The Whiteboard: Blazers’ potential solutions for Jusuf Nurkic’s injury

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In the type of devastating blow that Portland Trail Blazers fans have grown accustomed to by now, Jusuf Nurkic suffered another serious injury, breaking his wrist in the team’s most recent loss to the Indiana Pacers. The severity of his injury was undetermined as of Thursday night, but the phrase “broken wrist” doesn’t leave much hope that he’ll be back on the court anytime soon.

At 7-5, the Blazers just had their four-game win streak snapped, dropping to sixth in the premature Western Conference standings. Even so, their record, their point differential (+0.1) and their performances to this point reinforce the notion that they’re a good but not great team. They’ll compete for a playoff spot, and can still finish above .500, but any playoff prospects they have beyond that depend entirely on how long it’ll take Nurkic to return … and how the Blazers fare without him in the meantime.

So how will Portland get by without the Bosnian Beast patrolling the paint and Hassan Whiteside — last year’s Nurkic understudy — long gone? There are several options Rip City could pursue to stay afloat, though each one comes with its own set of potential problems:

Go all in on offense with Enes Kanter

Enes Kanter has arguably been at his best during his Blazers days, and he’s wasted no time making himself comfortable again in Portland. Through 12 games, he’s putting up 10.0 points and 8.9 rebounds in just 18.7 minutes per game. There’s no question he’d be a walking double-double in expanded minutes.

However, there’s a reason he’s not even cracking 20 minutes a game, and it’s not just because of Nurkic: Kanter is a notoriously bad defender and an outright liability in pick-and-roll defense. If he’s named the starter and starts logging 25-30 minutes a night, Portland’s 26th-ranked defense might get even worse.

The good news is Nurkic was only logging 23.6 minutes per game leading into Thursday’s game, so it’s not like the Blazers would need Kanter to suddenly start playing 30 minutes a night. But if Terry Stotts isn’t comfortable with opposing teams feasting on Kanter in the starting role, there’s another internal option …

Trust in Harry Giles!

Harry Giles has only played in eight games this season, averaging a meager 7.9 minutes per game. But remember during the preseason, when he looked like a force to be reckoned with in ample minutes? When he put up 10.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 21.5 minutes per game? Sure, it was only four meaningless preseason games, but Harry Giles is a peacock! You’ve gotta let him fly!

Okay, so maybe it’d be a major leap of faith to take an end-of-the-rotation piece like Giles and throw him into the starting role, but it’d certainly be a curveball other teams couldn’t prepare for, and it’d allow Kanter to continue feasting as an offense-first weapon off the bench.

Do it, Terry. Be bold and take a chance on this 22-year-old who’s ready to spread his wings.

Trade for a Cavs big

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ participation in the James Harden trade might as well have been a giant billboard that read “Please trade for one of our bigs, we don’t want them all.” Between Andre Drummond, Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., JaVale McGee and the new arrival in Jarrett Allen, there’s only so much available space in that frontcourt.

Drummond is the best short-term option of the bunch for Portland as an established big man who gobbles up boards, can pass from the elbows a la Nurkic and would generally fill in as a big body in the paint. He’s also an expiring contract, which means the Blazers wouldn’t have to worry about his fit beyond the few months they spend waiting for Nurk to return.

However, Cleveland’s asking price for Drummond probably won’t be low enough for Portland to afford, even if the Cavs have no idea what they want to do with him beyond this season. Matching his $28.8 million salary would be nearly impossible without including Nurkic or Robert Covington, at which point it wouldn’t even be worth it for Portland.

Jarrett Allen would be the ideal, more attainable option with his $3.9 million salary, but he could very well be Cleveland’s long-term solution to the center spot now, or at the very least their insurance policy in case Drummond talks get too pricy in the offseason. Love’s salary is too massive to move, and Nance isn’t going anywhere.

So … JaVale McGee, I guess?

Make a savvy signing

If the Blazers are smart, they’re calling Dewayne Dedmon’s agent right now before the Brooklyn Nets get a hold of him. The Nets could use some depth behind DeAndre Jordan after shipping out Allen; the Blazers could use a floor-spacing, two-way big with experience like Dedmon, who is inexplicably still a free agent.

Portland could even sign him for more than the veteran minimum if the front office is desperate enough to offer him the Bi-Annual Exception. Generally teams like to save that exception, but the need here is dire, and Dedmon would be worth it given his ability to shoot 3s and block shots on the interior.

If Dedmon is signed by someone else or just doesn’t feel like the right fit, the Blazers could set their sights on other available big men such as Kyle O’Quinn or Tyson Chandler to fill some minutes in the frontcourt.

Put Robert Covington back in a familiar role

The Blazers have been allotting more minutes to Robert Covington, Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Jones Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. than they were to Nurkic, so perhaps leaning into the small-ball, wing-heavy lineups is the way to go. RoCo is used to this kind of role after spending considerable time at the 5 with the Houston Rockets, and although he’s no P.J. Tucker in that respect, it is a different look that Stotts could throw at teams more often without his starting center.

Covington hasn’t been impressive through his first few weeks as a Blazer, averaging just 6.8 points per game on 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and 32.8 percent shooting from 3. Maybe spending more time as a small-ball 5 will open things up for him on the perimeter and help him get his long-range stroke back on track.

This isn’t a permanent solution, nor should Covington become the team’s full-time starting center, but against certain lineups, for a few short stretches here and there? This is one way to provide some relief for a team that doesn’t have very many appealing options for replacing Nurkic.

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