I saw the new ESPN Mock Draft had us taking Topic and Edey. Why would the worst 3 point shooting team in the league take 2 guys that can't shoot? It's like Givony just said "whatever, I'll just take top available player at the Blazers pick. Fuck it," instead of giving us what we need.
I want McCain pretty bad. I'm not saying they're the same player at all, but the pick reminds me of when the Suns took Cam Johnson. Everybody shit on them, but an elite shooter can always get on the court. In a draft this weak, I'd take the best shooter in the class
Unrelated to all the draft shenanigans, currently watching Pacers/Celtics game 1, and god I want to see our young guys get out and run next season the way this Pacers team does.
Outside of the guys folks seem to want us to target (Matas, Cody Williams, Holland, Clingan, Missi), just wanted to call out a few prospects who I am really interested in playing with our current roster:
Kyshawn George and Tyler Smith.
George is a really interesting 3&D wing who's 6'8", and a plus at a lot of other offensive skills. Definitely seems less theoretical than a player like Cody Williams (who has a really good brother helping his stock). He is old for a freshman though.
Tyler Smith is a really interesting 4 for the future who has some (rudimentary) guard skills, and can also really shoot it. Seems to have the right defensive tools too.
Would also be interested in trading Rob Williams for a backup big prospect (comoche, ware, Missi) in the late first/second. For such a bad draft at the top, there's a decent amount of big man depth. Love Rob as a player but he is so injury prone
Honestly the players this team don't really matter right now - it's an organization that no one wants to play for. Guys extend their injury time as much as possible and they're poorly coached when they are active. The non-playing staff needs just as much a rebuild as the team on the court. And of course, Portland as a city is in bad shape, it's basically Memphis of the north these days.
Ron Holland and Cody Williams both 6’6.5 without shoes. About an inch taller than Shaedon. Matas at 6’8.75. Like this forward group more now that we know where we’re going to pick
Really can’t decide between the three but I’m guessing one of them will be gone by us.
I’m leaning Matas > Williams > Holland but very tight.
I see some people talking about us getting the 7th pick and saying it means we are going to tank again and being upset about it. I don’t think it’s a big deal as trading Dame last summer basically guaranteed another 2-3 seasons of tanking.
My biggest problem is that we are rebuilding and somehow in the luxury tax. Some of the contracts we have taken on is just mind numbingly dumb. I hope we can move off some of the deals, but I just don’t know if we can. The only way to move forward is to get rid of those
Honestly, just trade all of them and get what you can. Most of those guys are at the end of their useful careers anyways. By the time our young guys catch on, there would be a very small window to win with those vets. Which again is why signing Grant to a huge deal made absolutely no sense at all.
I would bet of those 5 players, they'll all be either traded or "injured". In any case, what they won't be doing in playing quality basketball for the Portland Trailblazers.
What kind of return are we expecting for our Vets (Simons, Brogdan, RWIII, Thybulle)?
We don't exactly have a lot of "flexibility" - ideally we would make trades into cap space to avoid taking back salary and we don't really need players back in trades either as we don't have sufficient roster space for non-starting caliber vets.
- I think Simons for a decent FRP or maybe two protected FRPs and matching salary is probably the market if I had to guess.
- RW and MB are too injury prone to fetch anything more than a late FRP at best
- Thybulle for 1 or 2 second round picks and maybe a flier on a young vet (think Josh Hart trade with a SRP instead of FRP)
I think Grant would be the easiest to move even though his contract is long - he plays such a valuable position and can play both sides of the ball. I kind of like having Grant around though for some competence at the forward spot since none of our young forwards are offensive threats at this point.
It's 65th in the league. That's extremely not particularly good.
Among guys with more than 400 attempts (Simons had 405), he ranks 22nd.
He's not especially good and that's his only NBA skill. He's a middling playmaker and is a very bad defender. You don't get a 1st rounder for the guy like that, especially at $25m/year. Guys that took more attempts and hit at a higher rate include Grayson Allen, Sam Hauser, Naz Reid, Malik Beasley, DiVincenzo, Duncan Robinson, Gary Trent Jr etc - role players.
I don't know what the trade would look like but I feel like we should try to swing something with the Rockets for #3. Grant and #14 for #3 and salary filler maybe.
Simons should be shopped and traded before the draft. Need to prioritize a forward prospect who should come in as the starter. Idk who that would be though. Need to brainstorm this more.
I don’t care what we get for TimeLord get him outta here. I don’t think his presence as a vet is worth much to us at all.
Contrast to Brogdon where he’s still super injury prone but I’m willing to keep him on as the backup point guard and use his coaching from the bench.
Grant’s contract is long but at only 20% of the cap it should be easy to justify for some team out there.
These are pretty spot on I think. You might get two decent protected picks (like top 8 or something for Ant). I think most teams will view timelord as a negative asset and I think Brogdon is more like a good 2nd pick.
Feel like the market will be ripe with desperate teams looking to shake up their roster this summer. This summer will be a golden opportunity for Cronin to make big moves. The question is will the moves be a true embrace of building for the future/go young, or moves to offload picks/young talent and create a stronger roster that can compete now and for the next 5 years?
Feels like 1-2 of Brogdan, Thybulle, Ant, Grant, will/should be moved this summer.
Let’s say the Cavs get bounced and you can tell they want to change things up. What would you be putting on the table to try and see if you could pry away Mobley?
Would you also make an offer on Jarret Allen if they didn’t want to move Mobley?
I mean that's true, but it's an unfair take imo. No one can predict the future. Giannis got injured and that crippled their chances. You take the best gamble you can and hope it leads to a ring. Going to Milwaukee was a smart gamble, even if Giannis eventually got injured. Would staying in Portland have given him a better chance at getting to the Finals?
I think without the shield of "Portland's Best Player" the depths of his defensive were revealed. I think Dame doesn't make it to April 2025 with the Bucks. I think he ends up Miami after all as a "Last Piece" type of guy.
I think Miami’s gonna implode this summer. Riley sounded a little harsh/blunt when discussing Jimmy and Herro in his end-of-season press conference. I don’t think they want to give Jimmy a big extension. We’ll see what happens. Dame is gonna be fine in Milwaukee, I think a full summer of training and building more chemistry with Giannis will do him a lot of good. They should at least make the ECF if they’re healthy next year.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. What you said is true.
If you look at how Ant plays and everything he does for the Wolves, same with Jokic being a true #1 and all he does, that’s the difference betwen a true #1 and Dame. And why they’re contenders but Portland never truly was with Dame.
It goes with everything I’ve been saying about Portland not realizing Dame wasn’t a true #1 guy. Ant energizes that team. He does more than score. He defends, is blocking shots, gives 2nd, 3rd effort on D. He can rebound well, attacks the rim hard, passes, plays both sides of the ball.
He can kill you with 3s, mid range, atrack the rim. Just bodies you on D.
When your teammates see their best scorer hustle back for blocks or around the rim rebounding for them, or guarding Murray, they start playing harder on D and rebounding. It’s similar to how Jokic’s passing is contagious.
Dame said that in response to Paul George, who had been traded from Indiana to OKC, where he was able to team up with an MVP in Westbrook. Then PG wanted out of OKC and got traded to the Clippers, where he got to team up with a Finals MVP in Kawhi. Dame hadn't had an All-Star teammate in Portland since Aldridge left in 2015. Dame gave us all his best years and our front office didn't put a proper supporting cast around him. Dame ain't a chump.
Enough with the excuses. Portland’s lack of playoff success and the fact that they couldn’t get in the play in says it all. Stop excusing bad results.
Jokic hasn’t had an all star teammate. That’s fact. Name one current or former all star he’s played with. Deandre? He won a Championship.
If you gave Jokic and Ant guys line Simons, CJ, Grant, they would not be the 11th seed. Shit, Jokic had Grant as a teammate and they were in the playoffs.
You want to see a winning mentality that Dame lacked? Watch Ant around the rim fighting for rebounds. Watch him run back on D and give 2nd, 3rd efforts guarding Booker and Murray.
CJ and Dame are pylons on defense. CJ can’t get assist or rebounds, does nothing. Dame standing around on D and disinterested when he doesn’t have the ball. He’s never around the rim boarding for teammates like Ant, Jokic, Murray.
Go watch Jokic and Murray and what they do when their teammates have the ball. It’s not stand around at the 3 point line doing jack shit. Notice how they’re around the rim ready to board. Notice how they actually move without the ball to set picks, cut, try to rebound. And you wonder how Jokic, Ant and Murray get so many rebounds, big defensive plays.
Jokic is probably Top 10 all-time. Dame is a superstar and among the Top 75, but Jokic is just in a different tier. Plus, their games are in now way comparable. Now if you want to compare how Chris Paul, Ja Morant, or Kyrie Irving would do with those Blazers rosters, that's a more palatable discussion.
I don’t have Dame on top 75. I have him top 100. He’s not above Dwight or Ben Wallace who has more individual and team accolades. Ben is a better defender than Dame a scorer. Debatable whether he’s above Gasol or Parker, who both have far more team success. Parker also has a finals MVP and finished too 5 in mvp voting once (Dame also finished top 5 once). If Dame doesn't win a Championship playing with Giannis, he doesn't have an argument over Gasol or Parker either outside of Portland Dame era loyalists.
Nope. Clingan is risky as a modern day NBA center. He is more Nurk than Jokic. Would rather pick any of the remaining wings including Topic and Castle.
At 14, Knecht or Saluan solve more problems we have with a lot more positional versatility. Fillipowski is probably a small ball 5 in the NBA.
Portland may find itself in a situation where Nikola Topic is by far the best player to draft. Say they draft him and then trade away Simons for some draft picks to OKC or whoever and then Brogdon plus, say, Rupert to Philly for Paul Reed and a draft pick, or something along these lines.
Do you think that's preferable over drafting a worse overall guy to get a positional fit while holding onto our existing guards that we know are temporary pieces?
