Portland Trail Blazers: Chris Kaman Needs To Stay Healthy
The Trail Blazers were a little thin on the front line last season. After LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez, the quality of Portland’s big men was mediocre at best. The trio of Joel Freeland, Meyers Leonard and Thomas Robinson do little to inspire confidence in this weak trio of bench big men.
Freeland doesn’t do much other than take up space. Leonard has taken a step back from his rookie season and his production has dropped across the board. Robinson has shown some promising improvements, but he is still not productive enough to be considered a legitimate option. In comes Chris Kaman.
Chris Kaman used to be an All-Star center. Playing for the then-terrible Los Angeles Clippers, Kaman managed to put together quite the season, averaging 18.5 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. Of course, the 2009-10 season might as well be ancient history by NBA standards, but it shows that Chris Kaman is capable of playing the center position at an All-Star caliber level.
There were more than a few people who questioned if Chris Kaman can still produce at a high level. Rest assured, he can. His time was limited because he is a very lead-footed player and with that fact alone, he fell out of the rotation for Mike D’Antoni for a while. Here were his numbers last season in limited time with the Los Angeles Lakers:
| Season | Age | G | MP | FG% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | 31 | 39 | 18.9 | .509 | .765 | 5.9 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 10.4 |
| Career | 645 | 28.1 | .487 | .745 | 7.9 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 11.7 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/3/2014.
Kaman can still score pretty well in the low block and he can rebound well enough. His 10.4 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game project to 19.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per 36 minutes played. And the best part was that he kept it efficient, shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the free throw line. Kaman only had trouble with turnovers, as he averaged 1.9 turnovers per game. That averages out to 3.6 per 36 minutes and that is simply unacceptable. But the production is still there and it can really help a team off of the bench.
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Naturally, with the Trail Blazers needing big men, this seems like a match made in heaven. Chris Kaman comes in as a role player in a bit of a pressure situation. The Trail Blazers need Kaman to produce. He most certainly will, as the back up to Robin Lopez. The kicker here is that Kaman has an extensive history with injuries.
And I mean extensive: Chris Kaman only has one season in which he hasn’t missed time due to injury. That season was his rookie season all the way back in 2003-04. Kaman can’t seem to stay healthy, and it really helped derail his potential. Kaman went from high potential center to an injury prone, journey man in the space of a few short seasons.
Over his career, Kaman has played 645 total games, which sounds like a lot. It isn’t when you take into account that it’s out of 886 total games. Chris Kaman only averages 58 games per season. That’s not good, especially since Kaman is getting up there in age as well. With the Trail Blazers needing better production out of the back up center spot, it’s imperative for Portland to keep Kaman healthy through out the season. Unfortunately, Kaman going down with some sort of injury is more of a when than an if at this point.
The good news for Portland is that they have a plethora of warm bodies to play at the center position. Should Chris Kaman miss time due to injury, any two of Joel Freeland and Meyers Leonard can fill in while he recovers. With that said, the team won’t get very far in the playoffs if the bench can’t give the starters a breather. Hopefully, the Trail Blazers can keep Kaman from breaking down. Should he miss extended time, it could spell trouble for a weak Blazers bench.