Leading up to the Portland Trail Blazers starting training camp on Tuesday, The Oregonian/OregonLive will take a look at five important storylines facing the team under new coach Chauncey Billups.
No. 5: Sorting out the depth chart
The Blazers will enter training camp with the same starting lineup that ended the previous season for the first time since 2018, when Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jusuf Nurkic returned.
That lineup, however, had to deal with Harkless fighting injuries at the end of the 2017-18 season and the start of 2018-19. Still, the Blazers overcame getting swept in the first round of the playoffs the previous season to reach the Western Conference finals in 2019.
This time around, the Blazers return a healthier and more rock-solid crew and also one looking to make amends for a first-round playoff exit.
This series will cover a lot of what the starting group of Lillard, McCollum, Nurkic, Robert Covington and Norman Powell must accomplish for this team to contend. But first, the team’s depth needs some sorting out.
Billups takes over a team that has added forwards Larry Nance Jr. (via trade) and Tony Snell, guard Ben McLemore and center Cody Zeller to the roster as primary additions. Then they signed forwards Marquese Chriss and Patrick Patterson and guards Dennis Smith Jr. and Quinn Cook to non-guaranteed training camp deals.
Thursday, the Blazers officially announced their signings along with the return of Keljin Blevins on a two-way deal.
Holdovers vying for minutes will be guards Anfernee Simons and CJ Elleby and forwards Nassir Little and rookie Greg Brown III.
The biggest questions are: Who will be the first guard and the first small forward off the bench?
At guard, the 22-year-old Simons, who led the team in three-point shooting last season (42.6%), is the front-runner, but McLemore, 28, brings veteran experience that could command playing time.
The Blazers signed Snell, 29, to provide depth at small forward, then traded Derrick Jones Jr. to Chicago in the deal that landed Nance. That left Snell and Little, 21, to compete for playing time behind Powell.
Little showed growth last season after an injury-filled rookie season, but didn’t do enough to cement himself as a potential starter or the backup behind Powell. Snell is a far more proven shooter (career 39.7% on threes) and is a solid defender with 47 playoff games worth of experience.
Then there is Brown. The second-round draft pick out of Texas looked solid during summer league but likely isn’t going to earn much playing time as a rookie, especially given that two years ago he was preparing for his senior year of high school. Elleby, a second-round pick last season, will likely be trapped behind a logjam at guard.
The Blazers have 13 players on the roster entering training camp. That leaves Chriss, Patterson, Cook, Blevins and Smith vying for the 14th and maybe 15th roster spot. Or, the Blazers could leave one open.
For now, the top five bench players will likely be Zeller (he faces no competition at the moment), Nance, Simons, Snell and McLemore.
Coming up: Carving out Nurkic’s new role.
-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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