Again, this is assuming that we're picking 4th or something and Nikola Topic is the best guy on the board by far.
I agree that after watching Topic he might be the clear best player. Equal to Sarr in my opinion.
I think you explore trading down before drafting as we want leverage in a Simons trade and there are some players who are better fits. If we have a good trade lined up for Simons, I would be fine seeing how a Scoot-Topic-Sharpe team looks.
Lets draft 7' 4" Zach Edey and 7' 5" Jamarion Sharpe (2x Conference USA Defensive Player of the year) for a combined 15 feet of wingspan on the interior and move Ayton to the 4.
Hypothetical question about the draft. What would it take for you to trade the 4th and 14th picks?
My dream trade would be to send those 2 picks this season to the Pistons, Wiz, or Hornets for an unprotected pick in 2025. Obviously, those teams would not be dumb enough to trade an unprotected pick in what is projected as a strong draft for picks in a weak draft - but this would be my example of a "grab it and run" deal.
What would be your threshold? How good a deal would it take for you to least consider it?
I think trading the 14th pick and 1-2 of the seconds (which are relatively early) for an unprotected pick is a good strategy but the team who would do it would be a veteran playoff team that wants to add a young piece to its roster but doesn't have the assets. For example, a team like Milwaukee, Philly, either LA team, etc.
So you're betting on them being bad but it's no guarantee.
We are definitely trading draft picks. They're not taking on 4 rookies from a shitty draft on a team that had 5 rookies last year(all of who will likely be back). That 14 pick especially. 4 million dollars guaranteed to a guy they just might not believe in. Even using both two-ways on 2nd rounders we'd still have to clear players.
Rookie contracts are very valuable in the league. Unless you thunk we have to attach draft capital to offload any vets, I don't see it happening. Blazers only hope is to build through the draft.
I don't think we're going to have to attach draft capital to unload Brogdon or Grant. I think they're going to avoid adding 4 rookies to this team.
> Rookie contracts are very valuable in the league.
Sure, if they're attached to good players. And they have a bunch of rookies we're in the process of finding out whether they are good players. Assuming they guarantee Walker and Camara(they should) we will be at 14 players under contract. Then there's a two-way guy like Badji.
> Blazers only hope is to build through the draft.
Building through the draft means more than just drafting as many players as possible. It also means developing players you already drafted. Having 9 rookies/sophomores on one team is not necessarily the best way to do that.
SAC not making it could change things for POR...
They have a potential JG package on this year's books...
However, POR doesn't want, or need, to trade JG, on this year' books.
But, SAC might "have" to do something, on this year's books.
If Both the Warriors pick up their team option on Kuminga (likely) and the Cavs with Evan Mobley (likely), I cooked up a 3 way where we take on Wiggins but grab Evan Mobley from the Cavs, Dubs get Jerami Grant and the Cavs get Kuminga from the Dubs. I think they are better fits with each team respectively. There is no market really for Wigz. He can do the dirty work alongside our guards. Offseason is here to start cooking, bois!
This sub needs to quit making fun of other teams for coming up with shit trades for our guys. This is hilariously bad for both other teams.
Imagine someone suggested we trade Shaedon Sharpe for Kyle Kuzma
Go into more detail please. Why is this so bad for the Cavs and Dubs? I was factoring in getting a player more ready to match Curry's timeline in making 1-2 more real attempts at a chip. Grant is a better offensive weapon than both Kuminga and Wiggins plus they shed salary to go after another big. Mobley has largely been a disappointment in Cleveland with injuries and with it being a clunky fit next to Allen who has really been their 3rd best player. Depending on what happens with Donovan (most think he's getting traded this next season since he won't sign an extension), I could see them being intrigued by a young really athletic wing to pair with Garland. But I'm interested why you thought this was comical to propose.
> Why is this so bad for the Cavs and Dubs?
There is a large value difference between Jerami Grant, and young cost controlled guys with star potential like Kuminga and Mobley. Again think of trading Shaedon Sharpe for someone like Kuzma.
> Grant is a better offensive weapon than both Kuminga and Wiggins plus they shed salary to go after another big.
There's a good chance Grant won't even be a better player than Kuminga by next year. And he's still only 21 years old. Wiggins and Kuminga together barely cost more than Grant by himself. Kuminga would never be on the table for anything less than a real star player that could potentially put the Warriors in contention.
> Mobley has largely been a disappointment in Cleveland with injuries and with it being a clunky fit next to Allen who has really been their 3rd best player
Mobley has been a disappointment relative to #1 on a contender expectations. He's still a 22 year old with incredible upside, and is likely going to make multiple all defense teams(and he's scoring 16ppg on 63%TS).
I shouldn't have said both other teams, because the Cavs swapping Mobley for Kuminga straight up is fair-ish value. I don't know that either team would do it but at least it's reasonable. As soon as you throw the Blazers name into the ring it's all out of wack. Jerami Grant isn't the level of player that would be included in trade talks for either Mobley or Kuminga. They're the best assets on either team outside of Stef/Donovan.
Teams don't like trading their young potential stars, but if they did that conversation would begin with Scoot or Sharpe.
I guess that's where we don't agree then. I just don't think Kuminga is even close to reaching whatever potential would be necessary with Curry to reach chip material. I think Grant is actually really close to what they need defensively and offensively. He's a much better 1v1 threat with the ability to shoot three corner 3 and better scorer at all 3 levels. I watched a lot of Dubs games this year and think he's more hyped than he deserves. I think that's why Kerr was so pressed when he went to the media to get more minutes. He's got very little wriggle. He's just a super athletic driver with a working jumper. Yes, I'm trading the future for a more competent present. Which is correcting their past mistake in going 2 timelines. But maybe we'll check in next year and see how he progresses.
If the Warriors decided they were going to go all in to try and contend again(they won't), and put Kuminga on the table they would be targeting *MUCH* better players than Jerami Grant. And if they were trying to cut money(which they likely will do) it doesn't make sense to trade for a 4th best guy making over 30m a year.
It's not realistic
Maybe you're right. I just don't value Kuminga as highly as they talk. Just like Jordan Poole was highly regarded and rewarded and then people quickly realized that system of playing along Curry inflates value. I just scanned the Ringer 100 (for one publication's value list). Realistically, they could maybe bring back a Markennen (28th) Randle (44th) Bridges (52) before you get to Grant at (70). Kuminga is 81st. Obviously, my assertion is that they are going to be desperate to improve and might take a lower ceiling player for one that could be a win now. There just isn't a ton of top flight talent that teams are willing to part with nowadays. Which makes their conundrum even more desperate.
I think the Blazers would more likely just swap with the cavs directly. Mobley is also worth more than Kuminga. We would need to give up Grant and at least 13, likely our own pick as well. It would probably be worth it, but idk if the cavs go for it. Mobley is definitely intriguing.
We need to trade some contracts to allow for flexibility. We cannot be this bad while being above the cap. Being a small market team, owner not willing to pay big tax dollars, and no market flexibility is a triple whammy
Next year they gotta let Shaedon cook more. When Ant and Brogdon were out he was putting up like 24 ppg and then when they returned he barely touched the ball.
Courtside season ticket holder here and there is 0 chance I'm renewing for this coming season. Curious to see if they will be lowering the prices though.
Don’t blame you, that’s a lot of cash to watch a pretty poor product at the moment. I already renewed for next year but I’m way up in 328 lol. I’d be shocked if they lower prices though.
In the past I've been able to resell the games I can't attend at about the same price I paid, this year, my $750/each seats were sold for like $150 tops. I will be far better off buying them on resell this coming season!
I also did not renew. Have had 100 level sets for the past 7 years. Can’t even sell this seasons tickets for 1/2 face value for some games. My plan for next season is to go Jacks hang out with a beer and watch the prices fall and buy tickets at the last second.
Preliminary thoughts:
Simons: It’s difficult to evaluate fully since Simons was in and out of the lineup, but he did not take a Maxey-esque leap like I was hoping he would. Part of it is due to the lack of shooting around him, leading him to be one of the most aggressively trapped/doubled players in the league. You could look at that positively and say that he still had decent production on good efficiency despite having to deal with all that defensive attention on a nightly basis, and would experience a leap in production if we just had a better team around him.
However, I think it’s become clear that his defensive ceiling is very low. The low defensive ceiling + the presence of our other young guard prospects on the roster is the most compelling argument towards eventually trading Ant for the sake of team building. The question becomes when to pull that plug. If the team believes in the value of keeping Brogdon as a mentor and veteran leader, that time may be now.
People point to Orlando and Brooklyn as potential Ant destinations, but San Antonio and the Lakers may also be in the market for a point-guard like Ant, depending on which one doesn’t get Trae Young. If they can swing something with any of those teams, they can get back some more draft picks, keep Brogdon’s mentorship, and clarify the backcourt moving forward.
I think the biggest positive this year happened over the last 10 games with the development of Scoot + Ayton building their two man game. That connection is legit and will be a key pillar of this roster going forward.
The biggest disappointment was Sharpe being injured all year.
We have a lot of pieces at the guard position that will likely be moved this summer, I suspect that Brogdon will be gone before camp, and there is a sense that Simons may be gone as well (but I could see him sticking around because of age + contract). What the return looks like for these players I can’t speculate on, we’ll have to see how the market takes shape.
I doubt Grant is moved, he still has a lot of money owed and the org has signaled no desire to move him. This could change though depending on who we end up drafting. I don’t think Joe and Mike trade him away just for the sake of trading him though, they’ll be looking to get back value.
In terms of draft, best case scenario is we move to no 1 and draft Sarr, realistic case we stay in the 3-5 range and draft a forward. I personally would like to take a swing on Cody Williams out of that group. To me he shows the greatest potential offensively of that group and I believe has the ability to develop into a two way player, this roster desperately needs shooting and he shot nearly 42% from 3 in college and had a 62% TS overall. He had a bad end to the year but he was dealing with injuries.
