Many fans of the Portland Trail Blazers are under the impression that their team has been short-handed most of the current season due to injuries, but is that actually the case? The team’s injury list is required by the NBA to be accurate, so the answer to this question seems self-evident—yeah, the team has truly had a lot of talent sidelined by injury a lot of the time.
However, take a close look at league play on any given night and you’ll find a plethora of Blazers involved in the action, some
of them lighting the league on fire in the process. Borrowing the immortal words of country music legend George Jones, here’s “the cold, hard truth”—it might not be the injuries. The Blazers could be short-handed because too many of them are suiting up in the wrong uniforms!
I found 15 of these misplaced players in a quick survey of NBA rosters, but it’s not the number that caught my eye—it’s the holes here in Portland that they appear to be more than capable of filling. Let’s start with 3-point shooting, which conventional wisdom seems to have identified as a colossal calamity hereabouts.
Well, we have three of “our guys” blazing away from the outer limits every night—Norman Powell, CJ McCollum and Anfernee Simons—and they damage the nets a lot more than the rims while they’re at it. Powell plays about 31 high-impact minutes a night for the Miami Heat, leading his new team in scoring at just under 25 points per game on mind-boggling shooting stats: 55% on twos, 44% on threes and 86% from the free-throw line. He’s also good for 4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per night, but who’s counting?
Meanwhile, CJ starts for the Washington Wizards and puts up almost 19 points per game on 40% shooting from distance. And Anfernee? He’s coming off the bench for Boston for almost 24 minutes every night, sinking just over 40% of his threes on the way to an average of 13 points. Put these guys back in pinwheels, and are the Blazers still struggling from downtown?
And now that we’re talking about reserves, how about Josh Hart—the closest thing to Deni Advija I recall seeing on the Blazers before the actual Deni got here. Josh is reportedly at less than full strength right now (his Portland pedigree?), but he’s still averaging almost 30 minutes a night good for 12 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists for the season. How does having two of these guys sound to you?
The Blazers have also been a little short in the paint lately, in spite of the fact that two of them are more than seven feet tall. Well, we have two former Portland post players starting for other teams in the league—Deandre Ayton for the Los Angeles Lakers and Jusef Nurkic for the Utah Jazz. Many local partisans were apparently glad to see both of them go, but either might have been handy to have around this season—Deandre accumulates about 15 points and 8 rebounds per game, Jusef 8 points and 9 rebounds. Bring either of these guys back, and how thin in the post are the Blazers?
Other Blazers playing nine or more minutes nightly for the wrong teams include Derrick Jones Jr. and Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers), Pat Connaughton and Mason Plumlee (Charlotte), Gary Payton II (Golden State), Drew Eubanks (Sacramento), Trendon Watford (Philadelphia), Larry Nance Jr. (Cleveland), and Gary Trent Jr. (Milwaukee). Which would you rather have—any of these guys, or two-way players filling major roles?
Obviously, every team has former players spread out around the league and no team could fit all of these guys on one roster. Nonetheless, fans are always allowed to dream! Tell us in the comments if there is a Blazer playing elsewhere that you especially miss!
