutes, not sure why they'd put an emphasis on working on a lineup that would play together for what, 10 minutes per game? https://t.co/MbRiC7MCBf
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) July 23, 2020
Holdahl confirmed that he wasn’t supporting one starter or the other, but I can see why the idea of Nurkic starting at the four is something Stotts may want to run with.
Though it wouldn’t be ideal when defending on the perimeter, by using Nurkic at the four, they soak up some of the minutes that Melo would potentially have to play there, while also eliminating the potential need for Gabriel to play the four. Rather than have Whiteside play 18 – 22 minutes, he can play 25 – 30.
Though this will mean he may get exposed against the stronger western conference teams, they utilize his minutes more and push Nurkic down a spot to ensure that they have NBA rotation players filling most of the minutes at the forward and center spots.
By using Nurkic at the four, this means that there would be fewer minutes of Hezonja, Gabriel, and potentially Jaylen Hoard. I’m still uncertain if Nurkic can defend the perimeter against small lineups when playing the four, but his presence is better than some of the end of bench guys.
It would be a little disappointing to see Collins coming off the bench, but I can see the logic in Stotts decision-making if this was to be the case.
This team is still short-handed without Rodney and Trevor Ariza. Decisions need to be made to ensure competent minutes at every position. Let’s wait and see the lineup when Whiteside plays in the next scrimmage before we pass any judgment on the actual starting lineups.