Portland Trail Blazers: The implications of Zach Collins returning

With the impending return of Zach Collins, the Portland Trail Blazers have some important decisions to make regarding their lineup.

The Portland Trail Blazers have not had a good season, that much is well known. They are stuck outside the playoffs and will be until further notice. However, there is sometimes a silver lining around the dark cloud that is the NBA season being suspended.

Zach Collins has sat out since injuring his shoulder in the third game of the season. His return has been scheduled for March. According to Basketball-Reference, this return was not stated if it was early or late March.

Now, with the season suspended, this does not matter. The season will not begin again until at least April which should mean that not only will Collins be healthy, he will be closer to game shape. He may be on a minute’s restriction, but with the later return, the restriction should be less or none.

Collins will able to participate in full scrimmages without regular-season pressure. The third-year player is going to play with some players for the first time so he needs to understand how they play. He has not played with Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, and Caleb Swanigan to name a few.

If the Trail Blazers are going to challenge for the eighth seed, he is going to have to reintegrate himself into the rotation as quickly as he can. Coach Terry Stotts is still running most of the same systems so Collins will be able to slide back into the rotations with little fuss.

The implications of the makeup of the starting five, however, may take a little while longer to smooth out. Both Anthony and Ariza have been starters in the league for a long time. They have played their roles as well as can be expected of anyone coming into the team mid-season.

Collins will surely insert back into the starting lineup at some point, moving one of these veterans to the bench. This will have ramifications, all changes do. It may be that Anthony gets moved to the bench and helps their scoring, or stops scoring altogether.

It is hard to see Ariza moving out of the starting lineup as he has made a living in the league for 15 years as a 3-and D player. His heads up defense create opportunities on the offensive end. This is helping the Blazers win games.

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This is the main reason that Anthony needs to be moved to the bench before Ariza. Anthony can then step onto the floor as the sixth man, being the second option to either Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum. This gives Portland multiple scoring options on the court at all times.

There is the possibility that Collins could come back on the bench. The Blazers thought that he was the best option at the start of the season and despite Anthony being on the team, he is their best option at power forward when he returns.

The Blazers will not lose many games with Collins starting over Anthony, he is still a prodigious talent. They need to start thinking about next season as well and Collins will be their starter at the four barring trade or further injury.