MAILBAG: Should Ja Morant Come Off the Bench?

Hi Sean, I understand that everyone is saying all the necessary things about Dame and Ja being the starting backcourt this season, and I understand that the NBA more than any other league requires massaging of egos when it comes to things like who is a starter. But am I the only one who sees that breaking up that duo would make an incredible amount of sense? 

For example: start Dame and Jrue together. This solidifies the starting lineup's defense and takes a little pressure off Dame (and a lot of pressure off Toumani Camara having to cover for 2 small bad defensive guards); it allows Jrue to play off ball and take more catch and shoot 3s; and it means that there are only guys who need the ball and want to go to the hoop in Dame and Deni at one time.

Having Ja come off the bench and pair him with Scoot, who thrived more off the ball last season and showed signs of being a competent defender, makes a ton of sense. Not to mention the highlight reel possibilities of Ja throwing lobs to Robert Williams.

I understand these guys will overlap in different lineups anyways but I feel like these are the most obvious guard pairings to address weaknesses.

- Andy P.

I agree completely that the Blazers' rotations make a lot more sense if Holiday starts in the backcourt alongside either Lillard or Morant. Somebody has to be able to guard someone, or else you're going to run Toumani Camara into the ground. A Lillard-Morant duo is going to be the worst defensive backcourt in the NBA. If that pairing plays the bulk of the minutes together, the only way they'll be able to win will be by outscoring everyone, and Lillard is the only one in that starting lineup who's a reliable outside shooter.

It will be interesting to see how Micah Nori navigates this. Morant said in July when he spoke to reporters in Las Vegas that he doesn't care whether he starts or comes off the bench, which is great, but that scans to me like something that you say in your introductory press conference when you're trying to make a good first impression. I do like Nori's response to that, though, which is that if Morant said it, he'll hold him to it if need be.

Given Lillard's age and the fact that he's coming off a major injury, bringing him off the bench would make some sense. If Lillard wanted to, he could win Sixth Man of the Year—I think he's still going to be very effective offensively, just not playing the kind of minutes he played before the injury, and he'd have the goodwill and media narrative push to get the votes. But I don't think he came back to Portland envisioning coming off the bench.

What could end up happening is Lillard and Morant start together for optics and political reasons, but after a couple minutes one goes to the bench for either Holiday or Henderson and they stagger them the rest of the way, to make it playable defensively.

I think some of this will sort itself out organically because all four of their high-usage point guards (Lillard, Morant, Holiday and Henderson) have missed a lot of time in recent years with injuries, so there's no way any of them are going to play all 82 games. But it's definitely an imperfect fit.

Sean - this is less about the team and more about your work. I’m curious about how you approach the cultivation of strong relationships with folks across the Blazers and Fire organizations, especially when you have a viewpoint and perspective that may not always align with theirs. What’s it like to be you seeking and telling stories while still keeping enough distance to stay somewhat objective?

- Barrett B.

This sounds like an oversimplification, but a large majority of the job of beat writer is simply showing up. The more you're around, the more players, coaches and team staffers get used to seeing you around and realize they can trust you. It takes time.

There's a misconception out there that beat reporters are incentivized to toe the company line to avoid losing access. There are some organizations where that's true (and the Blazers used to be, under their previous general manager), but that's not the way it's supposed to be. They know we don't work for the team and our jobs are to report what happens, whether it makes them look good or not. This is also where showing up is crucial. If you write something critical of a player or coach, you have to be willing to show your face the next day so that they can talk to you about it if they want to. The more trust and respect you have built up, the easier it is to navigate that when it happens because they know that whatever you wrote that they didn't like isn't based on a personal agenda or taking shots at people for the sake of it.

This is where traveling on the beat is more important now than ever before. The best access comes on the road, where you might be the only person in the locker room or at practice at shootaround. Local outlets around the country have pulled their beat writers off the road because the higher-ups think you can do the same work from home without spending that money. On a surface level, that can seem true—you can write a game story taking the quotes from the YouTube upload of the postgame press conference and most people won't know the difference, day-to-day. But I can't tell you how many times on the road I've run into someone from the team out at lunch or at a hotel and sparked up a conversation, which can eventually lead to better story ideas and better understanding of the people involved, not to mention little insights and things you pick up from being there that you wouldn't watching from home.

I did a good amount of travel last season and plan to do a similar amount this year, which isn't cheap but is a worthwhile investment for the reasons I outlined above. And the more of you become paid subscribers, the more I'm able to do that.

What was the front office strategy in the Ja trade? The fit is so wonky that it makes me think there must be a deeper strategy that is being prioritized over putting together a team that makes sense this year.

- Josh