OK, here's my attitude for the draft. My goal is that the Blazers use their four picks to be a better team in two years than they are today. If that means picking four players, I'm fine with that. If it means trading up because the scouts have identified someone they really think can be a difference-maker, I'm fine with that. If it means acquiring assets that will be use in later trades, I'm fine with that. This draft is like a box of Cracker Jacks. It's exciting because you don't know what you're going to find because all the lottery guys are being projected all over the place. Every one of them has a big question mark, but every one of them also offers something that gives them the potential to be a contributing rotation player to a winning team, so there aren't many picks that I'll be roasting later this week. I'm excited to see who we get and how they fit. I see fits in Risacher, Sarr, Buzelis, Williams, Holland, George. I see some bigs I like in Edey and even Clingan and Ware. I see exciting upside guys like Salaun. And there are at least a half-dozen players who probably are going to be picked in the second round that could make the Blazers better short term, long term or both ... I really like Mogbo, Scheierman, Shead, Jones, Smith, Klintman and Flowers, and there are arguments to be made that any of them or Dunn, Edwards, McCullar, Johnson or others have a tool or tools that could ultimately make them steals. I don't care if they turn out to be stars. Of course, I'd love if that happened, but you can't get blood from a stone. People kill Ayton for not being great value for a No. 1 overall pick but it's not his fault that he was the best bet in an otherwise sketchy draft, and he still performs well. Anyway, I just want as to get the best bang for the buck with our picks, I want our roster to be better on Friday than it is Wednesday morning. I want us to be more interesting. I want us to have some options. And I think those exist in this draft pool. About the only thing I don't want the Blazers to do is give away future assets to move around in this draft. There just are too many low-floor players and gambles to invest when you already have four picks in this draft. As far as who they pick, though, I believe in our scouting department and I'm willing to give anyone a chance, even Collier. I'm anxious to see what they come up with and I'm open minded. Remember, we're not trying to find the next Kareem. We're just trying to make more improvement than the other teams. If there aren't any HOFs in this draft, fine, so long as the Blazers find the players that best enable the organization to make more improvement out of this draft than any of the other teams. That's all you can do.
This draft is going to be about fit, having a plan and market inefficiencies. If you get anything good out of this draft, it gives you a leg up, because, for a lot of teams, it's probably going to be a complete bust. The other good thing is there probably isn't anyone that's going to get the Blazers out of the lottery next year. There doesn't seem to be a player that elevates the Blazers that much in the current state of the Western Conference, and Scoot and Sharpe probably aren't going to make that kind of jump this season, either, although I expect both to take a big step forward.
I don't see it as ballsy. I think Knecht maybe have the highest floor in this draft. I just think his ceiling is relatively the same as his floor and there are a lot of guys in this draft who have way way higher ceilings. So if you want a guy that is definitely going to have at least a ten year career in the NBA then yeah I guess Knecht is your guy, even at #1 but if you have any ambition, any balls, you will take one of the prospects with a lower floor and a much much higher ceiling.
That audio is all fucked up. You can hear it speed up at the end there and that's probably what the interviewer actually sounds like. Could you imagine if a professional broadcaster talked as slowly as he does at the beginning of that clip? When Topic says "that is my love." that's when it's his real voice.
See I don't see his ceiling as being anything at all, really. Some of college basketball's greatest shooters were complete busts in the NBA, but we're just going to assume that this kid with one year of good production is a given? All of these guys have warts, and I know that Knecht was basically the only reason Tennessee had any real success this year, so that can't be completely discounted, but man... one good season, especially one in which he was vastly older than his competition, would be hard for me to project much of any floor off of. I'm not kidding when I say that I'd be uncomfortable with him at 14...
I definitely don't want him because this team needs high end talent in the worst way and while @THE HCP is probably right that there is very little high end talent in this draft we have to take every opportunity we have to try and acquire that level of talent. We have to gamble and I think most people understand regardless of where they think his floor is that Knecht's ceiling is probably the absolute lowest of anyone who is consistently being mocked in the lotto.
With so many picks up in air, i dont see any happening until after at least some picks are made. Especially for teams moving up. Why give up assets if the guy you want will drop?
It seems like everybody automatically switches on every screen. It creates huge mismatches and isn't very efficient. I'm surprised by the 29 minutes. It seems like a lot less. I'd like to see how teams would react to the old dinosaur days of hedging a screen or just fighting through without switching. It used to work.
Discussing fake trades with the Hornets fans, there were some who were open to this: Chicago: 11 + Blazers pick => 6 Charlotte: 6 => 11 + 40 + Thybulle Portland: 40 + Thybulle => '26 Portland pick returned
I would not do this. All we get is our pick back from Chicago that might not even convey? But we give up 40 and Thybulle?
You don't think Portland can make the playoffs in the next 4 seasons? That's a terrible mindset to have. Besides, if the pick doesn't convey before the '28 draft - then it converts to a '28 second. So worst case is we are swapping the #40 for the '28 second & then giving up Thybulle for free to get under the cap
