Portland Trail Blazers: 4 Free agents to improve the bench
By Ty Delbridge
Free agents that could fortify Portland Trail Blazers bench: 3: Robin Lopez
The Blazers have their starting center in Jusuf Nurkic but need another big body to back him up. They might want Zach Collins to fill that role, but he may be more of a power forward right now in his career, and there’s not a guarantee that he will be back.
Portland should look to add a veteran big like Robin Lopez for some insurance either way. He is 7’0”, 281 pounds, and can impact the game on both ends of the court.
Lopez played for the Blazers for two seasons back in 2013-15 and was their starting center and a fan favorite. In those two years, Lopez averaged 10.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
He was since played for four more teams and has been a solid contributor wherever he has gone. Lopez is 33 and hasn’t been a starting center for the last two years, so he should have no problem coming in and backing up Nurkic for 10-15 minutes a night.
The Western Conference is loaded with good centers with Nikola Jokic, Deandre Ayton and Rudy Gobert, just to name a few.
The Blazers need to get some help for Nurkic so he doesn’t have so much pressure to stay out of foul trouble. Lopez would give Portland a veteran big body who can bang down low, make smart plays and put up some points if needed as well.
Even if the Blazers do bring back Collins, they could play him alongside Lopez in the second unit to give the team a huge frontcourt coming off the bench. And come playoffs, Portland would have multiple options to play at center depending on the matchups. They had Enes Kanter last year, and he was a non-factor in the postseason, and the Blazers just can’t have that again.