Portland Trail Blazers: 3 takeaways from 2018-19 Media Day

2. The rotation is TBD, but everyone is ready to step up

Harkless’ injury notwithstanding, the opening night starting lineup seems pretty clear. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum will certainly be the starting backcourt. Jusuf Nurkic is the man in the middle. Al-Farouq Aminu will likely retain his starting power forward spot and Evan Turner will likely slide in at small forward if Harkless is not ready to go by mid-October.

However, after Turner, Zach Collins and new addition Seth Curry, the rest of the bench rotation is still up in the air. The Blazers have plenty of pieces that could slide into complementary roles, so there are a large number of possibilities. Training camp and preseason ball will go a long way toward sorting out who ultimately gets the minutes.

Regardless of who it is, every role player that stepped up to the mic on Monday expressed the ways they wanted to help the team. Jake Layman touted a more consistent jump shot and defensive improvements. Wade Baldwin IV sees himself as someone who can come in and instantly contribute on both ends of the floor. Meyers Leonard is working to gain the same trust the team had in departed big man Ed Davis.

Both Neil Olshey and Terry Stotts indicated that this Blazers team is looking to move the ball better and shoot more 3-pointers. The roster is set up so that every player could contribute in some way.  We’ll see over the next month if anyone manages to separate themselves from the rest of the pack and earn a spot in the rotation.