Portland Trail Blazers: Sorting out the starting small forward dilemma

Maurice Harkless is playing well in his last seven starts. Do the Portland Trail Blazers have a new starting small forward, or will Evan Turner earn the spot back during the season’s final stretch?

The Portland Trail Blazers are 34-26 through 60 games, nine games better than where they were this time last season. They’ve won their last three games and five of their last six. Their current streak includes an upset win over the Golden State Warriors and a blowout victory over the Utah Jazz that broke their 11-game winning streak.

Portland can attribute part of their success to maintaining a relatively healthy roster for much of the season. The Blazers have succumbed to injuries over the course of the season, but none of them sat out for too long.

Because of this, Portland has been able to start the same players for much of the year. Power forward Al-Farouq Aminu has started 45 games, point guard Damian Lillard has started 53, center Jusuf Nurkic has started 57 and shooting guard C.J. McCollum has started 59. Collectively, this quartet has started 34 games together, carrying a record of 18-16.

The small forward position, however, has seen a bit of turnover throughout the season. Evan Turner has logged the most starts at 28 games. Maurice Harkless follows him up with 26 starts. Pat Connaughton (five games) and C.J. McCollum (one game) started the remaining six games at the 3.

Harkless is the current starter, being first tabbed for the role in the team’s 111-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Feb. 5. Head coach Terry Stotts ruled Turner — who had started 27 of the previous 29 games — inactive due to a left calf injury. He only missed that one game, and has since returned to the roster in a bench role and on a minutes restriction.

Turner’s recovery has given Harkless time to put his best foot forward. Over the last seven games, Harkless is averaging 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game on 52.5 percent shooting from the field. He dropped 15 points in the team’s 118-100 win over the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 9.

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Harkless has also swiped 12 steals over the last seven games, tied for 11th-most in the NBA over that span. Six of those takeaways occurred in their win over the Jazz.

At 6’9″ and 220 pounds, Harkless brings athleticism to the starting small forward position. Between he and Turner, Harkless is the more reliable scorer under the basket and beyond the arc.

On a team with Lillard and McCollum running the offense, Harkless does most of his work on the defensive end though. He is active away from the ball, using his wingspan to generate deflections and block shots.

However, Evan Turner also has his advantages. He’s a point forward that can distribute, but is also willing and able to create his own shot, although his shooting range is mostly limited to the mid-range and corners. He is also a good defender, capable of taking on other guards and wings.

Turner has the fifth-best defensive rating on the team this season, allowing 104.3 points per 100 possessions. Recently he has excelled even more on that end of the floor, despite having to recover from his injury.

Over the last six games, the Blazers are only allowing a team-best 94.1 points per 100 possessions with Turner on the floor. This may be a result of limited minutes and taking on opponents’ second units, but it is the exact type of defensive firepower a team needs when the starting lineup is resting.

As the season races towards its conclusion and Turner eventually heals from his injury, Stotts will be faced with a dilemma. Have Maurice Harkless’ defensive and spacing abilities solidified his spot in the starting lineup? Or does Portland need the playmaking skills of Evan Turner to give Lillard and McCollum more off-ball opportunities?

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This won’t be an easy question to answer, but choosing correctly could allow Portland to become a real competitor in the tough Western Conference.