I must be forgetting about all the players with torn ACL's that went near the top in the NBA draft. Brandon Roy comes to mind & teams did pass on him because of concerns for his knees, but please refresh my memory with some other examples that back up your point. Thanks STOMP
Unless we're talking marketing to the white audience, I disagree. Those two were both thought to be generational talents as well and KD has shown himself to be truly elite. If all three were coming out today and we didn't know about Oden's physical issues like we didn't back then, I could see Cooper going 1-3 with beauty being in the eye of the beholder STOMP
yes we have, I just struggle to think of guys who went at the top of the lotto after suffering a torn ACL where team's were shrugging it off as no big deal. Heck, Topic probably goes 3-5 in this past crapshoot had he not been dinged and I don't think he dropped to 12 because teams were counting on him next year... more likely they were concerned about his long term availability. STOMP
ACL itself has very little future injury risk. It's a very standard procedure and has a complete recovery. Takes about a full year though. The issue is when there is damage to meniscus, very common to also have this with an ACL tear. That part of the meniscus gets removed and can certainly lead to knee issues in the future.
Following 30+ years of hooping full court more days then not I had both knees scoped for torn meniscus. I'm very familiar with the issues of both torn meniscus & ACL. I was just curious about your claim that "A torn ACL is a much bigger red flag in the NFL Draft over the NBA" when I struggle to think of examples that back this up. I'm asking for some for a 2nd time STOMP
In 2027-2028 CP3, Pippen, David Robinson and Kobe are no longer active players in the NBA. This leaves Portland with an older Luka and nothing else. Not good.
The losing on purpose strategies to get Portland back into the winners circle is recoverable, but it may take longer then the media advertised "Rebuild like OKC". The Thunder bounced up to .500 after 2 tanking years. A miraculous evolution for a young NBA squad. There are always going to be junkyard teams in the NBA. Sometimes these squads won't sniff the playoffs for over a decade. When Portland traded picks to get Avdija... that was a healthy dose of hope this fanbase needed. Deni is a keeper, now Portland just needs to add more keepers. Gunning for a top draft pick in the next couple 2 or 3 or 4, maybe 5, possibly 6 seasons... then we'll see what Portland has cooking.
Blake was after the draft. Nerlens Noel is a cautionary lesson for GMs thinking of drafting a guy after a torn ACL. If they’re going to do it, a guy better have serious upside like Roy and Embiid as the player is likely to continue to deal with it STOMP
I wonder if there's more urgency to move Simons this year because there's so many guards at the top of the 2025 draft. Vecenie's top 10 that he released today: 1. Flagg - Forward 2. Harper - 6'5 guard 3. Traore - 6'3 guard 4. Edgecombe - 6'3 guard 5. Bailey - 6'8 wing 6. Hugo Gonzalez - 6'6 wing 7. Asa Newell - 6'9 forward 8. Liam McNeeley - 6'6 wing 9. Jalil Bethea - 6'3 guard 10. Ian Jackson - 6'4 guard
Ayton/ Donavan/Reath Grant/ Walker Deny/ Kamara Shaedon/Mattise Simons/Scoot realistically if healthy how many games could they win if tanking was off the table? 40?
Blazers finished last in 3pt percentage. I didn't see Cronin adding a ton of 3pt shooters to the roster. But it won't stop Portland from launching away, you know, like the Warriors and Celtics. Those guys are champions, competitors. Billups gets his guys good looks. They just couldn't get them to drop. sneaky stealth tanking includes not fixing all the weak spots. Which makes winning games an optional feature.
I don't believe they'd win 40 games. Probably around 35-36. and the most significant impact would be landing a shitty lottery pick
