The Ja Morant injury was unfortunate, given how well he was meshing with this Portland Trail Blazers roster early on. Portland will need his star power to raise this roster's ceiling come playoff time, so at least this injury happened early in the season. Not only that, this injury has somewhat forced head coach Micah Nori's hand when it comes to the lineup to finish the game: Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, and Donovan Clingan.
Per Cleaning the Glass, this unit has a +74 net rating in 54 possessions. With Morant out, Nori and the Blazers have discovered their version of the death lineup.
Blazers have discovered a death lineup with Jrue Holiday
That must continue when Morant returns from injury. Nori himself even seems to know this already despite giving Morant the starting role to start the season. That he never promoted Jrue Holiday to the starting lineup says a lot about how much he values Holiday's versatility and experience off the bench. It doesn't mean he won't finish the game with Holiday.
It's starting to look like Portland's version of the Golden State Warriors' death lineup: taking out their center to bring in Andre Iguodala off the bench, only for him to win Finals MVP in 2015. There are parallels between Iguodala's and Holiday's roles, as they're both that versatile weapon you bring in to fill multiple roster holes at once; that's exactly why, when it matters most, you still want him out on the court.
The quote "It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it" comes to mind from the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. We're seeing Nori take that approach here in Portland, and it's resulting in a strong 8-3 start for the Blazers. Holiday is proving to be the ideal sixth man off the bench, but Nori knows he's still one of the most important players on the court.
Now it's a matter of readjusting Morant into that role when he comes back. That doesn't necessarily mean Morant will never be on the court come crunch time. We've already seen Nori switch offense for defense in late-game situations, taking advantage of the Blazers' unique roster construction.
Morant still has an important role in raising the Blazers' ceiling, and the trade looked like it was paying off for Portland before the injury. The only thing is, the Blazers' success without him, and the efficiency of this newfound death lineup in particular, makes it clear that he's the odd man out when things actually get tight.
Nothing against Morant; he's been playing great and fitting better than expected. But it's still admittedly an imperfect fit.
This Blazers roster looks built to be a contender when it's more defense-minded, with the two-way Holiday over Morant. There's a reason he's a two-time champion, after all. But it's not just the championship experience; it's the defense, the floor spacing, the intangibles without sacrificing much in the playmaking department.
With Deni Avdija embracing his point-forward role and building on his All-Star campaign, the Blazers don't necessarily need the ball in Morant's hands at all times. They need complementary pieces like Lillard, Toumani Camara, and Holiday on the perimeter to defend and space the floor. Between Lillard and Holiday, they still have enough secondary playmaking behind Avdija, and it's resulting in some of the best basketball of the season.
GM Joe Cronin may have found a working formula in this wonky roster after all. And in Nori, he found the right coach to figure it out. Maybe the Morant injury just sped up sorting out the backcourt. But some of that also comes down to Holiday, whose championship experience allows him to not only step up in this closing unit when it matters most, but also upgrade it.
Add us as a preferred source on Google