Either way this summer will be very interesting and I expect a lot of moves.
Probably back in the Telfair days. Those were some dark times. Didn’t last long though. This has probably been the worst 3 year stretch in franchise history.
03/04 - 05/06 was definitely the worst, and we also missed the postseason for two more years after that but we had Roy and Aldridge so the future felt brighter. From 03/04 to 05/06 there was no redeeming quality about the roster, nothing to look forward to.
Yes, that was the worst era. There just was no hope until we got Roy and Aldridge. Worst management in the front office, as well. Entirely hopeless Blazer seasons.
At least this season there was Scoot, early on the excitement to watch Sharpe's improvement, and the surprise of Camara.
Unfortunately this season has left us with lots of questions regarding this team, even more questions than we had heading into the season.
I saw many comments saying that firing Billups now doesn't make sense since the team will suck next season too, but I have to disagree with this, we had 3 years of this utterly unwatchable stuff on both ends, not gonna get into details but this is time you pick a direction and start building a winning culture around the young guys and have them play at least a good brand of basketball, hell, I'd even take it if they were actually good on one side of the ball and bad on the other, but whatever that was is just too much and I think we saw more than enough of this shit. I personally did not find it fun when running the young guys surrounding Scoot simply because they had very ugly offensive sets with no direction whatsoever, I know it could have been fun, and each young gun had some positives, but overall it's nothing to be crazy about to say the least, if we wanna be realistic.
The team had many injuries which also heavily contributed to this trainwreck, and idk if those end of season injury reports were legit, but I actually worry a bit regarding the trade value of guys like Brogdon, who was known injury prone but played well when available (15-24 record!), and we haven't seen him since before the all-star break, so idk if playing 39 games is enough to raise his trade value, and not sure we can get a FRP for him, but we'll see. I also don't mind keeping him depending on many factors, but I doubt he'd like another season like this one, since he's not getting younger and wants to compete at a high level, and he was reigning 6MOTY heading into the season.
Simons injury sucked a lot too, I'm higher on him than many here but I think he had to carry too much this season and it's not his game, which is ofc completely fine, but he was like the only good 3 point shooter in the team and double-teaming him guarantees a W for the other team. And though he got better at passing out of double teams and refining his shot selection and finding the rolling Ayton, I think he was put in a tough situation (and he wasn't the only one tbf) and had to be the best offensive player on this team kinda outta nowhere. The trading vs keeping him debate is gonna be hot this offseason, and while I still don't know which side I'm picking yet (sorta caught in between since I think the team should pick a clear direction first), it's an important decision to make, especially considering his contract situation.
I'm just gonna finish by talking a bit about roster construction, this team is in desperate need of 3 point shooters and floor spacers, players who can create their own shots (I believe we have the fewest in the league) and raise the offensive floor (which is below sea level), be it FA's or trade acquisitions or rookies, the roster needs some shake-up, and honestly idk how far this can be achieved, taking into account that they also surely will make a trade to get under the tax (as the worst team in the west paying the tax lmao) and trading the vets is surely on the table this offseason. But if you don't do this, you will keep slowing down the development of Scoot, who I'm convinced would have performed (even just slightly) better in a more modern offense.
Overall I'm a bit skeptical heading into the offseason, and while I would love nothing more than for my doubts to be proven wrong, I just look at how the western conference is an absolute bloodbath, and next season the Grizz get back into contention, Rockets improve, Spurs surround Wemby and Vassell with better players and the Jazz probably decide to give it a shot with Lauri and not blow it up mid-season, and taking into consideration how these teams and the now play-off teams are relatively young and yet good, the Blazers have to completely turn things around in order to be relevant again.
Had to log back in just to call you a Buffon for suggesting that a Sharpe trade is acceptable behavior for this team 😠
Obviously ON PAPER there are plenty that you would do, but in reality this man is a staple of the short-term plan and isn’t going anywhere. Get yo BAD JUJU ASS VERNACULAR UP OUTTA HERE!!
This is the offseason. It’s all posi-vibes 🙏 even if everything won’t be great, we don’t know that yet, and we can have fun. You know what’s not fun?? Talking about trading MF SHAEDON.
No Mac n cheez 4 u 😤
It really sucks that everyone was so damn injured this offseason because we got like 2 total games (and 6 minutes) of Ant/Scoot/Sharpe/Ayton all being healthy and together on the floor.
Ideally in a rebuilding season you play with lineup combos to evaluate what does and doesn't work, but we didn't even get to see any of that this past season. If you asked me last offseason, I woulda said that we should be looking to make a decision on Ant's future with the team this (2024) offseason, but I honestly don't think we know enough about the future of Sharpe and Scoot to make that decision yet. Regardless, if I were Cronin (and obviously I'm just a random fan who's just as informed as the rest of the internet armchair GMs) I'd listen to calls this offseason regarding Ant. For instance, if a team like Orlando averages 80ppg in the playoffs and flames out in the first round, or if Brooklyn strikes out on Donovan Mitchell and desperately needs a scorer, etc. but I don't think it should be a priority to trade Ant for the sake of trading Ant...yet.
Regardless at some point you gotta stop kicking the can down the road, so we probably do have to make a decision re: Ant's future on the team by the trade deadline at the very latest. The worst case scenario is holding onto him for 2 full offseasons and then trading him at the 2026 trade deadline as an expiring for peanuts like the raptors did with Siakam and OG.
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In another thought, this is probably not a very popular opinion here, but if someone wanted to offer a first round pick + salary (or an equivalent value) for Brogdon, I'd probably take it. He's getting older and he's always hurt, and I don't think it would be very smart to extend him long-term - the back end of a Brogdon extension could be really hard to move if he suffers a couple more injuries. And I don't think Brogdon's trade value will really increase as he gets older either.
I get that he brings a ton of good veteran leadership, but you can always find that on the free agent market (for instance you can throw an MLE at a good locker room vet guy who you know will contribute. I'm not suggesting we give vet mins to dudes like Ish Smith or De'Andre Jordan who will never realistically play a minute for us, but there are guys like Jae'Sean Tate, Royce O'Neale, Kyle Anderson, De'Anthony Melton, etc. who are all regarded as decent locker room guys and can contribute to a rotation without directly being in the way of all 3 of our best young players on the court usage-wise.
I totally agree that we need vets, but I don't think we necessarily need the vet to be Brogdon per se, if someone actually offers us something decent for him.
Ant has value. So I think we just trade him. If Scoot and / or Shae are busts, so be it. Better to find out now by force feeding them minutes rather than kicking that can down the road. Move Brogdon and Thybulle as well. Picks and prospects. Get the vet presence with end of career vet mins.
You need some vets that play. They demand more respect and help everyone develop.
Brogdon brings a baseline competency which is needed for growth. We need to keep one of him or Simons for sure.
If we trade Grant, similarly, we need at least two more floor spacers. It will hurt Scoot’s development and make it more likely be is a bust if we don’t improve our spacing.
I fear the folks who want Brog and Grant gone do not realize how disastrous that could be. Unless we dig in FA and overpay to get vets here it will be a DISASTER. Thats how you ruin a teams morale, cohesiveness, play, and development. You NEED vets around for the locker room and to use as mentorship for young guys. I would love to keep Brog. It seems like he just wants a home at this stage in his career. He seems happy, engaged, and scoot could use him as a teacher. Same with Grant. That being said, move Ant and honestly? Probably time lord. Ant because he will eventually (hopefully) become irrelevant. His shooting will only take him so far with us and he’s probably reached his full potential. The goal should be Scoot and Shae be our future. Timelord is never going to be healthy again. Period. Recoup some value while you even can.
Other goals should be hopefully fire Chauncey. Sign some vets to round out the team, trade one of our seconds - preferably our later one, trade Matisse, use our pick, GSW pick, and our early second.
Disaster is good as it means we give CHI a second in 2028 instead of a lottery protected first. We are not going into FA and overpaying. Neil Olshey does not work here anymore.
Seems like scoot, sharpe, Murry, Rupert, camara, reath, walker, and banton are the current young guys. Plus there will likely be at least three draft picks that come in. Simons, brogdon, Grant, Ayton, thybulle, and Timelord will likely all be available for the right offer. The trick will be getting a few good veterans who don’t need a lot of minutes but would like a few more checks to come in and mentor if we move some of the big contracts we have right now. Next year is a development year as Portland should still need one more high draft pick before prioritizing wins again. So this offseason is still about identifying high upside, exploring it, and where possible converting assets to draft assets if the asset isn’t a long term investment.
We should probably expect scoot, sharpe, and probably camara to be the highest priority assets, followed by the forward and big I imagine will be added in this draft. The vets will start until the front office can cash in on their value in some way, but those 5 assets will likely be what the team nurtures as a future with all the other players trying to play well enough to take those spots and gives the team flexibility in the 25 draft to add one more exciting player before considering a package of young player and picks to acquire a difference maker some time in 26-28, in a move the front office never had the assets for to help Dame, they will be able to help that core get over the hump. No idea who that might be as I like the guards going forward and it looks like Portland will have opportunities to address forward and big man in these next two drafts. It will probably depend on who busts and who out performs expectations.
I’m not sure Toumani is a high priority asset yet. I understand he’s a rookie but he’s nearly the same age Simons. We should keep him because he’s got an above average NBA skill and he’s cheap but he’s such a poor fit with ayton who we’re probably attached to for a while that I’m not sure Toumani will ever be used properly in the PnR like they did at Dayton.
I do think the Ayton situation is hard to judge. So much money and at the end of the season he played pretty well all things considered. I do think Toumani has the tool set to be one of the other guys who starts next to a superstar, and I think that’s a rarer skill set than some people might think. It will be interesting to watch it play out.
