PORTLAND, Ore. — It wasn't a good week for the Portland Trail Blazers.
The team lost starting small forward Rodney Hood for the season when he tore his Achilles in the Blazers' loss to the Lakers on Friday. Hood was having his best season, and continued a string of bad injury luck for Portland. Hood became the third Blazers starter to be lost to a major injury in the a span of 24 regular-season games, joining Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins.
Portland stumbled in its first game after the Hood injury, losing a game at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blazers bounced back with a blowout victory against the woeful New York Knicks, but this team is being tested in ways it hasn't been in years.
Meanwhile, NBA trade season begins on Sunday when players signed during the offseason become eligible to be traded. The Cleveland Cavaliers are shopping former Lake Oswego High star Kevin Love and after months of chatter linking him to the Blazers, a report from The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor, a respected NBA journalist, said that Love's preference is to be traded to Portland.
There's a lot to talk about on this week's episode of the 3-on-3 Blazers podcast. We discuss the loss of Hood, talk about the trade rumors linking Love and the Blazers, and make predictions for the next three games.
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1. Rodney Hood, we’ll miss you. What will the Blazers miss most about Hood, and what does his injury mean for the Blazers the rest of this season?
Jared: Ask anyone that knows him, and the first thing they'll talk about is not that Rodney Hood is a great basketball player. They talk about how he's a great person. Before anything else, I feel bad for Hood. He's going to bounce back from this. Even with the challenge ahead of him, rehabbing an Achilles injury, I believe that he will come back next season as good as ever. He's young, was in great shape, and has a positive demeanor. He'll bounce back. This is a big blow for the Blazers. He was the team's best 3-point shooter, and had emerged as their best wing defender. He was a critical piece of their starting lineup. There isn't anyone who can replace him on this roster. I've still got a small cabin on Bazemore Island, but I'm starting to lose hope that he'll be the 3-and-D player I envisioned when Portland traded for him. For now, the Blazers will need to get by with Kent Bazemore, Nassir Little and Mario Hezonja.
Orlando: That was heartbreaking. As soon as Hood went down, all of the air was taken out of the building. It was almost like everyone inside the Moda Center immediately knew it was a season-ending injury. The Blazers lose a "3-and-D" player that had been reliable and consistent at his position. He was the Blazers' best 3-point shooter by far. It's not just that they lose a valuable piece and a starter, but this shuffles the deck once again. Just when you thought this team was getting comfortable with their roles, the rotation and chemistry, another injury sets them back even further. The collection of injuries this early in the season is devastating. The "next man up" mentality is great until you run out of them. This team's depth is being tested in ways no one could have expected.
Nate: The Blazers are going to miss having the potent starting five that was playing so well for them in the five games that they were together. We talked about it last week. The offensive firepower of a Whiteside, Melo, Hood, McCollum and Lillard starting lineup was excelling in the small sample size we saw of it. The competition they faced wasn’t the toughest but during those five games, the Blazers had elevated from a mediocre offense to a top-5 offense. Having three shooters who the defense respects playing alongside Lillard seemed to alleviate some of the pressure that was on him. The Blazers offense was as crisp as we had seen all year and Lillard was only averaging 21 points per game. But he was also averaging 8 assists per game and he wasn’t logging as many minutes. Now, the Blazers will probably have to revert to relying Lillard and McCollum to play too many minutes and carry too much of the load.
2. Let’s talk about Kevin Love, who is the potential trade target most often linked to the Blazers. First a question and then a prediction: Should the Blazers trade for Kevin Love? Will the Blazers trade for Kevin Love?
Orlando: Kevin Love is the type of caliber player the Blazers should be seeking. He checks a lot of boxes. He's an All-Star talent at a position the Blazers could use depth, he has championship pedigree and he's got multiple years remaining on his contract. My greatest concern would be durability, he's got a history of missing games due to injury and I would be a little concerned about availability over the next couple of seasons. It wouldn't be option No. 1 for me, but I think it could work out well for Portland. Do I think it will happen? It depends how much Cleveland truly wants to blow it up. If reports are true about their asking price, there's no way he ends up in Rip City because I don't believe Neil Olshey wants to part ways with promising young talent.
