The Portland Trail Blazers walk into training camp with a problem most teams would gladly take: too many capable guards and not enough obvious answers on how to divide the minutes.
Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson all give Portland four legitimate point guard options, and that kind of backcourt crowding is already forcing new head coach Micah Nori to think carefully about rotations and staggering. The challenge isn’t finding talent. It’s sorting through it.
“The more talent you can get, the way we can put these guys into role. It's all about decision makers. The league is going, in my opinion, a lot smaller now, positionless and all that type of thing,” Nori said.
“So, just really good basketball players that are willing to make plays for others and good decision makers. So, I think it's a good problem to have.
I hope that they're all playing so well that they're angry and upset with me in minutes, and I mean that in all sincerity. It's a heck of a lot better than the alternative, where you look around, you don't have anybody.
So, I think it's a good problem to have.”
How all four guards fit together is still very much a work in progress. Nori expects each of them to play meaningful minutes, but the nightly mix could change depending on the matchup and the flow of the game.
That uncertainty is exactly why the preseason matters so much for Portland. The Blazers want to use those games to see which combinations actually click and which ones need work.
“I think the one thing is I see them playing together. I mean, quite a bit.
I think that we basically have 9-10, guys, even with Shaedon [Sharpe] being out, that you can put on the floor together. I think that's what's exciting about these four preseason games in the next three or four weeks just seeing how all those combinations will work,” Nori said.
Even then, the answers won’t come all at once. Portland is going to have to keep adjusting as the season unfolds, especially with injuries and the natural ups and downs every team faces over the course of a year. Still, having multiple guards who can tilt a game on offense gives Nori a lot to work with and plenty of room to shape the playbook.
The Blazers open preseason on Wednesday, October 7, against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Tip-off is set for 7 pm PT at the Moda Center.
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Blazers Suddenly Have A Ja Morant Question They Cant Ignore
At Portland Trail Blazers media day, the backcourt picture was already looking crowded before the season even tips off. Micah Nori addressed a guard rotation that features Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday, and said the staff can get creative with how it fits the pieces together, including using Holiday more at forward to help manage minutes and keep the lineup flexible.
Morant added another layer to the conversation by making it clear his priority is winning, regardless of whether he starts or not. Nori acknowledged the possibility of Morant coming off the bench, which is the kind of rotation wrinkle that can shape a season long before the games start to matter. The Blazers may spend plenty of the early months experimenting with roles, and this one feels destined to be one of the bigger decisions they keep revisiting. [Read more 🡒]