If you are going to knock Scoot for his defense, you better Really knock Dame over his (or his lack thereof).
Isn’t your assertion that he is not YET ready also speculation? We have yet to see him play a real NBA game. He looked pretty good in his one partial SL game but we all know that can be deceiving. At this point I think there are more glass-half-full than glass-half-empty out there but the reality is that at this point all we can do is extrapolate and hope.
How’s this for a 5 year plan built on drafting well and sucking enough to get good picks: 2007- draft Durant 2098- draft Westbrook 2009- draft Harden 2010- 50 wins 2011- WCF 2012- NBA Finals That’s our blueprint to success. One more tank for a top prospect. Then roll. If OKC sleeps Harden, they win at least one title.
Gotta agree with ya there. They did it with a new owner and moving from Seattle to Oklahoma even. If Harden stays there they win a championship imo also.
Don't forget they also got lucky drafting Ibaka at 24 in 2008. Or should I say they continued to draft well?
My only point on this is I feel they should have done more to get Dame help. I’m not sure scoot could get that help in trade. That makes me feel the teams and scouts involved seem to know Scoot is a work in progress at best. I also feel if you had a chance to get a player that gave them at least a chance to compete you pull the trigger on that trade. If they trade for another solid veteran to put with Dame, Grant, Nurk, Simons, Sharpe then I feel other players might take notice. Yes pure speculation but probably reasonable.
I speculate that no veteran they could have got for Scoot and XXX (Say, Ant or Nurk or both) was going to provide more help than Scoot + XXX within a year. The issue is that Dame knows he is getting old and he wants a chance yesterday but Cronin is smart enough to know that these kinds of moves did not work in the NeO regime and there is no reason to suspect they would now.
He might be, but still, in the last 7 years since they made the conference finals...they seem a lot like us. Lottery the last 3 years and lost in the first round the 4 years before that.
It's a bummer to see people feel the need to temper their excitement for Scoot to not seem anti-dame or for ending the Lillard era. I love Dame, but I am so ready for the Scoot era. The shooting could keep him from becoming an absolute offensive supernova, but I think he has the personality and skills to elevate his teammates even more than Dame was able to. Even if we compare him to Dame at 21/22 he already thinks the game at a much higher level. Pushes in transition but will also hit ahead if he sees an early 2 on 1 his teammates can attack. In the half court he can play in pick and roll, but is willing to get off it when he sees even the slightest advantage somewhere else. Despite the shooting, he still looks natural playing off the ball setting up cuts and catching on the run. Looks truly committed to being a good defender which has a trickle down affect through the roster and has tools to be great if he can up his discipline on the ball and play with more consistent focus and motor. His off the ball instincts and strength already pop and as good as he is at using his massive hands offensively, he does it almost equally as well defensively. Shiny new toy and the drag of the last 3 years I'm sure played a part, but those 20 or so minutes vs Houston were as joyful an experience watching a player as I've had in a while. Think he's truly a rare and special talent.
I have been super impressed as well. I have not seen him playing before - and I expected the normal rookie PG things, getting bogged down, making mistakes when pressured, getting into tough places and turning over the ball when he is too fast. None of those happened. He was in complete control, he got into tough places and found team-mates with beautiful passes that are hard for many NBA level PGs to make. The kid can be special and already has some tools that are rare. I expect it to be a bit more rocky once he plays in the real NBA - but being where he is already as a 19 y/o rookie is super impressive.
Should be cued up to 18:35. Mike Schmitz talks a little about Scoot, and we see Scoot interacting with his summer league teammates (on their way to the arena I assume). Scoot shares his snack with Rayan Rupert, telling him that it's not spicy. Someone else in the van asks "What flavor is it?" Scoot answers "Voodoo Heat."
It's not his fault ownership wanted to be cheap and not pay Harden. I don't consider lack of team success the last few years as they've been rebuilding and were mostly trying to lose.
Nobody is saying we shouldn't have tried to build around Dame. The issue is, Olshey failed in that regard and we have the pseudo receipts in the form of several supposedly nixed trades involving CJ "oopsies did I step out of bounds in a key moment?" McCollum when we could have had Butler or PG13. We also could have tried the Kawhi rental model. By the time Cronin was at the helm the cupboard was bare. I've been quite impressed with his efforts to restock said bare cupboard. If Cronin turned down a trade for a Star I haven't heard of it. Turning down getting fleeced by Toronto for OG supposedly asking for Sharpe and #3? Yeah, that seems likely and if so then Joe was absolutely correct to turn that down.
My take is kind of the opposite. Other teams like the Raptors thought the Blazers were stuck, that Portland had to move that pick, especially if it was Scoot, because of things Dame and his representation were putting out there. They sensed blood in the water, so they tried to get the third pick and another good asset or four for any wing that was above average but not quite all-star or at least all-NBA caliber. They thought Cronin would be forced to comply because Lillard owned the city and organization. That's why a trade didn't happen.
