God this sucks. That damn win streak is gonna slow our progress down for years in my opinion. Draft obviously isn’t a sure thing, but we couldn’t used one of those top3.
Yeah, right now we're in the 9 spot... would be 6th if we'd gone something like 4-7 instead of 10-1. More significantly, though, I still feel like their inactivity at the trade deadline was prompted by that unexpected competence.
that’s interesting you say that, I’m not a fan of the late lottery this year. Lots of ‘mid/late first’ type guys that we’d be drafting up at 9/10. we’ll see.
Nothing is guaranteed in life, but baring injury I'll be surprised if Cooper doesn't make some All NBA teams. He isn't the flashiest or a tip top option as the clock is winding down but he's pretty good at those things too and brings so many winning basketball traits to the table. I see him potentially as the Tim Duncan of small forwards. Bailey could be the next Glen Rice with some more length and D. The high release on his J will allow him to shoot it without fear of being blocked which is why I like him much more then I did Brandon Miller two years back. Few players can get clean looks at will and only a few of those have as solid a jumper as AB. Most every young player improves as they enter their 20s and what exactly a generational talent is is a bit vague/subjective, but those two project to be excellent players. STOMP
We will be able to use player assets and next years pick, to either trade up or for more picks/player.
I agree. Which is why I said I would love to have any of the top players. They should all be will be very good. But for many on this board, tanking seems to be the only way to get lucky and land that rare superstar who can lead us to an NBA championship. I think some of these guys have a chance, but Flagg does not seem to be the type of dominant player who can take over a playoff series. He does seem to be an excellent piece though. But not getting him is not as bad as losing out on Wemby IMO.
If we're in the 9th spot at the end of the season we have a little better than a 1 in 5 chance of moving up to the top 4.
Well yeah, Wemby might have gone #1 over any prospect in the last 30+ years so thats a pretty high bar. I see Flagg as the ultimate team glue guy doing all the little things that lead to winning games/series with excellent BBall IQ combined with better then average skills, size & athleticism. Pretty sure he'd have gone #1 in a whole lot of past drafts STOMP
That analogy occurred to me as well. Suppose we get lucky and draft Cooper, though. Here's our projected "maximum potential" lineup at present: Clingan Camara Avdija Sharpe Scoot Who sits for Cooper? Better not be Toumani, is all I'm saying. And does Cooper patch over our current deficiencies or add to what we're already pretty good at?
That would be a pretty good 3-man rotation at forward. Yes, we would have to put up with the constant posts about who is starting and who is not, but regardless if it was either Ace or Cooper, you can make it work just fine. Plus Deni can always get "some" minutes in the backcourt.
Avdija slides to SG (he has the skillset for it), Sharpe moves to the bench. And yes, adding Cooper improves our current deficiencies. That would be a lineup with 5 plus defenders, and 4 average-or-better offensive players. I'd be shocked if that team wasn't a contender by 26-27. Though I'm sure people would complain about the lack of 3-point shooting. Just turn Clingan into Meyers and we're all good...
If Portland lucks into the #1 pick, my guess is regardless of who starts that Clingan would receive the fewest minutes. A frontline of Deni Camera & Cooper would be a nightmare for teams to try to match up against. I do not think Toumani would be the guy off the bench as he's the team's top on ball defender who you'd want as the primary cover on the other teams lead guard/wing from the get go STOMP
Cooper addresses shooting, rebounding, playmaking at the 4, defense, and reliable scoring. Short term, Sharpe comes off the bench. Long term, Deni comes off the bench. Toumani is a specialist defensive role player but his limitations on offense will probably relegate him into a role similar to Trevor Ariza where he'll start on a contender but sort of take a backseat in the playoffs as he compliments various rotations and targets the opposing star player. By that, the kicker is that you don't win championships with a Toumani Camara as your primary 3 or 4 unless he adds another facet to his game like playmaking or all time rebounding. Anyone who says, otherwise, hasn't actually watched winning basketball for the last 17 years. Since 2008, the 3 and 4 both requires a player who can score 17ppg at some point in their career, within recent memory (the exception being a defender with all-around skills like Draymond). Whether that's Pierce-KG, Gasol-Odom, Lebron-Bosh/Love/Kuzma, Kawhi-Siakam/Duncan, MPJ-Gordon, Middleton-Giannis, or Wiggins/Barnes/KD-Draymond. Even in the 80s and 90s, that was kinda Bird-McHale/Maxwell, Pippen-Grant/Kukoc/Rodman, Bobby Jones-Dr J, Magic/Worthy/Thompson or McAdoo/Wilkes. That'd be Flagg and Deni, in this case. Toumani would back up Sharpe-Deni-Flagg as they rotate in and out. Either way, that'd be a good logjam to have and Flagg would make this current Portland squad into a 15 year contender
Supposedly Marang said something to the effect POR thinks they can get a star without the draft ie trading this years pick for a guy to go along with Ant Grant and Ayton. I could see Joe doing something like this but POR has terrible trade assets in terms of picks. They really cannot trade multiple picks. So who could they get for the 2025 pick? Our own MM was discussing the scenario as well. I think it’s time to put it on the table as a possibility. PHX needs a pick, so does PHI. not a Cronin fan if you couldn’t tell
