Portland Trail Blazers: Implications of the Robert Covington trade

The Portland Trail Blazers made a splash in the trade market by sending Trevor Ariza to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Robert Covington.

The Portland Trail Blazers entered the NBA trade season with a bang. They traded Trevor Ariza, a 2020 first-round pick, and a 2021 first-round pick for Robert Covington. This has signaled their intentions for the 2020-21 season.

The Blazers obviously believe that they can compete next season. By adding Covington they have set their starting lineup and it is going to be a competitive unit, to say the least. In Covington, they have added another excellent floor spacer who is also one of the better defenders at his position.

On top of that, Covington can play multiple positions on both offense and defense, he proved that during his stint with the Houston Rockets. Quite often he was the tallest member of the Rockets on the floor, forced to play center on a team that finished fourth in the West last season.

How will the Portland Trail Blazers starting lineup look?

The Blazers will again field one of the best backcourts in the NBA. Damian Lillard is still improving year on year, which is a scary proposition for the rest of the league. C.J. McCollum can be a streaky scorer at times but as a combination, these two are hard to stop.

The front court is Jusuf Nurkic who does it all on the court next to fourth-year man Zach Collins. He needs to have a big year due to the number of injuries he suffered last year. It was meant to be Collins’ breakout year, so now it has to be 2020-21.

Covington rounds out this starting five really well. He spaces the floor and then can defend four out of the five positions. This then gives the Blazers an incredible amount of flexibility with their rotations as games dictate.

Covington has the ability to play all three front court positions meaning that the Blazers can go small ball if they need to with him at center. They can also go small with Covington at the power forward and Nurkic at the pivot.

Another impact that the Covington trade has on the Blazers is that they have less need for backup center Hassan Whiteside. While it would be great for the Blazers to sign him, Covington’s skillset means the Blazers can go in with a lower offer for Whiteside.

The reason for the importance of this is that the Blazers are in danger of going over the luxury tax threshold for the second straight season. They will want to sign Whiteside again and they should re-sign Carmelo Anthony.

Even with Hood opting out of his contract the Blazers bench is still looking like one of the deepest in the NBA. They could have Anthony, Whiteside, Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, Mario Hezonja, and Gary Trent jr.

This means that the Blazers will have a deep 11 man rotation with multiple interchangeable parts. This should assist them going deep into the playoffs as it is the best rotation they have had in many years.