[Podcast] How will Terry Stotts Redistribute Minutes with Kanter in the Lineup?

Dan Marang and Tara Bowen-Biggs discuss highlights from All Star weekend including Damian Lillard’s outstanding performance in Sunday night’s game. Then they compare what happened in the Trail Blazers’ loss to Oklahoma City to how things went down in the win against Golden State. Short answer: Zach Collins.

Finally they dig into one of the most exciting things the team has done lately--bringing in Enes Kanter to finish out the season. What are the skills that he brings? How will minutes be redistributed? Who’s playing time will suffer the most? We can’t wait for the games to start and see what happens.

Join us for all of this and more on the latest episode of the Blazer’s Edge Podcast.

Download the episode.

Highlights

1:00 All Star Weekend Wrap up: Damian Lillard basically saves Team LeBron

2:45 Everyone in Rip City is synced up for #DameTime. Also, LeBron stop looking at Dame!

4:50 Three point contest wrap up. Saturday night moved along quickly. Hope that Zion Williamson will participate next year.

7:00 Congratulations to the Northwest’s own Joe Harris for winning the 3-point contest.

8:15 Okay, who voted for Kevin Durant for MVP?

9:00 What did we learn from the loss to Oklahoma City Thunder? Length and athleticism still bother the Trail Blazers. CJ McCollum struggles with shooting against long defenders.

11:30 Jusuf Nurkic has had a rough go of it lately, is he dealing with injury? He’s not dunking and they are not running the ball through him.

12:45 Oklahoma City is not a good matchup for the Blazers.

14:00 Golden State meltdown. After scoring only nine points in a quarter against OKC, it felt extra good to hold Golden State to only 12.

15:30 No one besides Kevin Durant really showed up for the Warriors, lots of air balls on both sides, wild play in general.

17:00 How did Zach Collins get into the minds of three All Stars? He had a massive impact on the game.

18:30 Collins’ block out of nowhere was game-changing. Collins is good at channeling his own mistakes into playing really well.

20:15 Don’t forget Jake Layman getting into Draymond Green’s head!

22:30 Collins does really well under pressure. Everyone contributed to the win over the Warriors.

24:30 Collins had a lot to prove the same day that the Blazers signed Enes Kanter.

26:45 Is this the best acquisition Olshey has made during his tenure?

27:15 Kanter plays the same way Nurkic does. There won’t be any drop off offensively if Kanter slides in behind Nurkic.

28:15 Kanter is an elite offensive rebounder. Kanter will take on the offensive rebounding that Ed Davis used to do.

29:45 Sorry, Tara, Kanter is not a dunker. He has a nice soft touch.

30:30 Sidebar: Anthony Davis didn’t even make an effort to finish Damian Lillard’s alley-oop in the All Star Game. Also, news flash, promising the people of New Orleans you’re going to leave them a heartwarming message on Instagram is not how you make nice on your way out the door.

32:00 What will the combinations look like with Kanter in the lineup? Dan thinks Collins will lose minutes because he isn’t enough of a floor spacer yet. Tara thinks that Collins will play alongside Kanter like he played alongside Ed Davis last year.

34:30 Blazers have brought in more multifaceted players. They have shown that they are less about development than they are about a successful playoff run.

36:00 Can anyone remember the last time the Blazers got a buy-out player who would have an immediate impact?

36:45 The trash talk will also not let up when Nurkic goes out and Kanter comes in.

38:00 Kanter brings other fun things: he was on point with the up-to-date web content and wearing 00 will be cool. Eric Griffith noted that the Blazers could have their lowest sum of jersey numbers on the court: 0+00+1+3+4=8.

40:45 Speaking of that, what are some possible lineup combinations?

42:30 Prep for Brooklyn Nets. Ed Davis has circled this game on his calendar.

45:00 What advantages do the Blazers have against the Nets? They have the advantage in that they need to win and should be hungry to prove themselves.

46:30 Note to Brooklyn--don’t even think about it, you can’t have Jake Layman!

47:15 Philadelphia preview. Dan says “terrifying” a bunch. Looking forward to seeing how Nurkic does against Joel Embiid.

50:45 Are the Blazers going to simplify the playbook while trying to incorporate two new players?

53:00 Kanter’s source of production is offensive rebounds. This could be a big deal for the Blazers.

53:45 Last week to donate tickets for Blazer’s Edge night!