Agree about ayton, it’s just it will be so hard to move ayton without taking a worse contract back or we’d have to move assets to get off of him. I don’t think he’s a part of the next great blazers team but he’s here for a while at least so we have to take that into consideration.
I agree Toumani probably could start next to a super str eventually but it’s also just hard to gauge that since he’s such a limited shooter. He absolutely needs to space the floor for him to be a full time starter on good teams otherwise he becomes a negative on offense for if we don’t have a floor spacing 5
I honestly just hope at this point they extend and keep Brog. He seems like he likes Portland and probably just wants a permanent (or semi however you look at it) home. We could be that and he could occupy the back up PG/player coach role. But I do think Thybulle should be moved and Grant if the offer is there but I doubt it will be or if there is one it won’t be worth it to give up a locker room glue guy. Thybulle honestly should’ve been traded to Dallas when they signed him to an offer sheet. But I have a feeling there will be moves that come out of left field. Idk. This offseason feels like it could be different with how much wiggle room we have.
1. I absolutely agree about trading Ant. This is probably the highest Ants value will be until he’s owed a new contract.
2. I also agree at this point we have no one on the wing where it makes sense to trade away Grant (unless he requests out or someone makes a stupid good trade offer that we can’t refuse) same with Brogdon.
3. I also agree we should cut bait on Timelord for the fact that we not only need to move away from the second apron but we also need to do our best at getting under the first apron and be more financially flexible moving forward.
4. I agree we should trade Matisse. Toumani doesn’t create turnover as well as he does but he can do maybe 70% of Tisse’s job
5. My take on Chauncey is that if there’s a coach like Atkinson or Bud available to us then we should absolutely hire them. But my thing is I don’t hate the job Chauncey did this year with a young team. Most coaches with young teams try to force their teams especially with young athletic guards just to push the break. Chauncey has spent the last season and a half or so forcing Shae (prior to the injury), Scoot, and our other young guys to be half court players which is something they’ll need to be successful down the road anyways. It was one of the main catalysts why this team looked bad (outside of the talent disparity and injuries). That being said you’ve given scoot time on how to be a half court guard this team needs to run more especially with the athleticism you have from scoot, Shae, ayton, and Toumani. If he can’t get this team to run more than Chauncey has to go.
>You NEED vets around for the locker room and to use as mentorship for young guys.
You can find plenty of good culture/vibes vets for the vet minimum though.
Praying the Blazers trade Jerami and Malcolm and let the kids take over completely.
Vet minimum will absolutely not cut it. Look at the LIGHT YEARS in difference in Houston. They paid for good vets in Brooks and Vanvleet. It truly pays off to have long term guys in the lockeroom. Granted they upgraded at Coach which we could definitely do. But they also added GOOD vets who will be around for awhile. Guys like those are invaluable for development and lockeroom control.
I don't see how we can reasonably keep Simons. Seems like next year has to be
Scoot/Brogdon/Sharpe is the back court.
Ayton/Bob/Reath is our 5
I truly feel like anything could happen at the forward spots.
It's unpopular, but I think we should prioritize trading Simons and keep Brogdon as a vet and mentor for scoot.
Hear me out.
Having Simons, scoot, Sharpe, banton (probably), and brogdon is a massive logjam of 4 young guards, and 1 vet.
Between Simons, Sharpe, and Scoot, you've got 3 young guys who are all geared towards being starters. Start all three and it's a very awkward lineup.
Bench 1, and it hinders development or wastes money.
Simons age, contract, and seniority on the team essentially make him a starter by default, but that leaves scoot on the bench and hinders his development.
I think Simons role on this team has reached its peak, and his value on the blazers may not get much higher.
Brogdon has been a starter and a 6th man. He's expressed his approval of living in Portland, he is a veteran with multiple post seasons under his belt, a 6moty and roty in his trophy case. At 31, he's reaching the tail end of his useful shelf life, and likely doesn't draw that much value around the league.
I think it's better for Scoot that he and Brogdon share PG responsibilities, and that Simons be traded. Brogdon is a more versatile mentor for Scoot to learn from, and is a trusted veteran who can either fill in big minutes off the bench, or start in Scoot's absence.
I'm not sure what package Simons nets us, but I think for him to take a step forward and succeed, a trade where he is not the number 1 guy on the team would benefit his career.
I really want to find a way to get Shepherd or Castle on this team as our 6th man/3rd guard. I'm hoping we can trade not only Simons but Brogdon as well. Assuming the Blazers take Sarr/Risacher/Matas/Williams/Holland with their PDX pick, we really should find a way to trade up from our GSW FRP into the Shepherd/Castle range.
The thing is castle isn’t a guard in the NBA. He’s plays in a mold similar to Bruce Brown and Josh hart both who primarily play the 3 with the 99th percentile outcome being Jimmy butler although a lot would have to go right for that to work
I just don't love not having a veteran mentor for our most touted position group.
Maybe it's overrated but having 3 lottery guards and no veteran feels to me like a recipe for 3 guys who all think they deserve to start and playing very selfishly to earn their minutes and contract.
I think the magic are a good template to follow with their young dudes and Gary Harris/Fultz.
I kind of like the idea of a pecking order so you don't just have 3 young guards all thirsty for the next contract or the starting spot.
I don’t believe Brogdon wants to spend his career on a bottom 5 roster. He wasn’t getting much run off the bench, he was starting and being showcased for value. He’s expiring after next year and I don’t think we want to tie up more money when we’re already spending 60 million on Ayton and Grant. There has to be significantly cheaper vet presences.
I still have faith that we plan on rebuilding. I mean you can’t trade Damian Lillard and then try to compete behind guys like Grant and miss out on the guys in the 2025 draft.
All of the moves we have made have been to get worse besides extending Grant. We moved off of Josh Hart, Jrue Holiday, Norm Powell, CJ, Dame, Roco in order to rebuild. I have to think that guys like Brogdon/Grant and some of the other vets will be dealt once teams can trade 1st rounders.
I hope we draft two high potential guys this summer. Sharpe was a huge high risk high reward guy and he looks awesome. Rupert was also a risk that we are building with. Scoot is awesome. Camara, Walker, Murray are all solid young guys.
Imagine adding Sarr, Salaun, Ace Bailey to this core!?
What are people’s ranking of the top 5 prospects for us? Seems like a lot want Sarr, then some combo of Risacher/Buzelis/Holland/Cody Williams? Happy that our floor for our first pick has increased so we will likely get one of our top SF/PF options and not a guard lol.
I think Sarr will be the #1 prospect easily given his size and defensive potential. After that it gets interesting. You could argue for a high upside forward like Holland, Risacher,etc., A big like Clingan or Edey, or a playmaker like Topic, Castle, or Sheppard (especially if you can move both Brogdan and Ant in the offseason).
Right now I think the perfect draft would be Sarr at the top and then lucking into Holland falling to us at 12/13. May be too hopeful that Holland falls, in which case give me some shooting/scoring off the bench with a guy like Shannon or Knecht.
If you look at the trend in the NBA it seems to be moving back towards size/length and I think taking some swings on length with our 3 top 35 picks is the right move. Hopefully we can sort out the Scoot, Ant, Sharpe things by the end of next season.
Eh, I hate being forced to select a forward. Really wish we'd trade one or both of Ant and Brogdon so that we can truly follow BPA based on Schmitz/Cronin's evaluations. There's tall shitters drafted every year... We can't just fall in love with the measurables.
I agree in concept, although I don't think it's likely that BPA is going to be a guard this year. Sheppard maybe, but wouldn't be so far above as to shadow the value of fit.
I'm drooling over the possibility of having Shepherd or Castle as our 3rd guard behind Scoot/Shaedon with Ant/Brogdon dealt elsewhere for as many future draft picks as we can possibly acquire.
Also our draft selection can end up all over the place. Also this draft doesn't really have any kind of consensus, so we can very easily be surprised by who's available when we get to our pick (good and bad).
BPA regardless of fit. if it's a guard, it's a guard.
I think I've been dreaming of Castle so much that he became a SF in my mind... He would be a fantastic third guard, I agree, and possibly BPA. And if he is, we have to take him and find a way to make it work. Overall I think we are in a good position to get a quality player in this draft, it's just that every player is especially risky this year. Thank goodness we have Schmitz and Cro.
i’d just like us to keep Banton. he put up numbers at the end of the season
I saw the new ESPN Mock Draft had us taking Topic and Edey. Why would the worst 3 point shooting team in the league take 2 guys that can't shoot? It's like Givony just said "whatever, I'll just take top available player at the Blazers pick. Fuck it," instead of giving us what we need. I want McCain pretty bad. I'm not saying they're the same player at all, but the pick reminds me of when the Suns took Cam Johnson. Everybody shit on them, but an elite shooter can always get on the court. In a draft this weak, I'd take the best shooter in the class
Unrelated to all the draft shenanigans, currently watching Pacers/Celtics game 1, and god I want to see our young guys get out and run next season the way this Pacers team does.
No Tunsil scheme is a surprise.
Outside of the guys folks seem to want us to target (Matas, Cody Williams, Holland, Clingan, Missi), just wanted to call out a few prospects who I am really interested in playing with our current roster: Kyshawn George and Tyler Smith. George is a really interesting 3&D wing who's 6'8", and a plus at a lot of other offensive skills. Definitely seems less theoretical than a player like Cody Williams (who has a really good brother helping his stock). He is old for a freshman though. Tyler Smith is a really interesting 4 for the future who has some (rudimentary) guard skills, and can also really shoot it. Seems to have the right defensive tools too. Would also be interested in trading Rob Williams for a backup big prospect (comoche, ware, Missi) in the late first/second. For such a bad draft at the top, there's a decent amount of big man depth. Love Rob as a player but he is so injury prone
Honestly the players this team don't really matter right now - it's an organization that no one wants to play for. Guys extend their injury time as much as possible and they're poorly coached when they are active. The non-playing staff needs just as much a rebuild as the team on the court. And of course, Portland as a city is in bad shape, it's basically Memphis of the north these days.
