Blazers coping with early injuries

Nate McMillan was uncertain about how to address Martell Webster’s loss Wednesday night.

Move Travis Outlaw to small forward? Start Rudy Fernandez with Brandon Roy? Give rookie Nicolas Batum more time in the rotation than initially expected?

The Portland Trail Blazers coach went over each possibility. Yet none of them offered the same package of size, wing defense and shooting ability of Webster, who had a stress fracture discovered in his left foot Tuesday night.

But the Blazers will have to find new options until sometime in December. Webster’s injury will require 8 to 10 weeks to recover after a screw was inserted into his broken fifth metatarsal on Thursday, the team announced.

“He was one of the guys this year we felt could spread the floor and take some of that pressure off of our low-post game, and hoping that he would have a big year,”

McMillan said before Wednesday’s loss to Golden State. “It’s not a season-ending injury. But we have to make adjustments.”

Those adjustments could significantly affect the look of the Blazers’ lineup early in the year.

Webster, who started 70 games at small forward last season, was looked upon as a key piece in the starting unit.

The Blazers believed Webster’s perimeter shooting would draw defenses away from rookie center Greg Oden and give him more room to operate.

But Webster also has developed into one of the team’s best wing defenders and a solid rebounder.

No other Blazer brings quite the same mix of skills, heightening the challenge of replacing Webster for two months.

McMillan said the natural consideration will be to move Outlaw into the starting lineup.

But the 6-foot-9 forward has played most effectively as a power forward, and promoting him also would remove a key offensive presence from the second unit.

McMillan said another possibility would be to start Fernandez and Roy together, with the 6-foot-6 Roy playing at Webster’s small forward spot.

But McMillan will not get a chance to evaluate that combination for at least a couple days because Fernandez — who sprained his left ankle Wednesday night against Golden State — did not travel with the team to Kansas City, Mo., for tonight’s preseason game against Atlanta. He is listed as day-to-day.

McMillan also said that the adjustments to the rotation may open time for Batum, a raw talent whom the Blazers were expecting to develop mostly in practice.

McMillan said he will continue to evaluate the position through the preseason before making a decision.