The Portland Trail Blazers lost both LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez in free agency this offseason, their starting frontcourt, yet they think their frontcourt could still be a strength for them. The Blazers have replaced Aldridge and Lopez with some youthful players that are versatile and can do a lot of different things on the court. Portland should be able to go four deep in the frontcourt but they are expected to start Mason Plumlee and Meyers Leonard together, according to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian.
This is a bit of an interesting development as it seemed like Leonard and Plumlee were competing for the starting center role while Ed Davis was set to start at power forward. Both Plumlee and Leonard are centers but when you think about it on a deeper level it makes more sense for these two players to start together as they should complement each other well.
Leonard is a 7 foot-1 center but his best asset is probably his outside shooting as he shot 42 percent from three last season. Plumlee on the other hand brings nothing to the table in the way of outside shooting but he can score in the post, find open teammates and use his athleticism to score inside or in transition. Plumlee will also make up for the fact that Leonard isn't much of a rim protector as he averages 1.4 blocks per 36 minutes and should help him out on the defensive end.
With Leonard and Plumlee likely to start that leaves Davis and Noah Vonleh as the backups and they also should fit well together. Davis is used to coming off the bench as he has only started 82 games in his five year career and he is more of the inside presence, like Plumlee, while Vonleh will be able to pick and pop, like Leonard, and stretch the defense.
All of these big men for the Blazers are extremely young (Davis is the oldest at age 26) but they are also very talented. It is highly unlikely that any of them will turn into superstars this season but they all should complement each other very well and grow together as the season goes along. It's hard to imagine the Blazers frontcourt didn't take a hit after losing Aldridge and Lopez but it's also hard to blame the Blazers for thinking they have something with their young frontcourt. The Blazers have extremely low expectations this year but these young big guys have a chance to make some noise and help the Blazers maintain relevancy in the Western Conference.
