22-year-old Anthony Edwards is playing alongside 36-year-old Mike Conley. That's a 14-year difference in age. Conley averages 29 minutes a game. Minnesota is in first place. I won't put words in anyone's mouth's but it feels like some people think that is an impossibility. I'm not saying to trade or not to trade Grant and Brogdan. But to outright say that they can't be part of the future is ridiculous.
Perhaps what Joe does is dependent on how the team is playing, so it's not something that's decided at this point.
Again, cool story but it's not our situation because they are building around KAT and Edwards. KAT is younger and far more valuable than either of the guys I'm saying that we should and most likely will trade. The fact that they added pieces like Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert to KAT and Edwards once they knew what they had in those two players again is a far far different situation than what we are facing. We don't have an established all nba player who is in his mid 20s like Minny did when they drafted Edwards, if we did of course we would keep complementary starters like Grant and Brogdon because we'd be looking to win it all in the next couple of seasons instead of positioning ourselves to do that in half a decade. You don't have to put words in my mouth, there's no fucking way that we'll be in first place in the western conference in the next couple of years.
Yeah, I could very well be wrong in my estimation that Joe will look to the future when this trade deadline rolls around just because he did that with far more established talent in both of the past two seasons.
My thoughts are that Grant and Brogdon are enjoying "being the man" on a bad team trying to develop a few young players. I doubt they will enjoy not "being the man" once the young guys actually develop and "become the man" in their own right. But when that happens, say three years, Grant and Brogdon will have far less value. Best to move them to teams that need them and get value when they are at their highest. With the assets they get in trade Portland can round out the roster and fill holes. They will have cap space, picks and hopefully be on the rise. They could overpay for a star if needed.
To be clear, I'm not opposed to trading Grant and Brogdon. I just want the team to make an effort to be as good as they can be with the players they have. If that results in the team being good enough to be play-in quality, then I'll be grateful for the experience our youngsters will gain in the process.
This entire post is full of statements based on incorrect assumptions about other people's thoughts, wants, and hopes. Such a post has no content worth responding to.
Do they have a prized rookie point guard that Conley is playing over? And does Conley have even remotely the same value at this point that Brogdon has? I also said in another post that we could get a less valuable veteran to serve the mentor role. That’s what Conley is. He’s not as good as Brogdon at this point.
In my view we have mostly young guys on this team and the way to teach them to win is to have them play with winners. Grant and Brogdan are going to be huge in the development of Scoot and Walker and Camara and Murray ...Scoot is talented but far from franchise pt guard ready yet. I like him coming off the bench. If you fill this team exclusively with kids, they'll get beat so bad they'll lose confidence in my view. My wish is to trade Ant...that's how Scoot and Shaedon get more experience. You can already see how much respect Ayton has for Grant and Brogdan. Those guys are the glue of this team right now. Two of our biggest impact rookies are bottom of the barrel second rounders...nobody saw that coming
I 100% disagree. This team as is, if fully healthy, sure looks like a playin team to me. Combine that with the growth of our youth, i see no reason why we cant be contending in two to three years with a couple good moves. That may be moving the vets then, but i see no reason to move them now for picks. We have picks down the road. We need talent around the youth now so they maintain a winning mentality. I think the real value in Grant and Brogdon are what they can teach Scoot/Sharpe/Camara. I want that education to go on for another year or two. Can other vets do this? Sure, but if those mentors are already on the roster why keep shuffling deck chairs right now? Let them grow for a year or to, then go all in if the youth does indeed blossom. you mentioned their value will decline. I dont think so. The contracts will be shorter. I think it will offset any decline the players may have in two years. Much easier to trade a shorter contract than a longer one.
If you look at some of the younger teams that are doing well finally, its because they have added a few solid vets to help coach basically and be locker room dudes.
He gets the idea. The problem is the idea is riddled with flaws. The idea with teams is to put talent together that has chemistry so that you can win. Not just to accumulate prospects. Now, that doesn't mean you don't trade players like Brogdon and Grant under any circumstances, but you only trade them if you are getting appropriate compensation. Their presence on the team is measured in more than just the wins and current stats but what knowledge and comfortability they can pass along to the young players the Blazers eventually are counting on to win. Look how long it took the Sixers to even have a winning team doing the kind of rebuild you're suggesting. Or the Thunder. The Thunder are trending in the right direction, but they still haven't had a winning season or reached the round of 16 since they traded Paul George and then Chris Paul. The Sixers haven't even reached the Eastern Conference semis since The Process began even though it brought them an annual MVP candidate. Team-building's a lot more than who has the most toys.
I agree with everything you said, however, the "trade Simons" part only makes sense to me if they get a good young forward back in return. Otherwise, you keep him because he still provides a skill that we need. (Plus the depth is nice to have when injuries occur-and they always do) A non-lottery pick and an ending contract are not enough. I would even sweeten the pot if the right forward was available by offering Ant and a pick. But quality young 2-way forwards are hard to come by in a trade so I don't see it happening.
But why do we want that? What possible reason is there for this team to push for a playin and lose out on a high draft pick? I'm not saying we should tank, but I'm also not saying we should be playing our veterans big minutes to try to win games. Tanking is when you're deliberately playing inferior players with the intention of losing games. I want to play young players so that they develop faster. Those are not the same things.
Sharpe leads the team in minutes. (36.5) Scoot averages 26 minutes a game. Camara averages 25 minutes per game. Yes, Simons will cut into those minutes IF every guard is healthy but I am not worried that they will not get enough minutes to develop over the long season.
experience has value. If young players don't have vets teaching them the right and wrongs, how do you think they will develop faster? They seem to be developing fine as is overall. How much more development xan happen between 25-35 minutes a game? how much more development comes from winning and making a playin? I think more than 10 more minutes a game.
I think with Brogdan and Grant you give Chauncey and his staff time to put an address on defense first with the young guys and unlike Dame, not give them the green light to chuck. Get them rebounding and stealing the ball and moving it around. Grant and Brogdan are great role models for offensive momentum and end game play. When our rookies and sophmores learn to defend on a string, then give them the green light to shoot more. If this is what Chauncey is doing, I'm all for it. The reason CJ, Ant and Dame sucked on defense is they were given the green light to chuck and not held accountable on the other side of the ball. I don't want that happening to Shaedon or Scoot.
And I have said, from the beginning, that there are other vets out there that we could get who don't have the value of Brogdon.
