The Portland Trail Blazers have limited options in their frontcourt and could possibly look to sign a player to provide some depth. Here are some options.
The Portland Trail Blazers started the season with two injured big men on the roster. Jusuf Nurkic is recovering from a broken leg and Pau Gasol is recovering from a foot injury. Gasol should be ready to go by November while Nurkic will be out until around the All-Star break.
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Well, three games into the regular season and the Blazers have suffered another injury to a big. This time it was starting power forward Zach Collins.
He dislocated his shoulder in the third quarter against the Dallas Mavericks and was ruled out the rest of the game and did not play the rest of the road trip against the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Collins is extremely valuable on both sides of the ball and is the big man that coach Terry Stotts likes to ends games with on the floor.
He can space the floor with his 3-point shooting on offense and project the rim and switch out onto guards on defense.
There is no timeline yet for Collins return, but he did seem optimistic in the locker room after the Mavericks game, saying his shoulder “didn’t hurt too bad.” He also said he was scheduled to get an MRI the next day, Collins did get an MRI, but the team said they would wait to evaluate him further once they get back to Portland.
The Blazers will have to lean even more on the new center, Hassan Whiteside. He has had a nice start to the season, but you can tell he is not in the best shape and is still figuring out his place in the offense and on defense. With Collins out, he should be asked to play a few more minutes.
However, Whiteside suffered a hyperextended knee in the last game of the road trip against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He did come back into the game, but the Blazers will need to keep an eye on him going forward.
Portland will have to use backup Skal Labissière more. The former Kentucky player has been decent in the short stints he has played this season. Damian Lillard called Labissière the MVP of the team’s training camp. This is Labissière’s fourth NBA season and this is the time for him to step up and prove that he belongs in the league.
We also saw coach Stotts play Mario Hezonja at center against the Mavericks. Hezonja is 6’8″ but has good length, strength and athleticism to play as a small-ball five.
Portland has options to replace Collins and possibly Whiteside for the short term and could even bring up one of their two-way guys from the G League — Jaylen Hoard and Moses Brown — if needed. But if the injuries to Collins and Whiteside look like they could be issues for a while, Portland might need to bring in a player to provide some needed insurance down low.
Here are three players that are available and could be a good fit for the Blazers.