Portland Trail Blazers wing Vit Krejci suffered a lower left leg fracture in Wednesday's win against the Phoenix Suns. With Krejci now sidelined for an extended period, the Blazers' thin wing depth becomes an even bigger issue.
The silver lining is that their backcourt logjam helps fill the void left by early-season injuries to Krejci, Ja Morant, and Shaedon Sharpe.
Jrue Holiday has been exceptional during Portland's 6-1 start, coming off the bench and using his versatility to fill in all the gaps on this roster. Sidy Cissoko is another bench piece that has shown significant improvement since last season alone. Head coach Micah Nori also said that two-way signing Chris Youngblood will be the one to step into Krejci's minutes.
Youngblood has shown some flashes and could potentially become GM Joe Cronin's next two-way steal after hitting on Cissoko and Caleb Love last season. But it also raises the question of why the Blazers have to rely on a two-way signing as part of their rotation less than ten games into the season.
Blazers should make a move to address their lack of wing depth
Holiday and Youngblood can play bigger than their 6-foot-4 frames suggest, giving Nori the flexibility to run three-guard lineups. But they're now forced to lean even further into that guard-heavy approach, which will leave Portland exposed in certain matchups. Not to mention, it's not ideal to have Youngblood out there given his floor-spacing limitations, which don't pair well with the downhill game of Deni Avdija and Morant when he eventually returns.
Injuries are unfortunately inevitable in the NBA, and the Blazers should've done more to prepare for that with their wing depth. Cronin should consider making a trade now that Krejci is out of the rotation, or at least exploring signing someone to fill the final spot on this 15-man roster.
Portland's need for a two-way wing was apparent entering the season when they did nothing to replace Matisse Thybulle, Jerami Grant, or Kris Murray. These early-season injuries have further exposed that lack of wing depth outside of Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, and Cissoko.
Fortunately, that trio has been playing exceptionally well to start the season, and it also helps that Camara is an underappreciated iron man when it comes to his availability. And while the Blazers do have guards to step up, they could still use another wing to give Nori more matchup options. They had a wonky roster largely made up of point guards and centers, and the injuries to Sharpe and now Krejci have made it even more disproportionate, with a lack of wings.
We're seeing the value of having all those guards on the roster, as Nori has implemented a system that utilizes all these ball handlers and decision makers on the court at once. It's also been a working formula, with Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III protecting the paint and offsetting the defensive limitations of the undersized backcourt.
But the Blazers are missing the wing component of this formula, specifically off the bench. Overall, their depth has been a strength at the start of the season, but it's also very limited. Exploring wing options was obvious even without this injury to Krejci, but now it should give Cronin even more urgency to address the roster problem and find better balance.
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