Nate: The Blazers should not trade for Kevin Love … yet. I think Portland needs to make a move to acquire a top of the line forward in order to be an NBA title contender in the 2020-21 season, which is the franchise’s goal. Adding Love would certainly put the Blazers in a better position to contend over the next year or two. But, with Love’s age and injury concerns, I’m not sure he will be the piece that best gives Portland the opportunity to be a contender. It’s still early in the NBA season and some teams may not yet be willing to part with an asset or two that would better fill Portland’s needs. At the same time, the Blazers can’t let the expiring contracts of Hassan Whiteside and Kent Bazemore go to waste. The type of player the Blazers need won’t be available in free agency, and even if they were, they wouldn’t come to Portland anyways. If at the end of January or early February, Kevin Love is the best option for the Blazers, then yes, they need to acquire him. They’ve got to push their chips all in at some point. Ultimately, I don't think they will on Love.
Jared: Love comes with a lot of risk. He's 31. He's been injured a lot. He's missed an average of 35 games the past three seasons, including 60 games last season. He's going to make about $30 million each of the next three seasons. He's never been much of a defender (though he's better than his reputation; he can be a good team defender). But he also comes with a lot of upside, especially playing with this Portland squad. He's a great volume 3-point shooter. He will space the floor for Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. He's a great rebounder, which means when he's paired with Nurkic, he'd help the Blazers recapture their rebounding dominance. And he's a good playmaker. When Dame gets trapped, Love would be a great release valve. Taking into consideration all of it, I think Kevin Love would be worth the risk. The Blazers should try to maximize Lillard's prime and I think Love would help in that endeavor. If all it would take is a first-round pick (and the matching salary) to acquire Love, I don't see why the Blazers wouldn't make it happen.
3. The Blazers play three games between today and our next podcast: they’re on the road for the next two games, tonight against the Denver Nuggets (14-8) and Monday at the Phoenix Suns (11-13), followed by a game back home on Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors (5-21).
Nate: I’m going to say a 1-2 week for the Blazers. To me, they’re back to the team we saw before Melo arrived and the team was healthy for a week and a half. I think they’ll struggle to win games against teams fans have become accustomed to the Blazers beating. And forget about the Blazers knocking off more talented teams. So, they lose the two road games against Denver and Phoenix but beat Golden State.
Jared: The Blazers still don't have a signature win. They still have only one win against a winning team this season. I'm going out on a limb here and predicting they get their best win of the season tonight against the Nuggets. Denver has lost five of six. Their offense is really struggling. They're a little banged-up. We'll see if they end up playing, but both Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap are questionable to play as I write this. I'm going to pick the Blazers to win. And I'm also going to pick them to beat the Suns and Warriors. Other than the game against the Thunder, Portland has been beating the teams they should beat recently. I'm giving the Blazers a 3-0 week.
Orlando: This week is a little more of a challenge to predict. I'm going to stay the course with my picks and say they go 2-1 this week. Denver is a better team right now and they're at home. That looks like a Nuggets win. The other two are toss-ups. I'll give the Blazers the nod. Phoenix has lost nine of 13 and after hearing the Warriors lost to the Knicks, I don't think they have any interest in winning games. Blazers go 2-1 this week.
SEASON PREDICTIONS RECORDS
- Orlando: 17-8
- Jared: 16-9
- Nate: 16-9
MEET THE 3-ON-3 BLAZERS TEAM
Jared Cowley is a digital producer who writes about the Blazers and other topics for KGW.com. Jared has written about the Jazz and Warriors as a sports editor at two daily newspapers.
Nate Hanson is a digital producer who contributes to KGW.com’s coverage of the Blazers, Ducks, Beavers and high school sports.
Orlando Sanchez is the sports anchor and reporter for KGW News, Sports Sunday and Friday Night Flights. Orlando has covered multiple NBA Finals, NCAA Basketball Tournaments and World Series.