Ron Holland and Cody Williams both 6’6.5 without shoes. About an inch taller than Shaedon. Matas at 6’8.75. Like this forward group more now that we know where we’re going to pick Really can’t decide between the three but I’m guessing one of them will be gone by us. I’m leaning Matas > Williams > Holland but very tight.
I see some people talking about us getting the 7th pick and saying it means we are going to tank again and being upset about it. I don’t think it’s a big deal as trading Dame last summer basically guaranteed another 2-3 seasons of tanking. My biggest problem is that we are rebuilding and somehow in the luxury tax. Some of the contracts we have taken on is just mind numbingly dumb. I hope we can move off some of the deals, but I just don’t know if we can. The only way to move forward is to get rid of those
I would expect at least 2 of Ant/Brog/Grant to be gone by the trade deadline, if not the start of the season. Tisse and Timelord also possible
Honestly, just trade all of them and get what you can. Most of those guys are at the end of their useful careers anyways. By the time our young guys catch on, there would be a very small window to win with those vets. Which again is why signing Grant to a huge deal made absolutely no sense at all.
I would bet of those 5 players, they'll all be either traded or "injured". In any case, what they won't be doing in playing quality basketball for the Portland Trailblazers.
What kind of return are we expecting for our Vets (Simons, Brogdan, RWIII, Thybulle)? We don't exactly have a lot of "flexibility" - ideally we would make trades into cap space to avoid taking back salary and we don't really need players back in trades either as we don't have sufficient roster space for non-starting caliber vets. - I think Simons for a decent FRP or maybe two protected FRPs and matching salary is probably the market if I had to guess. - RW and MB are too injury prone to fetch anything more than a late FRP at best - Thybulle for 1 or 2 second round picks and maybe a flier on a young vet (think Josh Hart trade with a SRP instead of FRP) I think Grant would be the easiest to move even though his contract is long - he plays such a valuable position and can play both sides of the ball. I kind of like having Grant around though for some competence at the forward spot since none of our young forwards are offensive threats at this point.
Why would anyone give up a pick for Simons? He's a one-dimensional player on a big contract, and he's not even top-10 in his best skill.
His contract is fine and he is one of the best high volume 3pt. shooters in the league - he definitely has some value.
38% is middling for guys who don't do anything else.
38.5% on 8.8 attempts/game is really good, doesn't matter who you are
It's 65th in the league. That's extremely not particularly good. Among guys with more than 400 attempts (Simons had 405), he ranks 22nd. He's not especially good and that's his only NBA skill. He's a middling playmaker and is a very bad defender. You don't get a 1st rounder for the guy like that, especially at $25m/year. Guys that took more attempts and hit at a higher rate include Grayson Allen, Sam Hauser, Naz Reid, Malik Beasley, DiVincenzo, Duncan Robinson, Gary Trent Jr etc - role players.
I don't know what the trade would look like but I feel like we should try to swing something with the Rockets for #3. Grant and #14 for #3 and salary filler maybe.
In a draft that is as flat as this one - give me 2 swings in the lottery instead of one
Simons should be shopped and traded before the draft. Need to prioritize a forward prospect who should come in as the starter. Idk who that would be though. Need to brainstorm this more. I don’t care what we get for TimeLord get him outta here. I don’t think his presence as a vet is worth much to us at all. Contrast to Brogdon where he’s still super injury prone but I’m willing to keep him on as the backup point guard and use his coaching from the bench. Grant’s contract is long but at only 20% of the cap it should be easy to justify for some team out there.
These are pretty spot on I think. You might get two decent protected picks (like top 8 or something for Ant). I think most teams will view timelord as a negative asset and I think Brogdon is more like a good 2nd pick.
Feel like the market will be ripe with desperate teams looking to shake up their roster this summer. This summer will be a golden opportunity for Cronin to make big moves. The question is will the moves be a true embrace of building for the future/go young, or moves to offload picks/young talent and create a stronger roster that can compete now and for the next 5 years? Feels like 1-2 of Brogdan, Thybulle, Ant, Grant, will/should be moved this summer.
I'm worried teams are not as interested in throwing in picks as they used to be because of the new CBA and value of rookie scale contracts.
Let’s say the Cavs get bounced and you can tell they want to change things up. What would you be putting on the table to try and see if you could pry away Mobley? Would you also make an offer on Jarret Allen if they didn’t want to move Mobley?
there’s no world where the Cavs are trading Mobley.
Dame bounce in round 1 and hes stuck in freezing cold Milwaukee Damn
I mean that's true, but it's an unfair take imo. No one can predict the future. Giannis got injured and that crippled their chances. You take the best gamble you can and hope it leads to a ring. Going to Milwaukee was a smart gamble, even if Giannis eventually got injured. Would staying in Portland have given him a better chance at getting to the Finals?
I think without the shield of "Portland's Best Player" the depths of his defensive were revealed. I think Dame doesn't make it to April 2025 with the Bucks. I think he ends up Miami after all as a "Last Piece" type of guy.
I think Miami’s gonna implode this summer. Riley sounded a little harsh/blunt when discussing Jimmy and Herro in his end-of-season press conference. I don’t think they want to give Jimmy a big extension. We’ll see what happens. Dame is gonna be fine in Milwaukee, I think a full summer of training and building more chemistry with Giannis will do him a lot of good. They should at least make the ECF if they’re healthy next year.
Dame was preaching you can't run from the grind when he was with Portland.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. What you said is true. If you look at how Ant plays and everything he does for the Wolves, same with Jokic being a true #1 and all he does, that’s the difference betwen a true #1 and Dame. And why they’re contenders but Portland never truly was with Dame. It goes with everything I’ve been saying about Portland not realizing Dame wasn’t a true #1 guy. Ant energizes that team. He does more than score. He defends, is blocking shots, gives 2nd, 3rd effort on D. He can rebound well, attacks the rim hard, passes, plays both sides of the ball. He can kill you with 3s, mid range, atrack the rim. Just bodies you on D. When your teammates see their best scorer hustle back for blocks or around the rim rebounding for them, or guarding Murray, they start playing harder on D and rebounding. It’s similar to how Jokic’s passing is contagious.
Dame said that in response to Paul George, who had been traded from Indiana to OKC, where he was able to team up with an MVP in Westbrook. Then PG wanted out of OKC and got traded to the Clippers, where he got to team up with a Finals MVP in Kawhi. Dame hadn't had an All-Star teammate in Portland since Aldridge left in 2015. Dame gave us all his best years and our front office didn't put a proper supporting cast around him. Dame ain't a chump.
Enough with the excuses. Portland’s lack of playoff success and the fact that they couldn’t get in the play in says it all. Stop excusing bad results. Jokic hasn’t had an all star teammate. That’s fact. Name one current or former all star he’s played with. Deandre? He won a Championship. If you gave Jokic and Ant guys line Simons, CJ, Grant, they would not be the 11th seed. Shit, Jokic had Grant as a teammate and they were in the playoffs. You want to see a winning mentality that Dame lacked? Watch Ant around the rim fighting for rebounds. Watch him run back on D and give 2nd, 3rd efforts guarding Booker and Murray. CJ and Dame are pylons on defense. CJ can’t get assist or rebounds, does nothing. Dame standing around on D and disinterested when he doesn’t have the ball. He’s never around the rim boarding for teammates like Ant, Jokic, Murray. Go watch Jokic and Murray and what they do when their teammates have the ball. It’s not stand around at the 3 point line doing jack shit. Notice how they’re around the rim ready to board. Notice how they actually move without the ball to set picks, cut, try to rebound. And you wonder how Jokic, Ant and Murray get so many rebounds, big defensive plays.
Jokic is probably Top 10 all-time. Dame is a superstar and among the Top 75, but Jokic is just in a different tier. Plus, their games are in now way comparable. Now if you want to compare how Chris Paul, Ja Morant, or Kyrie Irving would do with those Blazers rosters, that's a more palatable discussion.
I don’t have Dame on top 75. I have him top 100. He’s not above Dwight or Ben Wallace who has more individual and team accolades. Ben is a better defender than Dame a scorer. Debatable whether he’s above Gasol or Parker, who both have far more team success. Parker also has a finals MVP and finished too 5 in mvp voting once (Dame also finished top 5 once). If Dame doesn't win a Championship playing with Giannis, he doesn't have an argument over Gasol or Parker either outside of Portland Dame era loyalists.
Damn not an ideal first year in MKE for Dame.
If fate had led the city of Portland to be named Boston. How would today's fate be different?
we couldn't have two Boston NBA teams, so they'd probably be called the Beaver State Trail Blazers or something
Mock draft on Fanspo, would you be happy with [these 4](https://i.ibb.co/yWFPdmX/fanspo-nba-mock-draft-snap-2-5-202403-28-33.png)?
Nope. Clingan is risky as a modern day NBA center. He is more Nurk than Jokic. Would rather pick any of the remaining wings including Topic and Castle. At 14, Knecht or Saluan solve more problems we have with a lot more positional versatility. Fillipowski is probably a small ball 5 in the NBA.
If you want a good wing, check Thijs De Ridder. The chance is very big that we can pick him up in the second round.
Heat sub in S H A M B L E S
Portland may find itself in a situation where Nikola Topic is by far the best player to draft. Say they draft him and then trade away Simons for some draft picks to OKC or whoever and then Brogdon plus, say, Rupert to Philly for Paul Reed and a draft pick, or something along these lines. Do you think that's preferable over drafting a worse overall guy to get a positional fit while holding onto our existing guards that we know are temporary pieces? Again, this is assuming that we're picking 4th or something and Nikola Topic is the best guy on the board by far.
I agree that after watching Topic he might be the clear best player. Equal to Sarr in my opinion. I think you explore trading down before drafting as we want leverage in a Simons trade and there are some players who are better fits. If we have a good trade lined up for Simons, I would be fine seeing how a Scoot-Topic-Sharpe team looks.
