Blazers’ Simons & Hood to Get More Run with McCollum Out

The Trail Blazers enter Monday’s game against the Spurs without CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. McCollum, who exited Saturday’s victory over the Hawks with a foot sprain, is set to miss his first game of the 2020-21 season. With the former Lehigh standout on the bench, coach Terry Stotts explained that he will look to two familiar faces until McCollum returns.

NBC Sports Northwest’s Jamie Hudson highlighted Stotts’ comments after the Blazers’ practice on Sunday. After outlining that McCollum’s timeline to return has not been established, Stotts pointed to Anfernee Simons and Rodney Hood.

“Obviously it’ll change the rotation, extend the minutes of some guys. Obviously, Anfernee and Rodney will probably get a little more run than they have in the past, but I don’t think it changes the way we play. Anfernee will have backup point guard minutes when Dame is out, but again we want to play our style,”Coach Stotts said.

Hood, who is coming off an Achilles injury that he suffered last season, has appeared in 11 games in the 2020-21 campaign. In those outings, he is averaging 13.1 minutes and 1.6 points per game. Simons, a third-year guard out of IMG Academy, enters Monday’s outing averaging 4.0 points per game on 30.2 percent shooting from the field.