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Portland Trailblazers
When Travis Outlaw stepped awkwardly on a drive against the Charlotte Bobcats and then hobbled out of the gym, the Portland Trail Blazers lost a valuable asset. The longest-tenured member of the franchise was coming into his own, providing energy off the bench particularly as a late-game threat. Now, he’s on the shelf for up to eight weeks, rehabbing the fractured fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot. Portland’s most important reserve and versatile backup power forward/small forward will be sorely missed, but the Blazers can make due in his stead if they play LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Fernandez more, and incorporate rookie Dante Cunningham into their rotation.
As of now, Aldridge, their starting power forward, is averaging only 31 minutes per game. This is primarily because Portland has won a majority of their game’s handily, and because of their tendency to win convincingly, head coach Nate McMillan can afford to use the team’s second best player at least five or six minutes more per contest. Aldridge is a strong offensive player. He has flourished in spurts, especially early in games, but then the Blazers inexplicably go away from him, as was the case against Memphis, when he scored ten points in the opening quarter and only six the rest of the way. He has mastered the 17-20 foot jumper, and has the post-up game to be a dominant force, but in taking only 12 shots a game, he hasn’t had the touches to make a consistent impact.
Hopefully, his minutes will increase. Because if they do, his production will undoubtedly skyrocket, and he will become the player who averaged 18 points per game last year, and say goodbye to the player who has averaged just 14 thus far.
Fernandez should also reap benefits in light of Outlaw’s injury. In five games in which he has played less than 20 minutes, he has made only 4 field goals in only 17 attempts, including 1-9 from three-point range. In the seven games he has played more than twenty minutes, he has made 28 of 53 shots, including 18-34 three-pointers. Clearly, there is a drastic difference.
In the first game after Outlaw’s injury, against the Atlanta Hawks, he scored 19 points, making 7-12 shots overall and 4-6 three pointers for his second best offensive output on the season. If the Blazers choose to go small and play Fernandez the 32 minutes he received in this particular contest on a regular basis, then his production should stay along that productive stat-line, which can only help the Blazers make up for Outlaw’s offensive ability.
Aldridge will see more action, as will Fernandez, but there is another who deserves to see an increase in minutes. For Cunningham, they can’t go anywhere but up, considering he has played 10 minutes in three games, which is reasoning why the rookie out of Villanova should be given a shot by McMillan to make a considerable impact.
He is of similar height as Outlaw, 6′8″, but is far beefier, weighing in at 230 compared to Outlaw’s 207. He hasn’t had much of a chance to prove himself, but in garbage time against Minnesota, he gave the Blazers and their fan-base a glimpse of his ability, playing the final six minutes and scoring 6 points on 3-4 shooting. He had a deft mid-range game in that limited window of opportunity, and though not much is known about the other assets of his game, he was an aggressive rebounder at Villanova, averaging 7 his senior season, and a respectable defensive player as well, averaging just over a block per game.
This statistically sounds vaguely similar to the statistics Outlaw would boast, and if the Blazers give him some playing time, his college success very well may translate to the professional level. Portland could use him as they do second-year point guard Jerryd Bayless (yes, he’s become a point guard after all). Of late, Bayless has entered with two minutes remaining in the first quarter, and then played the first three minutes of the second, providing a jolt to either help the Blazers jump out to a big lead or quell their ugliness. Why not play both Bayless and Cunningham at the same time, along with Fernandez, power forward Juwan Howard, and center Joel Przybilla? Sounds like a good experimental lineup to me.
The reason the Blazers can survive without Outlaw is their extraordinary depth. They have shooting guard Martell Webster, who they can move to small forward in some sets if they wish. They have Brandon Roy, who has started a majority of the games this season as small forward in Portland’s three-guard lineup, a position Outlaw played in many of their different rotations. They also have Howard, who was strong in limited time against Atlanta. Now, they also can put Cunningham in the mix. No other team has four players that can split minutes at a certain position in another’s absence.
Outlaw will be back in January. Hilariously enough, so will another small forward, Nicolas Batum, who started for a better part of his rookie season last year. Then, by that time, if Fernandez is averaging 20 points per game, and Cunningham is shining as another spark off the bench, McMillan will have a problem on his hands. But it sure will be an envious one.
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