Keeping our pick? This might be a Lottery year

Top 5 is a stretch because he has NO offensive game.

But the slowness thing is interesting.

Part of the reason he is thought of so highly is due to his… quickness, especially for his size. He is a legitimate defensive anchor because his switchability and his ability to anchor a defense and get out to contest shots on the perimeter.

 

Yeah, if we have a new GM that doesn't want to continue to build around Dame then Duren would be an ideal pick with the Pelicans pick. Especially if we got the first or second pick and got one of the more offensively polished Banchero or Smith with it. If that were the case you would trade Dame for Jaylen Brown and whatever picks and filler you could get out of the Celtics and let Nurk walk. At that point we could renounce our rights to Nurk, tell Ant to wait so we could just have his cap hold instead of his new salary that will be far greater than that hold and see if we can pry Miles Bridges away from Charlotte for a max deal. Ant, Brown, Bridges, Banchero or Smith and Duren. With Nas, Hart, Williams, Greg, Trendon, Didi, Winslow and a big with our second rounder coming off the bench would be pretty fun to watch and would be scary for everyone in the league.

If we're continuing to build around Dame (which as fun as that other shit sounds is definitely what I want) then you just don't draft a project like Duren with a lotto pick. If he's the BPA then you find the team that wants him the most and get the best immediate contributor you can for him. We're lucky because if we have a team that wants him bad enough we have the TPE or Bledsoe's contract and Winslow's if needed that would expire at the end of next season. To be honest if we did get one of the top three picks and Toronto wanted it badly enough... I'd give them the pick, Hart and Bledsoe for Siakam. I would then consider trading the Pelicans pick if it was in the 10-12 range to Detroit for Grant. I think Grant and Siakam have the versatility on both ends of the court to be great forwards playing together with Nurk at C and a Dame/Ant back court.

 

I’m torn on Duren because his complete lack of offensive skills, other than dunks, putbacks and finishing around the basket. He is also a terrible passer. He’s like the anti-Nurk. Nurk sucks at finishing around the basket but that’s about all Duren can do.

That said… fortunately for him the NBA is a PnR league and he will excel with his strength, size, athleticism in that area. And he’s a monster on the glass and defensively.

I actually think he is rather NBA ready. But he can’t be a featured part of the offense. Kinda reminds me of DeAndre Ayton in some aspects.

 

I still think if the Pelicans pick is early enough to get him that we don't need a backup C with that pick we need to trade it for a legit immediate contributor... if we're building around Dame. If we are building around Dame and we can get Jerami Grant for that pick... Dame would be rightfully livid if we took Duren instead.

 

I think we have very, very different opinions on Jerami Grant. If we trade any (decent) lottery pick for Jerami Grant I’ll be livid.

I’d much rather have Siakam / Duren than Siakam / Grant.

Not saying I want Duren, so you can pretty much change Siakam / Duren to almost any other combo. Grant sucks IMO. Lol

 

Grant would lose his mind on a team that prioritized…

Ant / Dame / Siakam and Nurk over him. Just no way that goes well IMO. He wants to be “a primary” option, so I don’t see him accepting being the 4th or 5th fiddle slot like he did in Denver.

 

Could be off but Duren is at least 2 yrs away from being a starting caliber player. He's an upside pick if there ever was one.

 

Why is it that you say that? He took the most money possible and yes was excited to be the first option but if he was talking to Dame about teaming up he knows he wouldn't be the first option anymore and the fact is if he believes in himself he'll have the confidence to come in here and try to earn touches that would otherwise go to Ant, Siakam and Nurk before him and I don't think as it stands that Nurk would get touches before him. The dude can both get to the hoop really well and finish by cutting without the ball and putting the ball on the floor as well and he can hit open spot up threes. He's also a really good defender. I don't think he'd have a problem at all if he was starting on a championship team and we paid him.

 

Toronto is thriving with their all 6'9 frontcourt rotation. I don't think they'll move Siakam.

 

Duren indeed wasn't moving his best today for whatever reason. Feel like a lot of it was due to his initial positioning in the pick and roll though. He still showed that he can slide with guards when Memphis decided to switch and thought he looked great against both UCF and Houston.

But like I talked about earlier, his footwork, touch and extension around the rim when he is contested definitely has a long way to go.

Excited to see what he looks like when he's actually playing alongside guards that force an over in ball screens. That plus playing alongside a non-shooting 4 in DeAndre Williams makes the context for him pretty rough.

