Yup. Didn't scout Dragan enough to have an opinion but I've disagreed with a lot of his 2nd round level evaluations particularly. He was a big Iwundu guy in 2017 and Jacob Evans in 2018. Both were fringe NBA players in my eyes. Everybody is going to be wrong a lot with this stuff
im calling it now, if joe cronin fails, mike schmitz will take his job having a guy like him who is so good in evaluating talent is huge, especially for a small market teams like ours, as those organizations build their teams through the draft (best free agents wont come here and its difficult to build the team through the trades)... once he learns the gm things, look out, hes not being brought here for nothing
This is from May 18. Id suggest a listen https://open.spotify.com/episode/4J...i=TsjbYBTxQpax8eVOaWqS9g&utm_source=copy-link
Wait, this is the guy that ran DraftExpress right? Solid shit right here. That was THE site for NBA Draft coverage before it was bought by ESPN.
Does this mean he wont contribute in this draft??? https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...schmitz-assistant-general-manager-sources-say Schmitz has a vast array of scouting and player relationships and deep prospect knowledge across multiple continents that Cronin expects will plan a significant role in shaping the Blazers' roster. Schmitz is expected to remain with ESPN through the June 23 NBA Draft, and formally begin his duties with Portland in July. The Blazers have the seventh overall pick in 2022 Draft.
26 min mark. They talk about the blazers. Schmitz says hes taking BPA "if im in that seat." Specifically points out Shaedon Sharpe as a candidate that hed spring for multiple times. Says he has seen him play a bunch in Canada and while in HS. Compares sharpe to Anthony Edwards. He says he went to a Kentucky practice and found Sharpe easily the best player on the floor but still wonders if that practice performance translates to the game floor.
Didn't really tell me much that I hadn't already heard from him. I mean he says that he would pick at 7 if he were us and now he is us, so maybe that's why you're suggesting listening to this but he didn't blow my mind with any new insites on the players they broke down. I think we have to get better at both starting forward spots without losing the experienced talent we have on our bench (Hart, Nas and Justise) if we want to be a competitive team that the word contender could even be whispered about without being laughed out of the room. I don't see how we do that (unless Joe has a way to add Grant for future picks) without moving back in the draft.
Wow, that's interesting. He'd at least have to had given his insites on this draft and our position in it while interviewing and if you've anounced a hire you have to think you'd be talking to them when considering moves that will impact what he's doing starting in July. He has generally just talked about who players are and his evaluations of them and not who should take them or if trades are happening. So maybe he has an agreement with us and ESPN that he will break down players for their draft coverage but not talk about anything going on around the league on air and lend those things to us. I guarantee if teams around the league had been talking to this guy about the order of their draft boards, they aren't anymore. I mean, except us.
Hopefully this works out better than Mike Mayock did for the Raiders.... At least he isn't the real gm. But I don't care for Cronin much right now.
If he is staying with ESPN until after the draft, that would tend to indicate we are trading out of this draft. Since we also still owe a future 1st as part of the Nance trade...what exactly is a draft/scouting expert supposed to do for the team?