The Portland Trail Blazers advanced to 3-0 in preseason after a 110-98 road win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.
It's hard to do much better than undefeated, though it's fair to question the level of competition thus far for Portland. They followed up a 119-66 blowout against the London Lions on Monday with a matchup against a rebuilding Kings team down several key players.
It was even more of a snooze fest than the final score suggests, as Micah Nori essentially allowed Sacramento to close the gap at the end by experimenting with perhaps the most unconventional lineup you could construct.
The closing of this game served as a reminder that spooky szn is upon us, if you will. Nori played Yang Hansen, Micah Potter, Jeremy Sochan, and Branden Carlson all together, with Jayson Kent as the only guard. That went just about as poorly as you could imagine, though with Nori being compared to the "Ted Lasso of the NBA," I'm sure there was an interesting reason behind the decision.
Our takeaway was that it gave the four end-of-bench bigs an opportunity to work on their perimeter games a bit more. It's quietly a skilled frontcourt with much more depth and versatility compared to last season. However, this end-of-game stretch also showed that Hansen isn't much farther behind, if at all, the rest of these bigs. That raises the question of whether it's even necessary to have them, as it risks getting in the way of Hansen's minutes and development.
Blazers' logjam problem actually lies in the frontcourt
There's so much talk about the crowded backcourt in Portland following the Ja Morant trade. But so far in preseason, they're showing that skill ultimately wins out in the NBA.
The Blazers view a backcourt with pieces like Damian Lillard, Morant, Scoot Henderson, and Jrue Holiday as a strength of this roster rather than a problem that needs to be solved, and it's easy to see why through the first three games.
Still, one unaddressed issue is that the Blazers lack wing depth -- one of the most necessary pieces required to contend in the NBA. There aren't enough players backing up Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara, especially with the injury to Shaedon Sharpe.
Portland plans to play Holiday more at the forward spot compared to last season. Still, they'll have to depend on Sidy Cissoko and Vit Krejci, which could potentially backfire. Cissoko continues to improve but could be an offensive liability if he can't reliably space the floor this season. Krejci surprisingly hasn't shot the ball the same since coming over from Atlanta to Portland.
The Blazers invested a first-round pick in Hansen, yet have unnecessarily brought in all these bigs to create a logjam in the frontcourt, getting in the way of that investment. That's where the logjam that actually needs to be solved lies in this Blazers roster, not the talented backcourt.
Why Branden Carlson should be the odd man out
The move they won't make but should is to move on from Carlson to find another two-way wing.
They only have three non- or partially guaranteed players: Krejci, Potter, and Sochan. All three will provide value at those three and four positions, and all three have made compelling cases to make this 15-man roster.
Ultimately, it comes down to our lack of confidence in Carlson's ability to play the power forward spot in a double big lineup for Portland. We don't want him stealing minutes from Hansen at the five, so that's the only way this would realistically work.
To his credit, Carlson is a 34.9 percent three-point shooter. Still, looking at the last two seasons spent in the OKC Thunder organization, he's played the power forward position an estimated two percent of the time. The other 98 percent of his minutes have come at the center position, presenting a dilemma for Hansen and the Blazers.
It would be one thing if Carlson was a noticeable upgrade over Hansen. Third string center is unfortunately an important position for the Blazers given Robert Williams III's extensive injury history.
Carlson is talented enough to be in the league, and in general it's rarely a bad idea to invest in someone the Thunder elite scouting department previously saw value in. But given the Blazers' unique roster situation as a team that has invested consecutive first-round picks at center and is hurting for wing depth more than they probably even realize, this Carlson signing may not age well.
They should've attempted to find a better roster balance, bringing in more of a two-way wing as a backup for Avdija and Camara instead.
Add us as a preferred source on Google