Dame all but demanding vet roster

Great post.

However Philly, Denver, Boston, Miami all built their key star player cores in the draft. Blazers just don't have a realistic way to get Dame experienced star veterans he wants quick enough for it to matter. Last team you list is the Lakers who have advantages the Blazers never will.

Smart way to build a veteran playoff core is likely to give Ant and Sharpe everything to develope, and add a couple great draft picks to them in the years ahead.

But yeah those kids won't be able to contend in Dames prime anytime soon. That's just the reality of the timeline the Blazers currently have.

Winning the Wemby lotto tomorrow is probably the best chance, so we'll have to see if we get lucky tomorrow. Otherwise there's just no realistic solutions to improve that this summer.

 

Agree with many of the positives of Eubanks, however I don't agree with the defense. I'd rate it as poor to extremely poor. Doesn't have the foot speed to guard forwards, doesn't have the size to bang with bigs, doesn't protect the rim.

Ideally he'd be a great 3rd string player or situational big. I just think he's overmatched as a primary big off the bench. He's a below average backup center if you scan through all 30 teams. He's way overmatched as a fill in starting center.

But he's a nice energy player off the bench and to fill in a few of the 82 games for limited minutes when injuries hit.

 

Only times that a team has won with a superstar that they didn't draft was either:

1) They traded a star player that they DID draft for a star player that helped them get the ring. (IE the Raptors traded DeRozan for Kawhi)

2) They signed the player in free agency, and that's just not likely for us.

It's actually pretty rare for a team to go out and sign a superstar free agent who gets them a ring. A lot of them have been LeBron (Heat, Cavs, Lakers)

 

All of these stats grossly overvalue Eubanks IMO. It's similar to Kanter impact, super efficient and even some defensive stats looked good. But he is way outmatched if put in a major role or an opponent can game plan against him such as the playoffs or maybe even as a starter.

 

But they are talking about "End of bench" role player. We are talking 3rd string. Not even backup. This team had Blevins. Eubanks is better than having a dude like Blevins.

 

If the Blazers don't get the top pick, and Cronin uses the pick to draft a player like one of the Thompson Twins, instead of using it in a trade, Dame won't be the only one who needs a Doctor! Doctor!.

 

stats don't overvalue or undervalue any player unless you don't apply context

I was replying to a post that said Eubanks was a good role player...and he was, especially at the minimum salary he played for last season

 

Amen Thompson and Shaedon Sharpe could be incredible together.

 

No they couldn’t since they won’t be on the same team

 

Who still like PG? Contract is insane, but Ant + Nurk for PG could get it done.

 

The dude just can’t stay healthy at all. I’m down for risks but the odds of him being healthy are almost nil.

 

If it just Nurk and Ant it's probably worth the risk. If healthy George and some other role players makes the Blazers a contender. George is probably healthy more than Nurk.

I doubt Clippers do that deal but if so it's definitely worth considering. Saves our lottery pick and future picks too but gives Dame a win now friend.

 

I think there is some bad blood between these two if I'm not mistaken?

 

Dame said everybody wants to play with someone like PG in same interview in which he names Mikal, OG, Vanderbilt as type of players he wanna play with.

 

I just watched this also. Seems like they are fine.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsSAZgoMcC5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

In the aftermath of that shot, their family members, not sure (wife or sister or mother) but they were fighting each other on socmed, PG and Dame both helped tame the heat. They're enemies on the hardwood but no badblood otherwise. Dame will not be against PG if he were Cronin's best available target.

 

The Clips would have to really value Ant (or want PG off their books) as they've got 25 year old Ivica Zubac under contract at just over half of what Nurk is pulling down. Dude has a career 18.6 PER and the last 4 years he's averaged 74 games a season.

STOMP

 

A healthy PG is so good. Blazers have to take some risks if they want to go all in.

 

Not only that, the Clippers would really have to be tired of PG's act to move him. Which brings up the question of why we would want him for one year before his player option comes into play. We would have to over pay to get him and over pay to keep him.