TUALATIN, Ore. — Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum will be out at least on month with a broken finger, the team announced Tuesday.
McCollum suffered a broken right index finger in Monday’s win against New Orleans. He will be reevaluated after one month, the Blazers said.
McCollum had been finding more of a rhythm and role over the past two weeks after essentially being benched in the Blazers loss to Golden State and their win against Cleveland. He has become a long-range weapon making 11-of-24 (46 percent) of his attempts.
The Blazers have been short-handed the past week. Nicolas Batum has missed the past two games with a knee injury. LaMarcus Aldridge missed Saturday’s game against Brooklyn due to illness.
The decision for who takes McCollum’s minutes will likely come down to Will Barton or Allen Crabbe.
Crabbe has come into a starting role and should Batum return, Crabbe can fill in that spot with shooting and defense. The Blazers have gone 4-0 with Crabbe starting. He’s not the playmaker type and Batum’s return will alleviate that burden on Damian Lillard and Steve Blake. Plus McCollum was adding most value with his shooting and defense. He’s gone 5-of-12 from three but playing without the starters will certainly be a little different.
Barton is in a slump on the offensive end. He was setting guys up early in the season but his poor shooting has continued. His percentages from all of his spots are down across the board in the first 10 games. His finishing at the rim is 12 percent worse than it was for all of last season according to Basketball-Reference.
Stotts has also had Barton practicing more as a playmaker all year and with CJ being able to sometimes set up the offense, it could be a skill Stotts will rely on.
Knowing Stotts’ approach this season, he’ll do a little bit of mixing and matching every night.
McCollum has also been a plus-minus monster when he’s on the court. In his 144 minutes of action, the Blazers have outscored their opponents by 24.3 points per 100 possessions. That has given Portland’s bench an edge over opponents’ reserves.
