Exclusive 2022-23 Portland Trail Blazers Roster

Ha, I was just commenting about him in another thread. I would give him another year to see if he can develop an outside shot.
If he does then he will have a long career. Right now it is hard to believe that he will. But I like his defense and energy. He just can't shoot.

 

I still feel like they are set after they sign Walker to the roster and then give Garza a 2 way. I don't want Garza but that's my prediction.

 

No. Sure he got a lot of picks, but that Minnesota team is going to be good. Those will be late round crapshoot picks. I think Beasley , Beverley, and Vanderbilt are nice additions, but i don't see FA's standing in line to go to Utah, anymore than they do here. It's gonna be a tough sell. Late 1st round picks aren't that great. The good news for Ainge is with a lot of them, he has a lot better chance to hit pay dirt on one. Mitchell seems to be made of the right stuff, so that's a plus. But Ainge can wear on people.

 

I personally didn't like him playing basketball.

 

I heard he has a wicked breaking ball.

 

We have too many players you just can't play in anything but a blowout game.

Brown
Louzada
Sharpe
Johnson
Eubanks

That is a significant amount of our roster that won't contribute in anything but a blowout or emergency. Yuck.

 

I think even Keon might be fine in a pinch.

 

You want them playing meaningful minutes in a real game right now? I do love how we fans overvalue our own players. Sharpe may grow into it, but by the time the season starts, he won't have played organized real ball in almost 2 years. Eubanks is a nice local story, but if he is playing real minutes against a quality team, we are likely in big trouble.

 

Well, I'm talking about to start the season....who knows what Sharpe may become, but for a team trying to win games in a non-Play-in level, not there now. He needs court time and sadly, he hasn't had it and now isn't getting it. And Eubanks may well play minutes....but that is because we are so devoid of size and talent over 6'8". That's fine if we want to be in the the 'Play-In' level.

 

Agreed. I think Sharpe will be in the eight deep and possibly better than that. Shame he's injured but he's gonna be a star at some point.

 

We all hope he gets to that point sooner than later.

Dame
Ant
GP2
Nas
Hart
Grant
Nurk

....so to be 8th, he has to play in front of Winslow, Watford and Eubanks. As the #7 pick, he better get to that point, but not sure it's happening anytime soon.

 

Unfortunately Sharpe is a project at this point.

 

Eubanks is fine in a pinch. When the season start, it will be exactly one year since Sharpe last played organized basketball. Not two years that some of you blazers fans are saying. Even then, at the healthiest this team is a play in team anyway. Our chemistry is gonna be so bad at the beginning of the year, but with dame we will make a miracle mid season run. The western conference is loaded with the suns, warriors, grizzlies, pelicans, clippers all for sure better. Then we are battling the nuggets, Mavs, lakers and Timberwolves for the play in. I bet we will be a lottery team anyway

 

And that is perfectly fine. We got hart and Payton off the bench. So not really a whole lot of mins, if none, for him anyway.

 

I think Sharpe and Johnson will be fine playing with better players around them. They won't be huge liabilities if they're on the floor with guys like Dame, Nurk, etc.

 

In an 82-game season, playing Sharpe 10-12 minutes alongside our proven players shouldn't sink us to the point we can't risk getting him run and experience. If this team is that bad, then Sharpe won't be the reason we make or don't make the playoffs anyway. Particularly early in the season, when everyone is equal in the standings, that's when you acclimate these guys and see what they have. It's a marathon, not a sprint; not playing him and wearing out your top players needlessly in games that aren't big yet would be a total Terry Stotts play that doesn't do you much good come playoff time or in 3-5 years.

 

I'm not suggesting not playing him. But even the post suggests exactly what I'm referring to. "....shouldn't sink us to the point we can't risk....". I'm suggesting, the players I listed aren't contributors or aren't ready, and as you have indicated, will have to be carried. Nothing wrong with that, but it certainly doesn't change my assessment of where they currently are as players.