 

That’s how you create chemistry issues. Effort issues. Telling a player “this is your role, if you don’t like it, tough shit” isn’t the greatest maneuver to getting players to play how you want them.

Because he literally said he wants to be a “primary” option on offense around this years trade deadline. Not the FIRST option, but A primary option. He wouldn’t be close to that with Dame, Ant and Siakam. And a quick look at efficiency numbers as well as passing numbers, I wouldn’t get my hopes up on him passing any of those dudes. Finally, he probably wouldn’t pass Nurk because Nurk would probably be featured in the PnR much more. Also, Billups love using Nurk as an initiator of the offense.

I could be wrong though. But also Jerami Grant is just not that good in my opinion. It seems like you value him as if he’s the same as his Denver days. He’s essentially worse all around, especially defensively.

 

Just stay off my lawn.

 

bey has been balling. 51 tonight.

i keep telling you guys. draft villanova kids. Jay Wright is a monster.

who's the best player on Nova this year?

 

2020 draft:

12 - SAC Tyrese Haliburton
15 - ORL Cole Anthony
16 - POR (Hou) Isaiah Stewart
19 - BRK Saddiq Bey
21 - PHI Tyrese Maxey
25 - OKC Immanuel Quickley
30 - BOS Desmond Bane

that 2020 draft should be a cautionary tale for Cronin about the value of draft picks, even if they aren't top-10

 

Bey is rough, because we could have him over Covington. Hindsight...
The Bane pick pisses me off the most. It was basically the team ducking the tax by moving Hezonjia to Memphis to take pick 30, instead of us getting Kanter and 30 for ourselves. Yeah, there were 2nds involved, whatever. Boston wanted to move 30 to dump Kanter, and we were too cheap to do it ourselves.

 

Who’s to say we would’ve drafted Bane?

 

This weekend's games (both NBA and NCAA) could have a huge impact on our future. Which college players will start their power shift with a tourney run or flop?

NBA

Fri
Blazers vs Nets
Pacers vs Rockets
Pelicans vs Spurs
Celtics vs Kings

Sun
Blazers vs Pacers
Pelicans vs Hawks
Suns vs Kings
Spurs vs Warriors

We could very easily pick up 2 games on the Pacers while maintaining with the Spurs and Pelicans. The Kings will likely King the shit out of both games but that would be the icing on thr perfect weekend if they could pull out a game.

 

@blazerkor ...regarding your question, that has been the topic of many a discussion in the last few days. The overall consensus was, do not trade a Top-10 pick for Grant whether Dame wants him or not. There were a number of factors. Bear with me, this could take a bit. Hopefully you find some good feedback from some of those discussions.

Production/contract: - They pointed out that for what Portland needs, Grant was better in Denver when he wasn't making nearly as much. Now he wants an even larger extension. For someone whose defensive rating has gone done, whose 3-pt shooting has never been great, and whose rebounding is downright poor, most did not thing it was worth the investment. They mostly agreed that if you bring a player in to go with Dame/Ant/Nurk, they are going to have to be okay with not getting as many touches/shots, do a lot of the little things, ball out on D, hit an open '3', and do it for 'less' money. If you were to get production out of a rookie scale contract, so much the better as this team is going to be back in the Luxury Tax.

Timeline: A player like Grant is better for Dame's immediate timeline, but to a person, no one thought that he would put them over the top and that he would cost the Blazers cap value now, and production in the future. Let's say you just got your 2 Lottery picks in the ballpark of #6 and #8. That puts you in the area of Griffin, Murray, Duren, Mathurin, etc. Adding 2 of those guys without the pressure of being 'go-to' guys that have to rescue a franchise would be 'huge' even from just a size standpoint because we are so bereft of that size on a nightly basis. I'll get into some of the player observations from those discussions as well, but rely heavily on D69 as he as been so good with that for so long. Back to the picks. I think there is very good value at #6 and #8/9 for what Portland needs. Now if we get lucky and land in the Top-3, from a 'fit' standpoint, it obviously gets much better. Adding any of Jabari/Chet/Paolo with say a Mathurin or Duren could make this roster VERY good in just a couple of years time. Dame would be 34 by then, but that is not too late, especially if he morphs more into the CP3 role as he ages. The contributions from young players who don't have a much pressure on them to be 'the guy' the moment they walk in the door, will help you get out of them what they naturally do best. Then they are allowed to grow into a more complete player in the right environment. Dame at 32-36+, would seem like a very good place for these players to be and I would take their potential ceiling over what Grant is now...which is a bit of an inefficient chucker who doesn't do the things the Blazers need.