Fleming's become a polarizing prospect, I think. His measurables are outstanding. His stats are very, very good. The thing is, he plays in a conference in the part of the country where I live. I've watched him. He's a third-year player in one of the best programs in a second-tier league and his game just doesn't pop off for me. He doesn't look special enough. He doesn't take over games the way I'd expect. St. Joe's sometimes went to other players in crunch time and I wondered why. A bit like Queen. I just see his potential as sus. I read the scouting reports and it sounds like Ayton without Ayton's upside. Questions about his motor. That concerns me. I just think of how this board and Blazer fans in general crucify Ayton and I think if you pick Queen in three years it's going to be rinse and repeat as fans crush Queen for the same reasons as Ayton for being good and not great. The Blazers need to clear out the logjam at 5 before I'd think of picking him, which, admittedly, they very well might do, but there are other players in this draft that I like better that are just as good as Queen IMO with more upside who are better fits on this roster.
I understand the preference of trading the 11th pick plus assets to get an upgrade. To put that aside for a moment and not even really speak about previous veteran starters … Which of Clingan, Deni, or Toumani will be surpassed by a draftee selected at 11? That would be an outstanding result if it happened, IMHO. I don’t see that center. Or versus Deni or Toumani, but maybe … Scoot or Shaedon being surpassed? If the answer is none, then it’s drafting a back-up in the short term. Now, I still want the pick used, so the calculation on swinging big is still in play. Why play safer and selective with a pick? It’s a good thing having 5 young guys to root for and watch grow; HOWEVER, this team needs more talent and the draft — even with lesser odds of success at 11 — is a prime opportunity. So while Cronin said very measured things about the pick and about other possibilities — I’m in the camp believing he full well knows he needs to trade at least 2 of Grant, Ant, Ayton AND needs to swing for a high potential draftee. IMHO.
I like your eval here. You picked out a lot of the same guys that are on my target list. What are your thoughts on Nique, Theiro, Powell, Hugo, and Yang?
Without going deep into any of those four guys, none of them excite me like the prospects I talked about. I haven't watched a lot of Yang yet, though. I haven't gotten to watch a lot of Coward, either, and he seems to be getting some helium right now so I want to look into him a little more. Clifford is kind of in a similar boat to Fleming for me. I think Clifford's performed better but Fleming has more tools with which to work. If you like what you see in Fleming and trust your developmental staff, you probably give him the edge. If we picked either of them over, say, Essengue, I'd be disappointed and a little surprised. I wonder sometimes if that game with Ulm in the preseason was arranged because Schmitz and the Blazers already knew about Essengue and wanted to get an up-close look at him.
Sorry - should have clarified.... the 4 I asked about would be as a late 1st/early second if we can snag a pick in that range
Gotcha. Let's say the Blazers got a pick between 18-22 and all these guys and a couple of the others I mentioned all were available and I was ranking them, just off the cuff I'd probably go ... Landeborg Coward (again, going by what I'm hearing/reading but not having seen much yet) McNeeley Newell Fleming (probably off the board by that point but say he drops) Clifford Yang (provided we clear out our glut of 5s) Powell Thiero Gonzalez (he's a poor man's Demin, IMO; if you pick Demin at 11, I don't know where Gonzalez gets minutes). Like AZ said, I think you have to look at where our current young players are and imagine we're still playing them, so I'm looking a bit at either what positions are thin, who has a skill those 5-8 players lack, or who has upside. What is getting Clifford, Powell, Thiero or Gonzalez on the floor if we draft Demin, for instance? Are any of those guys going to be better than Rayan Rupert, who can't get minutes right now? If you aren't sure if Thiero's clearly better than Rupert, then I probably am not picking him.
I might also throw Dink Pate in there with some of those 6-6 wings. There's not a lot of separation with those players. What sets them apart from each other that you think makes them crack the rotation and make the Blazers better? With McNeeley and Coward, it's easy for me. They can shoot the 3. There's a niche for them to fill on this roster. I don't see that necessarily with those other wings. They're good players who I think are kind of redundant on our team right now.
yeah, his stats are very good, bordering on excellent. But I haven't seen him play, and even if I had I'm not good at translating a college player's game to the NBA the one area his stats are suspect is in his passing...I wish there were more statistical details available to better gauge passing skill AND willingness to pass. This last season, he averaged 10.1 FGA and 1.3 assists. That's a FGA/assist rate of 7.8. Dillon Brooks, at Oregon, had a rate of 4.4. Camara had a rate of 5.9 in college. Grant's rate was 6.0. I suppose it doesn't matter if it's passing ability or passing willingness, the impact is the same
That's a tough one because if your teammates can't make a bucket you're not going to get many assists...
His assists were low because he was a play finisher pretty much exclusively. He does make quick decisions, but isn't going to dribble or create at all.
if his teammates couldn't make buckets, his team would be losing lots of games. They were 43-27 over the last 2 seasons so I don't think poor shooting from his team was a real factor. He had that 7.8 FGA/Assist rate; this season, Ayton had a 7.3 rate; Grant had a 5.8 rate; Sharpe 5.5
I love cedric coward, the tape looks great. <pause> he played 6 out of conference games before he got hurt this year. last year his best game was against Portland Bible. Portland Bible! no shade to cedric, he looks incredible and his interviews have been awesome. but there's a strength of schedule grain of kosher salt one should digest when considering him in the nba draft lottery.
He looks fantastic but I've heard his ability to create is on the lower end. I'd be ecstatic to get him with a second pick in the first.
