What’s next for the Trail Blazers?

It’s been a tough time for Blazers fans. Jusuf Nurkic will be out for at least eight weeks with a broken wrist and news broke Monday night that CJ McCollum will be out for about four weeks with a broken foot.

For a team with preseason ambitions of a deep playoff run, those two injuries are a devastating blow. Especially since McCollum had played well to start the season.

Can the rest of the list contain the fort?

Unfortunately, the Blazers’ problems this season run deeper than the injuries to McCollum and Nurkic. Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr. didn’t turn out to be definitive improvements over Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless. Rodney Hood struggled to recover from a blown Achilles tendon. Anfernee Simons didn’t look like a rotation player at all, let alone a backup point guard ready to fill the void left by CJ’s absence. The team’s defense looked, well, horrible. And Zach Collins is unlikely to contribute significantly this season after suffering his own injury.

Outside of Enes Kanter (and CJ, of course), it’s reasonable to ask if anyone on the roster has exceeded preseason expectations. And now that same list will be called upon to try to fill in the huge gaps left by McCollum and Nurkic over the next few weeks. Even the most die-hard fans would forgive a little pessimism at this point.

What is the most likely outcome here?

Normally, most of these early season hiccups could be overcome. Indeed, there have already been signs of life; Lillard has just won the player of the week title, Hood has played well for the first time this season and Jones’ athleticism is starting to pay off.

But, unfortunately, the entire squad will now be asked to exceed expectations in the next 20 games. Lillard will have to play out of his mind to keep the team afloat, which has always resulted in lingering overuse injuries:

Damian Lillard has had his fair share of lingering injuries throughout his career. Examples include: a groin injury and a twisted knee last season, hamstring strain during the 2017-18 season, persistent plantar fasciitis during the 2015-16 season, at least a few stuck fingers, etc.

The Blazers will likely be able to stay afloat and win enough games to embark on a playoff series as a weak seed and serious underdog.

We’ve, of course, seen this before in playoff games with the Warriors and Lakers (and Pelicans?) In recent years. It’s not particularly fun. But that’s the likely reality for the 2020-21 season.

A silver lining?

To end on a positive note, I will point out that the Blazers have been bitten for the past couple of years, but otherwise have had decent injury success in the post-Aldridge era. Even the current upsurge in injuries is hopefully not a sign of systemic problems, but rather bad luck.