Portland Trail Blazers — Front court bench predictions
— Rodney Hood
— Saddiq Bey
— Moe Harkless
— Nassir Little
— Wenyen Gabriel (two-way)
— Zach Collins
— Robin Lopez
A heavy dose of these will be self-explanatory. The December season start sets up Rodney Hood with the generous opportunity to be ready for the 2020-21 tip-off. Hood was an excellent complement to Lillard and McCollum, ranking No. 1 in the NBA in catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage.
The smooth-shooting lefty started all 21 of his games in 2019-20, but my hunch is that the Trail Blazers would prefer to not rush him into the starting lineup immediately.
Per Outkick’s Sam Amico, ESPN has scheduled games from Dec. 6 to Dec. 18, giving him a bit of preseason cushion. Achilles injuries aren’t the types of ones worth rushing, though.
Saddiq Bey has been linked to the Portland Trail Blazers for much of the offseason, and he would be the prediction for the No. 16 selection. He’s got reasonable plug-and-play potential early on, with his ability ranking in the 98th percentile in Synergy’s spot-up shooting tracking.
Getting closer towards the top of the rotation, the prediction here is that the Portland Trail Blazers reconnect with an old “ex” in springy 3-and-D forward Moe Harkless. Some things just appear meant to be; Harkless never quite looked at ease from afar, despite playing for his hometown New York Knicks.
To Harkless’ benefit, the Blazers assisted in helping him accrue his big payday, with a four-year, $42 million deal. In returning to Portland, he wouldn’t be making chump change; minimum-salary deals rise with NBA experience.
Because it would be his ninth season, Harkless would be eligible to make $2.3 million, or even a piece of the MLE if they convince Gallinari to take a Dirk Nowitzki-sized paycut.
Little and Gabriel are mostly self-explanatory too, though Gabriel would likely be working a two-way if the roster does pan out this way. Zach Collins’ potential will continue to make him an intriguing storyline to follow, but I would bargain that he won’t quite be ready in time for the Dec. 22 start after ankle surgery.
The last prediction of the article focuses on the Blazers signing a new backup big. Hassan Whiteside, as he normally is, was statistically brilliant in 67 games as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Is there a GM willing to give him a greater opportunity than the one he has in Portland, playing behind Nurkic? He wasn’t as imposing in the postseason, as part of the second rotation, something the Blazers have perhaps taken note of, too.
The market for minimum-contract centers is abnormally shallow. Robin Lopez provided moxie for the Bucks’ second-unit a year ago. But as Behind the Buck Pass writer Dalton Sell brought out, Lopez wasn’t playable for the Bucks in the postseason, a situation that feels unlikely to change in 2020-21 and beyond.
If Lopez is free, perhaps he joins Harkless as returnees, providing the Portland Trail Blazers with one of the deeper units throughout the Western Conference. There’s a chance it works out entirely different. But here’s a reasonable, dangerous 15-man roster the team would have to feel confident about going forward.
So, in a nutshell:
Additions: Danilo Gallinari, Maurice Harkless, D.J. Augustin, Robin Lopez (Saddiq Bey + Jay Scrubb in NBA Draft)
Subtractions: Carmelo Anthony, Hassan Whiteside, Caleb Swanigan, Jaylen Adams (Jaylen Hoard, Moses Brown, the two-way players)
In eight years under Neil Olshey, the Blazers have seen about a 70.5 percent continuity percentage, meaning that roughly 7 of 10 players return form the previous season. Last year, it was at 55.5 percent. This prediction gets them back ahead of the 60 percent mark.