We got the #3 pick. Discuss the possibilities.

I think Ayton still has All Star potential. He’s very young.

 

Until you don't have a good one. I think a better way to say it is most teams are content to just have a role player at center.

For my money, the most overlooked weakness with the team is rebounding and that starts with the center. Nurk is a good rebounder, but this team needs a dominant one to make up for Grant and our short guards who offer no help. I'd rather have a more mobile, athletic, defensive minded, strong rebounding center without being totally useless on the offensive end. Any plus offensive skills would be icing. This is why I want Grant to be the SF and I like the trade ideas where the return is WCJ or possibly Achiuwa or especially Claxton. I don't like Ayton as an acquisition because of the attitude questions and he'll pout if he doesn't get enough shots. It's why Drewbanks would be an ideal backup center if he was a better rebounder. Just not Nurk.

 

I think with roster construction, it’s really important to have two great defenders who can score a little and not 5 guys who can all score and play a little defense.

 

I agree that D rebounding is imperative for any C where Grant plays major minutes.

So lets check DRb% for the last 2 years:

Ayton: 27.1 & 27.5
WCJ: 29.1 & 25.3
Precious: 21.7 & 24.4
Claxton: 18.9 & 25.1
Nurk: 32.6 & 29.7

So Nurk is fairly clearly the best defensive rebounder of the bunch.

Nurk has his weaknesses, but Portland is not going to magically get significantly better by trading him fir one of these guys

 

Brown might be overrated as fuck, last thing I want is a no heart passive max player we give up the 3rd pick for.

 

The more I look at what’s supposedly available I can’t name one I’d rather bet on being better now than Miller will be in a couple seasons. Don’t trade the pick.

 

Disagree, multiply the drpg pct by the percent of games played for a real impact...

Ayton grabbed about 300 more rebounds than nurkic last year.

Per game stats are useless when the player doesn't play that much

 

After Boston's loss to the Heat...
Brown to the Blazers Confirmed.

 

Did you have this same energy when he was their best player in the finals last yr?

 

I am going to comment on a couple things I have read in the last few posts ....

1st -- Ayton is a scrub that is overpaid and has no heart now that he got PAID
2nd -- Jaylen Brown is not my top target it's Bridges but since the Nets prolly are not going to trade him Brown is not a bad 2nd option ( if rumors are true ) plus Brown could be banged up from what I have heard but he is still a good player. However I will concede IF the trade is something like Ant and 3rd pick for Brown ( main part ) I do think it's a slight overpay but combine him with Dame , Sharpe and Grant and maybe Nurk not too bad and that is the truth.

 

Stats like these are totally misleading. Nurk, at times, was the only guy on our team that could grab a rebound. Dame and Ant are too small and Grant must be allergic. Hart was arguably the best rebounder last year.

 

I tend to agree about Ayton. Incredibly gifted but where is the fight in him? He is overpaid. How much is Brown expected to make in his next deal? I just am not excited about him but if the consensus is he is a difference maker then I am happy to be wrong.

 

Brown does not like it in Boston and that is no excuse IF he gave up but word is he wants to come to Portland to play with Dame and he might be flawed but good but name another target outside of maybe Bridges and realistic that is better cause there is none and do not say Scoot or Miller cause that is complete fiction at least for now maybe in a couple years but RIGHT now complete and utter fiction.

 

Here's all we need to get to the finals.

 

If you can get Jaylen Brown with assurances that he’s staying a while then yeah you definitely do it for Ant and 3. Then you try to figure out how to upgrade Nurk with his contract, filler, pick 23 and even future firsts.

I would suggest that we urgrade Nurk’s backup to the point where he replaces Nurk but that would cause a meltdown that would make Nurk an even worse trade liability.

 

The problem with whoever the Blazers gets no matter if it's Brown , Bridges or (insert name here ) is that getting someone is only half the battle cause then and this is where I am worried is we then got to get better bench / role players on this team. This is where I am worried cause Cronin has not shown himself good at getting good role players for the most part so that is where the real work will begin NOT getting another star.