With the #7 pick, the Portland Trail Blazers select....

I have a feeling Sharpe will not interview well. He could slip to be available at 7

 

This mock draft has us taking Shaedon Shape.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...olmgren-bennedict-mathurin-into-top-five/amp/

2022 NBA Mock Draft: Jabari Smith to Magic at No. 1 ahead of Chet Holmgren; Bennedict Mathurin into top five

 

Daniels seems to have the most desirable potential. Length, playmaking ability, plus defender.....just needs to improve his shooting.

Someone will jump up, and someone will fall....seems to happen every Draft. Teams that want an immediate contributor, might hesitate on Holmgren, at least for the first couple of picks. Smith, Paolo, and Ivey are all ready to be more immediate contributors.

 

Jeremy Sochan is pretty similar that way to Dyson Daniels. Sochan is a better ball handler than Daniels, but Daniels can make some very amazing full court passes.

 

Thank god, the one time a trade restriction is to our benefit.

 

I agree. Don't see the same burst and power Ant had off the dribble. But maybe he's gotten more explosive and improved the handle in the last year. Pro day was kinda disappointing in that respect though.

Duren / Griffin /Sharpe are still my top 3...

I get the skepticism with AJ. He's a funky watch and the defense was not good. But he's was still a very good offensive player in a power conference as an 18 year old who hadn't played much basketball in 2 years (Injuries/Dad playing it safe/Covid shutting down HS/EYBL). His frame+handle+elite shooting is a rare enough combination for me to bet on though.

Looks like he's slimmed down since the season. Seems to be moving better. Still needs to work on his strides using his frame to his advantage and generating more power from his lower body.
People that watched him more in HS say the potential athleticism improvements are being over blown as well. Has never been a guy that created a whole lot of separation or been super quick. The main differences are he's not quite as explosive off 2 feet and has been a lot more cautious overall, especially defensively. Used to be a pretty awesome weakside shot blocker and chase down guy, and we rarely saw that at Duke, especially the chase downs...(still posted a 2.3% blk rate tbf). The added size hurt his movement a bit too.

Understand that the risk is easier to take sitting here than running a team though. The medicals will obviously be huge. The dislocation was pretty bad but no structural damage to his knee that we know of.

 

This comment in the CBS mock draft has always made me think it is possible for Murray to slip to us.

"One of Murray's few weaknesses as a prospect is his lack of shot creation in the half-court"

 

i think thats a smokescreen.

 

This isn’t particularly directed at you.
But I love how many people here have Keegan near the top of their board but then when other teams like him it’s “nah, it’s a smokescreen. Nah, they don’t need him.”

Like the Kings example for instance. A lot of people want Keegan because he is arguably the most NBA ready prospect. But then they say “The Kings don’t need him!”

Then you have a number of people who saw his interview with Schmitz and they liked him even more. And you have Schmitz (I believe it was) saying Keegan might be the best player in the draft in his opinion.

 

Someone has been reading my posts.

I had Ivey dropping and people were saying, “there’s no way!”

But I do think it would be hard to pass on Ivey at 5 for the Pistons if Keegan goes at 4.

 

Not sure why you quoted my response at all. Keegan is near the top of my board based on the assumption that Ivey + top 3 are already taken.

I've been saying for a while I think Ivey is a tier 1 prospect and would not hesitate to gladly take him if he drops. I just think it's a smokescreen from Detroit to try to entice IND/POR to move up because Keegan is a better positional fit for both teams.

 

Murray's comp in many places is....Grant. So if they are going to lose Grant, makes sense to replace him with a younger, cheaper alternative who rebounds MUCH better.

Hmm.....I'll take Murray instead of Grant.

 

I don't see why one of the worst teams in the league in Detroit should care at all about filling the final roster holes for a playoff rotation.

Thats like the final step 10 of building a contender. But they are on step 2 of just trying to acquire talent.

Not that your wrong, tons of bad teams do this. It's basically how we ended up with Martell Webster instead of CP3 since we had Telfair.

 

I think Sacramento (of all teams!) may go this route. I've heard or read time after time that they don't want to wait 3 years. It doesn't make any sense. Which maybe is consistent for them. They traded a 41% 3-point-shooting point guard and kept a 32% 3-point-shooting point guard.

 

Here's some comparisons of some of the players the Blazers might draft, and Jeremy Sochan thrown in there too. Not sure if he's a guy they're looking at, but I think he'd be a great fit with the Blazers.

I put in bold the best numbers among Sochan, Daniels and Mathurin. Murray is actually best or worst in most of the categories. Even though I'd rather have Daniels or Sochan over Mathurin, because of their size and defense and better rebounding, I can see Mathurin being a good choice, being the better 3-point shooter and getting to the free-throw line a lot to give him the highest true shooting percentage of those three. He also doesn't have the areas of concern that Sochan and Daniels do.

I don't know why Daniels free-throw attempts are so low. He took more shots per 40 minutes than Sochan (12.6 vs 11.2) , yet Sochan took 2.6 times more free throws per 40 minutes than Daniels. And obviously Mathurin and Murray took way more free throws too.

Is this an indication of Daniels' lack of aggression or ability to attack on offense and aversion to contact? Daniels' assist numbers are great, so I guess you can't have everything.

 

Trade up. Trade out. Trade down with keep and trade. Not so many outlets, blogs, posters are predicting using the 7th pick for the Blazers. I've read the reasons, the arguments, relevant evidence, comments parsed from team sources ...
And there is value at 7 and giving up nothing.

The Best? of what may be available?

Keegan Murray: Done deal. I'm in. Looks more PF than SF, but his smoothness and switchability look good. More complete for his game at both ends -- perhaps -- than the top 3 of Smith, Holmgren, Banchero.

Sharpe: a good-sized-uber-athletic SG who ends up as SG/SF. Mystery man and Sharpe as a pick is volatile for rising/falling.

Daniels: a recent rise ... an often told draft tale ... with size (PG/SF), length, vision, defense, anticipation ... a workable shot ... both hands floating well in the lane and around the hoop ... a hot name.

Sochan: all D and movement and enjoys playmaking and a unique story and personality ... enter Draymond comparisons ... add in Batum but thicker.

At least 2 of the above will be at 7. None of the them available at 9? Probably Sochan. Possibly Daniels. Trading down means trading out #9 unless you want Duren/Williams or a guard (or Sochan); most of those options are less attractive to me. [If it's a trade for OG? I'm in. If they trade up to 3 (for Banchero) (or even 5 along with Grant), I'm in. I can be convinced. Down? Not so good.]

One idea circulating is that if they use the pick, other options for trades dried up. Maybe. Maybe they like the pick and who they get better than a trade. That's what Olshey would sell ... of course ... and annoyingly so. Given the players likely to be there and Portland's needs, keeping the 7 ... I'm more than open to it.

 

Keep Grant (he’s better, likely, in the short term) and sell when there’s a better price. Take the higher ceiling guy if they see that of Ivey or Sharpe to pair with Cunningham?

 

Trade for OG with #7? No thanks.