The return of Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic creates an avant-garde starting lineup for the Portland Trail Blazers as they travel to Orlando to finish the 2019-20 season. The two big men have only shared the floor for 123 minutes in their three years with Portland. And when you throw Carmelo Anthony into the mix, Portland’s starting frontcourt has played a grand total of zero minutes together. (Not to mention Anthony hasn’t played small forward since 2017 with the New York Knicks.)
We all know what role Nurkic will play in his first games back since March of last year, and we all know what role Anthony wants to play even with new teammates joining him.