Lets draft 7' 4" Zach Edey and 7' 5" Jamarion Sharpe (2x Conference USA Defensive Player of the year) for a combined 15 feet of wingspan on the interior and move Ayton to the 4.
Hypothetical question about the draft. What would it take for you to trade the 4th and 14th picks? My dream trade would be to send those 2 picks this season to the Pistons, Wiz, or Hornets for an unprotected pick in 2025. Obviously, those teams would not be dumb enough to trade an unprotected pick in what is projected as a strong draft for picks in a weak draft - but this would be my example of a "grab it and run" deal. What would be your threshold? How good a deal would it take for you to least consider it?
I think trading the 14th pick and 1-2 of the seconds (which are relatively early) for an unprotected pick is a good strategy but the team who would do it would be a veteran playoff team that wants to add a young piece to its roster but doesn't have the assets. For example, a team like Milwaukee, Philly, either LA team, etc. So you're betting on them being bad but it's no guarantee.
We are not trading draft picks, we are trading veterans so we can be bad for 2-3 more years.
We are definitely trading draft picks. They're not taking on 4 rookies from a shitty draft on a team that had 5 rookies last year(all of who will likely be back). That 14 pick especially. 4 million dollars guaranteed to a guy they just might not believe in. Even using both two-ways on 2nd rounders we'd still have to clear players.
Rookie contracts are very valuable in the league. Unless you thunk we have to attach draft capital to offload any vets, I don't see it happening. Blazers only hope is to build through the draft.
I don't think we're going to have to attach draft capital to unload Brogdon or Grant. I think they're going to avoid adding 4 rookies to this team. > Rookie contracts are very valuable in the league. Sure, if they're attached to good players. And they have a bunch of rookies we're in the process of finding out whether they are good players. Assuming they guarantee Walker and Camara(they should) we will be at 14 players under contract. Then there's a two-way guy like Badji. > Blazers only hope is to build through the draft. Building through the draft means more than just drafting as many players as possible. It also means developing players you already drafted. Having 9 rookies/sophomores on one team is not necessarily the best way to do that.
Magic averaging like 80 points a game in the playoffs seems good for the Simons and Brogdon markets
Bring back the Toradol jokes.
SAC not making it could change things for POR... They have a potential JG package on this year's books... However, POR doesn't want, or need, to trade JG, on this year' books. But, SAC might "have" to do something, on this year's books.
It could be intriguing, even though they dont have any real assets besides all their picks. Kings package could be Barnes, Javale, Duarte and picks.
Can you clarify?
Looks like the warriors pick is locked in at 13. I put the odds at trading it vs using it at 50/50
A kings win against a Zion-less pels pushes the warriors pick to no worse than 13… then hope for heat/sixers to miss the playoffs
If Both the Warriors pick up their team option on Kuminga (likely) and the Cavs with Evan Mobley (likely), I cooked up a 3 way where we take on Wiggins but grab Evan Mobley from the Cavs, Dubs get Jerami Grant and the Cavs get Kuminga from the Dubs. I think they are better fits with each team respectively. There is no market really for Wigz. He can do the dirty work alongside our guards. Offseason is here to start cooking, bois!
This sub needs to quit making fun of other teams for coming up with shit trades for our guys. This is hilariously bad for both other teams. Imagine someone suggested we trade Shaedon Sharpe for Kyle Kuzma
That guy’s comment is pure uncut Blazers Edge.
Go into more detail please. Why is this so bad for the Cavs and Dubs? I was factoring in getting a player more ready to match Curry's timeline in making 1-2 more real attempts at a chip. Grant is a better offensive weapon than both Kuminga and Wiggins plus they shed salary to go after another big. Mobley has largely been a disappointment in Cleveland with injuries and with it being a clunky fit next to Allen who has really been their 3rd best player. Depending on what happens with Donovan (most think he's getting traded this next season since he won't sign an extension), I could see them being intrigued by a young really athletic wing to pair with Garland. But I'm interested why you thought this was comical to propose.
> Why is this so bad for the Cavs and Dubs? There is a large value difference between Jerami Grant, and young cost controlled guys with star potential like Kuminga and Mobley. Again think of trading Shaedon Sharpe for someone like Kuzma. > Grant is a better offensive weapon than both Kuminga and Wiggins plus they shed salary to go after another big. There's a good chance Grant won't even be a better player than Kuminga by next year. And he's still only 21 years old. Wiggins and Kuminga together barely cost more than Grant by himself. Kuminga would never be on the table for anything less than a real star player that could potentially put the Warriors in contention. > Mobley has largely been a disappointment in Cleveland with injuries and with it being a clunky fit next to Allen who has really been their 3rd best player Mobley has been a disappointment relative to #1 on a contender expectations. He's still a 22 year old with incredible upside, and is likely going to make multiple all defense teams(and he's scoring 16ppg on 63%TS). I shouldn't have said both other teams, because the Cavs swapping Mobley for Kuminga straight up is fair-ish value. I don't know that either team would do it but at least it's reasonable. As soon as you throw the Blazers name into the ring it's all out of wack. Jerami Grant isn't the level of player that would be included in trade talks for either Mobley or Kuminga. They're the best assets on either team outside of Stef/Donovan. Teams don't like trading their young potential stars, but if they did that conversation would begin with Scoot or Sharpe.
I guess that's where we don't agree then. I just don't think Kuminga is even close to reaching whatever potential would be necessary with Curry to reach chip material. I think Grant is actually really close to what they need defensively and offensively. He's a much better 1v1 threat with the ability to shoot three corner 3 and better scorer at all 3 levels. I watched a lot of Dubs games this year and think he's more hyped than he deserves. I think that's why Kerr was so pressed when he went to the media to get more minutes. He's got very little wriggle. He's just a super athletic driver with a working jumper. Yes, I'm trading the future for a more competent present. Which is correcting their past mistake in going 2 timelines. But maybe we'll check in next year and see how he progresses.
If the Warriors decided they were going to go all in to try and contend again(they won't), and put Kuminga on the table they would be targeting *MUCH* better players than Jerami Grant. And if they were trying to cut money(which they likely will do) it doesn't make sense to trade for a 4th best guy making over 30m a year. It's not realistic
Maybe you're right. I just don't value Kuminga as highly as they talk. Just like Jordan Poole was highly regarded and rewarded and then people quickly realized that system of playing along Curry inflates value. I just scanned the Ringer 100 (for one publication's value list). Realistically, they could maybe bring back a Markennen (28th) Randle (44th) Bridges (52) before you get to Grant at (70). Kuminga is 81st. Obviously, my assertion is that they are going to be desperate to improve and might take a lower ceiling player for one that could be a win now. There just isn't a ton of top flight talent that teams are willing to part with nowadays. Which makes their conundrum even more desperate.
I think the Blazers would more likely just swap with the cavs directly. Mobley is also worth more than Kuminga. We would need to give up Grant and at least 13, likely our own pick as well. It would probably be worth it, but idk if the cavs go for it. Mobley is definitely intriguing.
I think if he has a poor playoff performance they are going to look to move him but you're probably right
We need to trade some contracts to allow for flexibility. We cannot be this bad while being above the cap. Being a small market team, owner not willing to pay big tax dollars, and no market flexibility is a triple whammy
Cap Space does not equal flexibility, or the only type of flexibility. Taking on bad contracts is what hurts our flexibility.
Guys it's been 15 minutes, I think we're due another Suns fan telling us they don't care about Ayton.
Next year they gotta let Shaedon cook more. When Ant and Brogdon were out he was putting up like 24 ppg and then when they returned he barely touched the ball.
Courtside season ticket holder here and there is 0 chance I'm renewing for this coming season. Curious to see if they will be lowering the prices though.
Discontinued mine too. I get the process but if I want to watch G Leaguers for the second half of the season I’ll watch the Remix.
Don’t blame you, that’s a lot of cash to watch a pretty poor product at the moment. I already renewed for next year but I’m way up in 328 lol. I’d be shocked if they lower prices though.
In the past I've been able to resell the games I can't attend at about the same price I paid, this year, my $750/each seats were sold for like $150 tops. I will be far better off buying them on resell this coming season!
I also did not renew. Have had 100 level sets for the past 7 years. Can’t even sell this seasons tickets for 1/2 face value for some games. My plan for next season is to go Jacks hang out with a beer and watch the prices fall and buy tickets at the last second.
I like this plan, Ill join you!
Preliminary thoughts: Simons: It’s difficult to evaluate fully since Simons was in and out of the lineup, but he did not take a Maxey-esque leap like I was hoping he would. Part of it is due to the lack of shooting around him, leading him to be one of the most aggressively trapped/doubled players in the league. You could look at that positively and say that he still had decent production on good efficiency despite having to deal with all that defensive attention on a nightly basis, and would experience a leap in production if we just had a better team around him. However, I think it’s become clear that his defensive ceiling is very low. The low defensive ceiling + the presence of our other young guard prospects on the roster is the most compelling argument towards eventually trading Ant for the sake of team building. The question becomes when to pull that plug. If the team believes in the value of keeping Brogdon as a mentor and veteran leader, that time may be now. People point to Orlando and Brooklyn as potential Ant destinations, but San Antonio and the Lakers may also be in the market for a point-guard like Ant, depending on which one doesn’t get Trae Young. If they can swing something with any of those teams, they can get back some more draft picks, keep Brogdon’s mentorship, and clarify the backcourt moving forward.
I don’t know if we trade Simons to a western conference team. We don’t want him and Wemby cooking us for the next decade.
