Lottery pick: #6, 2nd Rnd Picks: #36, and #57

He's been a Vulcan for 14 years, he was asked to be a hatchet man and clear a few things up before they hire the new GM after play ins are over tomorrow night. It might go to end of playoffs, bu the new guy will be calling shots up to his announcement.

 

Wow, you don't think Cronin will be the GM next season? I thought it was a foregone conclusion they were going to keep Joe on the cheap.

 

Ive never thought it was a foregone conclusion and yeah he could earn the job I guess.
We cannot forget however, there has been search and Joe still sports interim.

 

Without being a jerk about it [or acting like PatterNash], Cronin is clearing the decks for a definitive direction -- Dame or No-Dame. Hoopguru may have the right of it. Either way, Cronin resembles being a "hatchet man" in the nicest possible way. If/when his interim tag is gone [he wins out or Olshey's replacement is named], a good share of the "blame" regarding necessary change is already in the past.

 

Who has the "search" turned up in the last 6 months? Would expect a ton of names by now, right?

You might be right that Joe is a placeholder and they are doing one of the deepest most exhaustive GM searches in league history. Though it would've made since to get your guy before the trade deadline IMO.

 

I think it’s almost impossible that we draft Ivey #3 with one of the top 3 bigs still on the board. If we did, I’d imagine that we’re trading Dame.

If we told Dame we’re drafting Ivey and he’s okay with it, I’d rather trade Hart and maybe even Nas + TPE + Bledsoe’s contract + whatever else is needed to fill the forward spots than to trade Dame.

Dame/Simons/Ivey would be the best guard trio in the NBA for several years. I still like Smith for the MLE and a third C with #36 with Nurkic, and that would complete our C rotation.

It’s hard to imagine Ivey wanting to stay on the bench for very long though. At that point, I think Simons fetches at least a couple good young players and a few 1sts like what Dame could get us.

 

TPEs cannot be combined with anything else including other TPEs.

 

if Portland is spending a top-3 pick to draft Ivey as a backup SG they have learned nothing from the Olshey era

 

If Olshey was still here it would be "Sharpe of bust!"

As for Ivey, I won't bother discussing it with you. If you don't see Ivey as at least a top 5 player in this draft, I think it safe to say you very much in the minority.

 

LOL...have you seen me rate any players in this draft? The only one I've talked about is Holmgren, and I haven't talked much about him

so, even though you won't bother with the discussion anymore, I'll repeat that I think it would be dumb for Portland to draft a player in the top-3 to be a long term backup. If Ivey is that good, then the Blazers should consider trading Simons instead of Hart

 

That's reasonable. You could also have one be a 6th MOY candidate for a couple of years until Dame retires.

 

sure...ok

but personally I think the Blazers biggest problem in the Olshey-era is they have had way too much talent, usage, and salary invested in guards and not anywhere close to enough invested in wings and forwards. If Ivey is that good then a Dame-Ivey-Hart rotation in the back court might make a lot more sense than a Dame-Simon-Ivey rotation. Especially if Simons is as good as many here believe, the rest of the NBA agrees, and Portland can fetch an all-star level forward for trading Simons

 

I think Ivey is the one guy of the top 4 draft candidates whose game will translate to the NBA immediately. He's great at attacking the hoop and getting to the free-throw line. (He shot 53% on 2-pointers and his free throws per 100 possessions was 11.0 this past season.) He shot only 36% on 3-pointers (a lot of them from well behind the line) but that improved from 26% his freshman year. Another area he needs to improve on is his free-throw shooting percentage, which is only 74%. If he can improve in those two areas, his TS% could go from Anfernee Simons level (.579 as a sophomore) to something like Damian Lillard. Something to note is that his assist to turnover ratio is only 1.2 so he's not a point guard right now.

 

I get that. I was simply saying all of those assets can be used as vehicles to getting the starting forwards which would complete the team in that scenario, that that they would all be combined to get two players.

 

With the team going up for sale, it makes zero sense for Cronin not to be GM. If I am buying the team, I’d want MY guy in there. Hiring someone new makes no sense

 

I think you are correct on this also. The team is for sale now or they said it will be "Auctioned". I don't see any GM moves until a new owner is in place.

 

Exactly.

 

Good point, but why dont they take the interim away? Also, why would they go through a search if their plan was not to hire a gm? If they sell the team soon, Dame, Chauncey could be part of major changes too.
The sale may not happen till Dames 34/35? if at all.

 

My opinion is they need to look “thorough” after the Billups hire

 

PG-13 is out tonight ... looks like mods can officially remove the 'and #11' from the title!