I'd have no problem with a win now roster...3 years of tanking is about as much as I can stand..I do want Ant gone and I'd like to upgrade the coaching staff. Example....I like Banton more than any of the guards they've brought into look at so far. What rookie is going to take his roster spot?
Kyshawn George, but I doubt he falls to the 2nd round. About the same height but a better defender and 3pt shooter.
You are essentially asking in what order would Delano Banton get picked in this draft? Intriguing. Idk the answer but I sure hope whoever we pick at 7 is better than him
Honest question here. What makes Cody Williams a better player than George here? From my perspective, they are extremely similar in regards to strengths/weaknesses.
To be clear, I’m not proposing a “win now” roster, proof being a starting backcourt of Scoot and Sharpe. That said, I believe their [Scoot and Sharpe] growth and maturation will come quicker by playing with veteran talent (Ayton, Grant, Williams, Randle) versus two years of playing next to a roster 18-22 year olds. I think a successful “rebuild” should focus upon the play of Scoot and Sharp while possibly phasing in a SF like Risacher. Over the next two years we can then move on from Grant, Williams, Brogdan) adding to our draft capital or by trading for young talent that can be a good fit with our rebuilding program. In summation, you can’t rebuild with a roster made up of 13 players under 23 years old. This will only result in creating a losing culture, players leaving after their rookie contracts expire and years of sloppy and losing basjetball. Rebuild with strategy! Let’s first develop our backcourt, phase in our wing and followed by our front court. In the meantime, play each game to win! Not “win now,” rather, coach and play each and every game to win. This will build a winning culture during our couple years of rebuilding. I’d be excited to watch Scoot and Sharpe playing with Grant, Randle and Ayton with Risacher getting minutes replacing Grant and Banton and Brogdan replacing Scoot and Sharpe. Williams and Reath taking turns replacing Ayton, Walker replacing Randle and so on. A rebuild that still has talent will develop the young guys as we all learn from people that are more experienced than ourselves.
I would argue we have NOT been tanking... we've been terrible, but that's different. Tanking (IMO) is getting rid of veterans and adding high-level young players. It's taking on bad contract in return for getting future value and/or out from under long term deals. The Blazers got rid of Dame and... really no other veterans. They Blazers have added Sharpe and Scoot and... really no other high-level young players. (Ant and Ayton are too well paid to qualifty, and I just am not impressed by any other young guys on the roster at this point to the point where they should be a building block in the long run.) And we haven't taken on any contracts in return for value. To the contrary, we have given Grant and Thybulle big contracts. I respect that you can't take the team being bad for much longer, but at least with tanking there's a plan for getting younger and better, rather than getting a little younger and worse.
I'm one of those odd fans who thinks that even losing in theplayoffs is the best way to develop rookies. and rookie coaches.....so to me not making the playoffs with Scoot and Sharpe hurts Scoot and Sharpe's development. Hurts a coaching staff as well. Chauncey has never coached a playoff game as a head coach.
I appreciate the thread and think its a good discussion point. We have so many discussions here about what the Blazers SHOULD do it becomes a bit of an echo chamber with those I agree on. But your right its worth discussing what the Blazers actually WILL do as these are two very different things. I tend to agree they won't commit to a long rebuild even if strategically that is the most likely path to a title. I don't like the idea at all as this team needs to aggressively rebuild like OKC did. First they traded every veteran they could for picks though, and took on veterans for picks, and then re-flipped some of those vets for more picks. Instead we seem to just hold onto vets until their trade value slowly deteriorates. OKC was only a horrible team for 2 seasons. Not committing 100% to an aggressive rebuild actually makes the rebuilding longer, slower, and many more years of heavy losses. Ant & Thybulle for Randle does make a lot of sense for the Blazers if trying to win now. I'm not sure how good it is for NY but perhaps it would work. They already have a lot of guards, but they really needed some more offensive punch and they have a great D to cover Simons deficiencies. I don't think #14 is enough to move from 7>3 but yes I can see the theory of packaging the picks to move up. Both moves seem to continue this two timelines strategy that I question the Blazers will ever move away from. Now I totally understand some people frustration with this path after Cronin never attempted to win at all with Dame. I always believed that door was closed when we did the Clippers trade, but I understand others held out hope Cronin would be able to give it a try. Instead it was a very unfulfilling conclusion to Dame's career in Portland. Having the 3rd worst record for the epically bad 2024 draft and then getting back to purgatory for the epically strong 2025 draft does seem like the type of dumb move this Blazers leadership team would pursue.
Finish moving the useful, veteran pieces from the Dame trade and asset re-signings. Build with youth and draft capital. That’s what I expect Cronin to do. Embrace the horror of another craptastic season and have hope for the lottery picks to build the next era of Blazers basketball.
No! But they can try to create an environment whereby Scoot and Sharpe are growing and maturing by playing alongside some veteran talent level. Not all 13 players can be prospects. No player will develop and the culture will be one of losing. Just like Detroit.
Inside scoring, mostly. George is a better shooter in every way, but Cody is a pretty good slasher and finisher. If you buy George developing more athleticism (nah) then I'd take George. We also don't know what will happen when Cody puts mass on his frame. I've got them ranked pretty close together.
OP never mentioned Dame. That was you guys that took the thread in this direction because of Dame sycophancy. To those talking about revisionist history, not trading the draft picks for the newest version of RoCo/Powell/Nance and picking the best players available at those spots was the right thing to do. Revisionist history is acting like Dame was forced into calling for a trade (TO ONE DESTINATION) because the team had all these terrific options on draft night that they just declined to screw Dame over. Revisionist history is acting like Dame's loyalty was a one-way street when he had it as good as any NBA player in terms of say with the moves of the franchise ... which, BTW, played a significant part in putting the team where it is now. It's just amazing that some people read the OP and the takeaway was "Look at this guy crapping on Dame." Some of you guys need a vacation or at least a French vanilla latte. Seriously.
Exactly, giving up on the rebuild after selecting two lotto players from a bad draft and going into purgatory before a loaded draft is very typical of Portland. Can’t get out of their own damn way. I doubt Jody and crew give a damn about wins or butts in seats with the new tv deal coming. That is where the money is. No sense in stepping over quarters to pick up nickels. Portland needs to be Sucktacular next season so the worst pick they get is 5. Hope for number one. Then do any all in bs. If Scoot and Sharpe are weak of mind and can’t handle a season of losing where they are actually developing then maybe they are not the players Portland needs to be banking on. Or maybe you give them a year on the Remix so they can dominate, not damage their fragile minds and win the G-League. Give them Camara, Murray, Rupert and whatever they get out of the draft this season to do some winning in the G-League while the NBA team is retooling for another lotto pick in 2025 and then start trading those vets off.
