Portland's Tuesday night glee spun to Wednesday morning's trepidation (followed by more Wednesday night trepidation) as news spread that starting small forward Martell Webster suffered a fracture in his foot during the preseason-opening win over Sacramento. In Wednesday's match with the Warriors, Rudy Fernandez went down with an ankle sprain which looks less gnarly but still temporarily worrisome. Webster will be out until at least December, putting about a quarter of the season in play for Portland's second-tier wings.Common courtesy and coach Nate McMillan give Travis Outlaw the first crack, which makes sense: Outlaw has spent training camp competing for the job. He has been a spot starter over the last three seasons, and he broke out as a decent scorer last season. Outlaw's an able NBA starter, and this is a good situation for everyone.
But might there be some value in bringing Fernandez into the first unit? Outlaw aims for starter status, but looked real comfortable as sixth man in '07-08. Fernandez would appear to be the superior offensive player, however -- he is, at the very least, a better shooter. With LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden up front, should Portland prefer an explosive defender and good scorer like Outlaw, or a great playmaker and efficient scorer like Fernandez?
Of course, there are other considerations ... like the starting point guard job. If Sergio Rodriguez is the back-up PG, as it would appear to be, Fernandez might be best matched with him: they know each other well, as the Kings -- who saw a brilliant Sergio-to-Rudy alley-oop Tuesday -- can testify to. So Outlaw likely rings through as the right choice here. But if he gets off to a slow start, don't be surprised if fans start chanting Rudy's name.