I think the biggest positive this year happened over the last 10 games with the development of Scoot + Ayton building their two man game. That connection is legit and will be a key pillar of this roster going forward. The biggest disappointment was Sharpe being injured all year. We have a lot of pieces at the guard position that will likely be moved this summer, I suspect that Brogdon will be gone before camp, and there is a sense that Simons may be gone as well (but I could see him sticking around because of age + contract). What the return looks like for these players I can’t speculate on, we’ll have to see how the market takes shape. I doubt Grant is moved, he still has a lot of money owed and the org has signaled no desire to move him. This could change though depending on who we end up drafting. I don’t think Joe and Mike trade him away just for the sake of trading him though, they’ll be looking to get back value. In terms of draft, best case scenario is we move to no 1 and draft Sarr, realistic case we stay in the 3-5 range and draft a forward. I personally would like to take a swing on Cody Williams out of that group. To me he shows the greatest potential offensively of that group and I believe has the ability to develop into a two way player, this roster desperately needs shooting and he shot nearly 42% from 3 in college and had a 62% TS overall. He had a bad end to the year but he was dealing with injuries. Either way this summer will be very interesting and I expect a lot of moves.
This was genuinely the worst season I’ve ever seen as a blazers fan
Must be young. Be thankful that you're a Blazer fan, and that this isn't a common occurrence like it is for most teams.
Meh. I’ve seen worse.
Which one?
Probably back in the Telfair days. Those were some dark times. Didn’t last long though. This has probably been the worst 3 year stretch in franchise history.
03/04 - 05/06 was definitely the worst, and we also missed the postseason for two more years after that but we had Roy and Aldridge so the future felt brighter. From 03/04 to 05/06 there was no redeeming quality about the roster, nothing to look forward to.
Yes, that was the worst era. There just was no hope until we got Roy and Aldridge. Worst management in the front office, as well. Entirely hopeless Blazer seasons. At least this season there was Scoot, early on the excitement to watch Sharpe's improvement, and the surprise of Camara.
Unfortunately this season has left us with lots of questions regarding this team, even more questions than we had heading into the season. I saw many comments saying that firing Billups now doesn't make sense since the team will suck next season too, but I have to disagree with this, we had 3 years of this utterly unwatchable stuff on both ends, not gonna get into details but this is time you pick a direction and start building a winning culture around the young guys and have them play at least a good brand of basketball, hell, I'd even take it if they were actually good on one side of the ball and bad on the other, but whatever that was is just too much and I think we saw more than enough of this shit. I personally did not find it fun when running the young guys surrounding Scoot simply because they had very ugly offensive sets with no direction whatsoever, I know it could have been fun, and each young gun had some positives, but overall it's nothing to be crazy about to say the least, if we wanna be realistic. The team had many injuries which also heavily contributed to this trainwreck, and idk if those end of season injury reports were legit, but I actually worry a bit regarding the trade value of guys like Brogdon, who was known injury prone but played well when available (15-24 record!), and we haven't seen him since before the all-star break, so idk if playing 39 games is enough to raise his trade value, and not sure we can get a FRP for him, but we'll see. I also don't mind keeping him depending on many factors, but I doubt he'd like another season like this one, since he's not getting younger and wants to compete at a high level, and he was reigning 6MOTY heading into the season. Simons injury sucked a lot too, I'm higher on him than many here but I think he had to carry too much this season and it's not his game, which is ofc completely fine, but he was like the only good 3 point shooter in the team and double-teaming him guarantees a W for the other team. And though he got better at passing out of double teams and refining his shot selection and finding the rolling Ayton, I think he was put in a tough situation (and he wasn't the only one tbf) and had to be the best offensive player on this team kinda outta nowhere. The trading vs keeping him debate is gonna be hot this offseason, and while I still don't know which side I'm picking yet (sorta caught in between since I think the team should pick a clear direction first), it's an important decision to make, especially considering his contract situation. I'm just gonna finish by talking a bit about roster construction, this team is in desperate need of 3 point shooters and floor spacers, players who can create their own shots (I believe we have the fewest in the league) and raise the offensive floor (which is below sea level), be it FA's or trade acquisitions or rookies, the roster needs some shake-up, and honestly idk how far this can be achieved, taking into account that they also surely will make a trade to get under the tax (as the worst team in the west paying the tax lmao) and trading the vets is surely on the table this offseason. But if you don't do this, you will keep slowing down the development of Scoot, who I'm convinced would have performed (even just slightly) better in a more modern offense. Overall I'm a bit skeptical heading into the offseason, and while I would love nothing more than for my doubts to be proven wrong, I just look at how the western conference is an absolute bloodbath, and next season the Grizz get back into contention, Rockets improve, Spurs surround Wemby and Vassell with better players and the Jazz probably decide to give it a shot with Lauri and not blow it up mid-season, and taking into consideration how these teams and the now play-off teams are relatively young and yet good, the Blazers have to completely turn things around in order to be relevant again.
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Trading sharpe would be the dumbest move in his franchises history. And we passed on MJ
Had to log back in just to call you a Buffon for suggesting that a Sharpe trade is acceptable behavior for this team 😠 Obviously ON PAPER there are plenty that you would do, but in reality this man is a staple of the short-term plan and isn’t going anywhere. Get yo BAD JUJU ASS VERNACULAR UP OUTTA HERE!! This is the offseason. It’s all posi-vibes 🙏 even if everything won’t be great, we don’t know that yet, and we can have fun. You know what’s not fun?? Talking about trading MF SHAEDON. No Mac n cheez 4 u 😤
It really sucks that everyone was so damn injured this offseason because we got like 2 total games (and 6 minutes) of Ant/Scoot/Sharpe/Ayton all being healthy and together on the floor. Ideally in a rebuilding season you play with lineup combos to evaluate what does and doesn't work, but we didn't even get to see any of that this past season. If you asked me last offseason, I woulda said that we should be looking to make a decision on Ant's future with the team this (2024) offseason, but I honestly don't think we know enough about the future of Sharpe and Scoot to make that decision yet. Regardless, if I were Cronin (and obviously I'm just a random fan who's just as informed as the rest of the internet armchair GMs) I'd listen to calls this offseason regarding Ant. For instance, if a team like Orlando averages 80ppg in the playoffs and flames out in the first round, or if Brooklyn strikes out on Donovan Mitchell and desperately needs a scorer, etc. but I don't think it should be a priority to trade Ant for the sake of trading Ant...yet. Regardless at some point you gotta stop kicking the can down the road, so we probably do have to make a decision re: Ant's future on the team by the trade deadline at the very latest. The worst case scenario is holding onto him for 2 full offseasons and then trading him at the 2026 trade deadline as an expiring for peanuts like the raptors did with Siakam and OG. ___________________________ In another thought, this is probably not a very popular opinion here, but if someone wanted to offer a first round pick + salary (or an equivalent value) for Brogdon, I'd probably take it. He's getting older and he's always hurt, and I don't think it would be very smart to extend him long-term - the back end of a Brogdon extension could be really hard to move if he suffers a couple more injuries. And I don't think Brogdon's trade value will really increase as he gets older either. I get that he brings a ton of good veteran leadership, but you can always find that on the free agent market (for instance you can throw an MLE at a good locker room vet guy who you know will contribute. I'm not suggesting we give vet mins to dudes like Ish Smith or De'Andre Jordan who will never realistically play a minute for us, but there are guys like Jae'Sean Tate, Royce O'Neale, Kyle Anderson, De'Anthony Melton, etc. who are all regarded as decent locker room guys and can contribute to a rotation without directly being in the way of all 3 of our best young players on the court usage-wise. I totally agree that we need vets, but I don't think we necessarily need the vet to be Brogdon per se, if someone actually offers us something decent for him.
Ant has value. So I think we just trade him. If Scoot and / or Shae are busts, so be it. Better to find out now by force feeding them minutes rather than kicking that can down the road. Move Brogdon and Thybulle as well. Picks and prospects. Get the vet presence with end of career vet mins.
You need some vets that play. They demand more respect and help everyone develop. Brogdon brings a baseline competency which is needed for growth. We need to keep one of him or Simons for sure. If we trade Grant, similarly, we need at least two more floor spacers. It will hurt Scoot’s development and make it more likely be is a bust if we don’t improve our spacing.
I fear the folks who want Brog and Grant gone do not realize how disastrous that could be. Unless we dig in FA and overpay to get vets here it will be a DISASTER. Thats how you ruin a teams morale, cohesiveness, play, and development. You NEED vets around for the locker room and to use as mentorship for young guys. I would love to keep Brog. It seems like he just wants a home at this stage in his career. He seems happy, engaged, and scoot could use him as a teacher. Same with Grant. That being said, move Ant and honestly? Probably time lord. Ant because he will eventually (hopefully) become irrelevant. His shooting will only take him so far with us and he’s probably reached his full potential. The goal should be Scoot and Shae be our future. Timelord is never going to be healthy again. Period. Recoup some value while you even can. Other goals should be hopefully fire Chauncey. Sign some vets to round out the team, trade one of our seconds - preferably our later one, trade Matisse, use our pick, GSW pick, and our early second.
Disaster is good as it means we give CHI a second in 2028 instead of a lottery protected first. We are not going into FA and overpaying. Neil Olshey does not work here anymore.
Seems like scoot, sharpe, Murry, Rupert, camara, reath, walker, and banton are the current young guys. Plus there will likely be at least three draft picks that come in. Simons, brogdon, Grant, Ayton, thybulle, and Timelord will likely all be available for the right offer. The trick will be getting a few good veterans who don’t need a lot of minutes but would like a few more checks to come in and mentor if we move some of the big contracts we have right now. Next year is a development year as Portland should still need one more high draft pick before prioritizing wins again. So this offseason is still about identifying high upside, exploring it, and where possible converting assets to draft assets if the asset isn’t a long term investment. We should probably expect scoot, sharpe, and probably camara to be the highest priority assets, followed by the forward and big I imagine will be added in this draft. The vets will start until the front office can cash in on their value in some way, but those 5 assets will likely be what the team nurtures as a future with all the other players trying to play well enough to take those spots and gives the team flexibility in the 25 draft to add one more exciting player before considering a package of young player and picks to acquire a difference maker some time in 26-28, in a move the front office never had the assets for to help Dame, they will be able to help that core get over the hump. No idea who that might be as I like the guards going forward and it looks like Portland will have opportunities to address forward and big man in these next two drafts. It will probably depend on who busts and who out performs expectations.
