Before this season began the Portland Trail Blazers were picked by many to be one of the worst teams in the Western Conference but they surprised a lot of people when they jumped out to a 4-2 start. The Blazers have since lost their last two games but they have played better than a lot of people expected especially when you consider how young this team is. The Blazers are expected to get some reinforcements on Wednesday night when they take on the San Antonio Spurs as Gerald Henderson is likely to make his debut with the team, according to Mark Richman of The Oregonian.
Henderson was acquired by Portland in the trade that sent Nicolas Batum over to the Charlotte Hornets. Henderson had spent his six NBA seasons with Charlotte before the trade and Wednesday could mark his first game with another team. Henderson has missed the first eight games while recovering from hip surgery and although he is a good NBA scorer his role upon his return is not very clear cut.
The Blazers have gone with a solid four man rotation for the wing spots so far and all of them have been playing pretty well. C.J. McCollum is averaging 20.9 points per game and isn't going to lose time and the same goes for Al-Farouq Aminu who is Portland's best defender. Behind the two starters Terry Stotts has been playing Maurice Harkless and Allen Crabbe as the backup wings. Both players have averaged more than 20 minutes per game and around 7.5 points per game and if Henderson were to get minutes it would likely be at the expense of one of them.
The numbers for Harkless and Crabbe are very similar but a deeper look shows that Henderson would be more likely to unseat Crabbe. Harkless does more on the floor, like rebounding, and has shot the ball better from distance so far this season. Crabbe hasn't played poorly by any means but Henderson represents an upgrade on both sides of the ball.
Henderson will likely be eased back into things as he has admitted he is not fully in game shape yet so all three players might get minutes at the beginning but after that the minutes will have to be earned. Henderson is the veteran of the group and is making $6 million so he will have that on his side when he is fully healthy but if he doesn't play well the Blazers have options behind him that have shown they can play at the NBA level. Henderson is likely to get minutes throughout the season but they are not guaranteed as the Blazers have a pretty good thing going so far without him.
