25-year old shooting guard Rudy Fernandez has been ice cold from the floor in January as he is hitting only 27.8% from the floor and 21.7% from three point range so far this month. He is averaging 20.4 minutes, 7.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Fernandez has now played in 36 games (1 start) so far this year for the Blazers and he is averaging 20.1 minutes, 7.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He is shooting only 36.9% from the floor and 33.8% from three point range this year and that is awful. The Blazers would probably really like to deal Fernandez right now.

With Brandon Roy likely to be out a long time the Blazers need Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum to pick up the slack and they are more than capable of doing just that. 24-year old Wesley Matthews will be replacing Roy as the starting shooting guard. Matthews has played in 33 games (20 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 31.0 minutes, 15.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists on 46% shooting from the floor. Nicolas Batum will replace Wesley Matthews as the starting small forward while Roy is out of action. Batum has played in 32 games (23 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 27.8 minutes, 10.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. The Trailblazers are a better team with Brandon Roy healthy but they should be in good hands with Matthews & Batum picking up the slack.

With all of the injuries along the front line the Blazers were hoping that 23-year old power forward Dante Cunningham would step up. Cunningham has played in 7 games off the bench so far in December and he is averaging 11.4 minutes, 2.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Cunningham has now played in 24 games (0 starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 16.7 minutes, 3.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. The Blazers need Cunningham to start giving them some quality minutes going forward.

25-year old shooting guard Rudy Fernandez was whining all summer about wanting to be traded. But if he doesn’t start playing better no one is going to want to trade for him. Fernandez has played in 17 games (0 starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 18.2 minutes, 6.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Fernandez is only shooting 33.7% from the floor and 34.2% from three point range which is pretty awful. Seeing how offense is his main skill on the basketball court, his value keeps going down.

The Trailblazers have decided to put 24-year old Wesley Matthews into the starting lineup at small forward. Matthews has played in 16 games (3 starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 25.4 minutes, 12.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. 21-year old Nicolas Batum will go to the bench for now. Batum has played in 16 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 30.3 minutes, 12.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game. This is just head coach Nate McMillan trying to shake things up a little bit.