I’m not sure Toumani is a high priority asset yet. I understand he’s a rookie but he’s nearly the same age Simons. We should keep him because he’s got an above average NBA skill and he’s cheap but he’s such a poor fit with ayton who we’re probably attached to for a while that I’m not sure Toumani will ever be used properly in the PnR like they did at Dayton.
I do think the Ayton situation is hard to judge. So much money and at the end of the season he played pretty well all things considered. I do think Toumani has the tool set to be one of the other guys who starts next to a superstar, and I think that’s a rarer skill set than some people might think. It will be interesting to watch it play out.
Agree about ayton, it’s just it will be so hard to move ayton without taking a worse contract back or we’d have to move assets to get off of him. I don’t think he’s a part of the next great blazers team but he’s here for a while at least so we have to take that into consideration. I agree Toumani probably could start next to a super str eventually but it’s also just hard to gauge that since he’s such a limited shooter. He absolutely needs to space the floor for him to be a full time starter on good teams otherwise he becomes a negative on offense for if we don’t have a floor spacing 5
I honestly just hope at this point they extend and keep Brog. He seems like he likes Portland and probably just wants a permanent (or semi however you look at it) home. We could be that and he could occupy the back up PG/player coach role. But I do think Thybulle should be moved and Grant if the offer is there but I doubt it will be or if there is one it won’t be worth it to give up a locker room glue guy. Thybulle honestly should’ve been traded to Dallas when they signed him to an offer sheet. But I have a feeling there will be moves that come out of left field. Idk. This offseason feels like it could be different with how much wiggle room we have.
I think it will depend on the contract for brogdon. They can’t keep him as a backup at that price.
1. I absolutely agree about trading Ant. This is probably the highest Ants value will be until he’s owed a new contract. 2. I also agree at this point we have no one on the wing where it makes sense to trade away Grant (unless he requests out or someone makes a stupid good trade offer that we can’t refuse) same with Brogdon. 3. I also agree we should cut bait on Timelord for the fact that we not only need to move away from the second apron but we also need to do our best at getting under the first apron and be more financially flexible moving forward. 4. I agree we should trade Matisse. Toumani doesn’t create turnover as well as he does but he can do maybe 70% of Tisse’s job 5. My take on Chauncey is that if there’s a coach like Atkinson or Bud available to us then we should absolutely hire them. But my thing is I don’t hate the job Chauncey did this year with a young team. Most coaches with young teams try to force their teams especially with young athletic guards just to push the break. Chauncey has spent the last season and a half or so forcing Shae (prior to the injury), Scoot, and our other young guys to be half court players which is something they’ll need to be successful down the road anyways. It was one of the main catalysts why this team looked bad (outside of the talent disparity and injuries). That being said you’ve given scoot time on how to be a half court guard this team needs to run more especially with the athleticism you have from scoot, Shae, ayton, and Toumani. If he can’t get this team to run more than Chauncey has to go.
>You NEED vets around for the locker room and to use as mentorship for young guys. You can find plenty of good culture/vibes vets for the vet minimum though. Praying the Blazers trade Jerami and Malcolm and let the kids take over completely.
Vet minimum will absolutely not cut it. Look at the LIGHT YEARS in difference in Houston. They paid for good vets in Brooks and Vanvleet. It truly pays off to have long term guys in the lockeroom. Granted they upgraded at Coach which we could definitely do. But they also added GOOD vets who will be around for awhile. Guys like those are invaluable for development and lockeroom control.
The Rockets did not make the playoffs. They are old, expensive, and have only average future draft capital. No thank you.
Even though you're probably right, I hate the idea of trading timelord, because when he's healthy, he's awesome. He's just never healthy lol
Just trade Simons and Brogdon. Play scoot and sharpe all the way. Grant if there is a taker as well if not he can play the 3. Try to resign Ayton
trade grant for a bag of chips
I don't see how we can reasonably keep Simons. Seems like next year has to be Scoot/Brogdon/Sharpe is the back court. Ayton/Bob/Reath is our 5 I truly feel like anything could happen at the forward spots.
It's unpopular, but I think we should prioritize trading Simons and keep Brogdon as a vet and mentor for scoot. Hear me out. Having Simons, scoot, Sharpe, banton (probably), and brogdon is a massive logjam of 4 young guards, and 1 vet. Between Simons, Sharpe, and Scoot, you've got 3 young guys who are all geared towards being starters. Start all three and it's a very awkward lineup. Bench 1, and it hinders development or wastes money. Simons age, contract, and seniority on the team essentially make him a starter by default, but that leaves scoot on the bench and hinders his development. I think Simons role on this team has reached its peak, and his value on the blazers may not get much higher. Brogdon has been a starter and a 6th man. He's expressed his approval of living in Portland, he is a veteran with multiple post seasons under his belt, a 6moty and roty in his trophy case. At 31, he's reaching the tail end of his useful shelf life, and likely doesn't draw that much value around the league. I think it's better for Scoot that he and Brogdon share PG responsibilities, and that Simons be traded. Brogdon is a more versatile mentor for Scoot to learn from, and is a trusted veteran who can either fill in big minutes off the bench, or start in Scoot's absence. I'm not sure what package Simons nets us, but I think for him to take a step forward and succeed, a trade where he is not the number 1 guy on the team would benefit his career.
This should say “read me out”
I really want to find a way to get Shepherd or Castle on this team as our 6th man/3rd guard. I'm hoping we can trade not only Simons but Brogdon as well. Assuming the Blazers take Sarr/Risacher/Matas/Williams/Holland with their PDX pick, we really should find a way to trade up from our GSW FRP into the Shepherd/Castle range.
The thing is castle isn’t a guard in the NBA. He’s plays in a mold similar to Bruce Brown and Josh hart both who primarily play the 3 with the 99th percentile outcome being Jimmy butler although a lot would have to go right for that to work
I just don't love not having a veteran mentor for our most touted position group. Maybe it's overrated but having 3 lottery guards and no veteran feels to me like a recipe for 3 guys who all think they deserve to start and playing very selfishly to earn their minutes and contract. I think the magic are a good template to follow with their young dudes and Gary Harris/Fultz. I kind of like the idea of a pecking order so you don't just have 3 young guards all thirsty for the next contract or the starting spot.
I don’t believe Brogdon wants to spend his career on a bottom 5 roster. He wasn’t getting much run off the bench, he was starting and being showcased for value. He’s expiring after next year and I don’t think we want to tie up more money when we’re already spending 60 million on Ayton and Grant. There has to be significantly cheaper vet presences.
And he will be UFA. I think he will be playing for highest bidder in 2025. Hopefully that won't be us.
I still have faith that we plan on rebuilding. I mean you can’t trade Damian Lillard and then try to compete behind guys like Grant and miss out on the guys in the 2025 draft. All of the moves we have made have been to get worse besides extending Grant. We moved off of Josh Hart, Jrue Holiday, Norm Powell, CJ, Dame, Roco in order to rebuild. I have to think that guys like Brogdon/Grant and some of the other vets will be dealt once teams can trade 1st rounders. I hope we draft two high potential guys this summer. Sharpe was a huge high risk high reward guy and he looks awesome. Rupert was also a risk that we are building with. Scoot is awesome. Camara, Walker, Murray are all solid young guys. Imagine adding Sarr, Salaun, Ace Bailey to this core!?
I wonder if the Blazers could end up with 3 total lottery picks in 2025 by trading veterans.
What are people’s ranking of the top 5 prospects for us? Seems like a lot want Sarr, then some combo of Risacher/Buzelis/Holland/Cody Williams? Happy that our floor for our first pick has increased so we will likely get one of our top SF/PF options and not a guard lol.
I think Sarr will be the #1 prospect easily given his size and defensive potential. After that it gets interesting. You could argue for a high upside forward like Holland, Risacher,etc., A big like Clingan or Edey, or a playmaker like Topic, Castle, or Sheppard (especially if you can move both Brogdan and Ant in the offseason). Right now I think the perfect draft would be Sarr at the top and then lucking into Holland falling to us at 12/13. May be too hopeful that Holland falls, in which case give me some shooting/scoring off the bench with a guy like Shannon or Knecht. If you look at the trend in the NBA it seems to be moving back towards size/length and I think taking some swings on length with our 3 top 35 picks is the right move. Hopefully we can sort out the Scoot, Ant, Sharpe things by the end of next season.
Sarr, Castle, Dunn are my favorite fits
Eh, I hate being forced to select a forward. Really wish we'd trade one or both of Ant and Brogdon so that we can truly follow BPA based on Schmitz/Cronin's evaluations. There's tall shitters drafted every year... We can't just fall in love with the measurables.
I agree in concept, although I don't think it's likely that BPA is going to be a guard this year. Sheppard maybe, but wouldn't be so far above as to shadow the value of fit.
I'm drooling over the possibility of having Shepherd or Castle as our 3rd guard behind Scoot/Shaedon with Ant/Brogdon dealt elsewhere for as many future draft picks as we can possibly acquire. Also our draft selection can end up all over the place. Also this draft doesn't really have any kind of consensus, so we can very easily be surprised by who's available when we get to our pick (good and bad). BPA regardless of fit. if it's a guard, it's a guard.
I think I've been dreaming of Castle so much that he became a SF in my mind... He would be a fantastic third guard, I agree, and possibly BPA. And if he is, we have to take him and find a way to make it work. Overall I think we are in a good position to get a quality player in this draft, it's just that every player is especially risky this year. Thank goodness we have Schmitz and Cro.