One game each Portland Trail Blazers starter should circle on the calendar

3. Norman Powell – vs. Toronto Raptors, Monday, November 15th, 2021

The Norman Powell trade was a success by all means, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t fans that still miss Gary Trent Jr. Both centerpieces of the trade played well following their moves last season and earned significant pay raises as a result.

Powell recently inked a five-year/$90 million extension with Portland, while Trent Jr. just signed a three-year/$54 million deal with his new squad.

Norm obviously better fits the Portland Trail Blazers timeline and makes sense on the court with his defensive acumen and slasher mentality, as well. However, his fit playing the small forward next to Dame and CJ has caused some doubts within the fanbase. Thoroughly outplaying Trent Jr. and emerging victorious against the Toronto Raptors will make it much easier for the Portland faithful to forget about who they sent out for Powell.

4. Robert Covington – vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday, November 6th, 2021

Robert Covington was brought onto the Blazers to help patch their swiss cheese slice of a defense. His job got exponentially more difficult when Norman Powell was traded for and inserted into the starting lineup as a small forward.

RoCo now has to be responsible for guarding the opponent’s best forward, while also staying ready to provide help for Powell if he’s being overpowered by his matchup.

That leaves the Blazers stuck between an incredibly sharp rock and the hardest place you can imagine the next time they play the Los Angeles Lakers. An already big team, the Lakers brought back Dwight Howard and added Russell Westbrook, becoming even larger across the board.

For the Blazers to reach their ceiling next season and compete for a title, RoCo’s going to have to be better than he’s ever been on defense. There’s no better time for him to prove his prowess at locking down the top forwards in the league than in a match against LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

5. Jusuf Nurkic – @ Denver Nuggets, Sunday, November 14th, 2021

Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic have been intertwined since their NBA careers began, both having first started on the Denver Nuggets. As Jokic quickly made apparent that he was the better player and a future superstar, the Nuggets shipped Nurkic along with a future first-rounder to Portland for Mason Plumlee, a second-round pick, and cash.

The Blazers came away the winners of the trade, but the Nuggets obviously picked the better center. That doesn’t mean that Nurk can’t win his individual matchups against the Joker.

In fact, the Bosnian Beast has held his own against his former teammate in their head-to-head battles thus far.

According to Land of Basketball, Nurkic has a 4-6 record against Jokic, averaging 16.1 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.2 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game. On the opposite end, the Joker has put up 24.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.5 stocks in 10 contests against Nurk.

The Blazers don’t need or expect Nurkic to be better than Jokic. They just need him to be able slow him down effectively enough to win games. Both the Blazers and the Nuggets could be considered dark-horse contenders for the upcoming season. Having Nurkic shutdown Jokic in a win, even in a regular season contest, will go a long way to proving that there’s more to this Blazers team than initially predicted.