But perhaps Prince is a better fit for Portland than Mirotic. Prince can handle, pass, create a little and is a better career 3-pt shooter than Mirotic. It's not really a commentary on who is better...but who might be better for the Blazers.
Mirotic I'd a better shooter now and it's not close. Mirotic would help us more just because of how much better he is. This is coming from someone who loved Prince coming into his draft.
Perhaps overall, but I said "3-pt shooter" where Prince is a career .372 and Mirotic is a career .357. This season, Prince is .367 and Mirotic is .356. So as for "not close", when it comes to 3-pt shooting, I would submit they are quite close, just that Prince is and has been better. Prince is also the better creator, defender and passer. Mirotic is better at other things but for almost 6x the salary, he should be.
The deal I keep coming back to: POR Gets: Prince, Lin, Carter ATL Gets: Turner, Swanigan, Calderon, BEST of DET/POR 1sts* DET Gets: Curry, WORSE of DET/POR 1sts* *Lottery Protected - If Detroits pick is in the lottery, ATL receives Portlands 1st. If Portlands 1st is in the lottery, ATL receives Portlands 2020 1st. Detroit will probably be the 7th or 8th seed in the West, so if you're Atlanta, you're talking about getting a top 5 pick (ATL) a pick between 7 and 12 (DAL) , and the 15th or 16th pick (DET). Detroit would move down 4 to 8 spots (maybe less) to get their starting SG for the rest of the season. If they miss the playoffs, they essentially give up Calderon for Curry.
Since first round picks are guaranteed and they already have two of them, I actually could see the logic behind not wanting any more this year. But we could send them our pick in 2020 and maybe they throw in one of those seconds this year. Swanigan, Baldwin/Stauskas/Trent, and a protected first in 2020 for Prince and a 2019 second. I think that’s close.
FWIW, Atlanta worked out Swanigan twice in the draft process; once in 2016 before he pulled out, and again in 2017. They drafted Omari Spellman this year, who has a similar build and profile. Looking at their roster, they could be in the market for depth in the front court. Baldwin also dominated Atlanta in summer league, with their GM Travis Schlenk in attendance. Yes it was summer league, but it could’ve still made an impression. Lin will be a free agent and they have nobody else behind Young (btw Baldwin profiles next to him as well) Just sayin
So I decided I was going to check out the hawks game, get a better look at Prince. I lasted maybe ten minutes. I don’t know how people watch eastern conference basketball without dying of boredom.
Do we make a video (like the Sixers did for Saric and Covington) to Welcome Back CJ after he gets traded?
Really? Do you really think he'd say that? Did he say that about Harkless? Turner? Aminu? Davis? Lopez? All of which would provide about the same impact as Prince. I know you're joking.... But.... He didn't even say that when he drafted Dame. There are bigger shots to take at the used car salesman. Shots that have merit.
Prince is upgrade our small forward position. Don't be surprised Olshey put Aminu and maybe Nik or Curry and 2020 protected 1st for Lin and Prince and 2019 2nd round pick.
The problem with that move is we are so thin up front so trading Aminu and not getting back a PF. We'd need another trade mixed in.