Exclusive OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA: NOVEMBER 2024

Any TPE is nearly worthless. I'd rather have a top50 protected 2nd round pick.

The 2024 pick we sent out I'm fine with, was such a weak draft. The 2029 pick is the one big asset you list with a potentially significant cost.

Also the Blazers being so far away from contending just makes the Deni acquisition perplexing. We don't have a need for a role player on a cheap contract like a contender does the next 4 years. Or at least we shouldn't if were not trying to retain the Grant/Ayton/Ant trio. Would be better if we had more draft picks and playing time for Rupert/Murray/Banton/etc.

Now if Cronin was gambling Deni could play well and increase his worth even more to flip somewhere else that might be a good strategy. Just doesn't seem like he has a track record of ever doing that type of maneuver.

 

Yeah that's an excellent point. What if our two best players end up being forwards and we don't need a Deni type for more than a 13mpg bench role. Stupid to trade away a potential #2 overall pick for that.

Seems like Cronin was trying to get the best role player to fit with a Grant/Ayton/Ant big3. If he's really trying to build our roster around that trio he's dumber than I thought.

 

Yeah, that's when I started worrying... Unless he was some kind of hidden superstar. And that doesn't appear to be the case...

 

I could see that. One of the greatest players / talents, but a phony personality.

 

I don't know why anybody would be surprised by this. He comes off as transparently fake and manipulative to me.

 

has there really been any signal at all that's not what Cronin is trying to do?

yeah, I know the rumors about him supposedly shopping Grant. But those rumors were always about him demanding two 1st round picks. That seems like a way to effectively make Grant untouchable because I find it next to impossible to believe any team would send two firsts for Grant, especially the Lakers. About the only team with a recent track record of sending out two first round picks for an average role player like Grant is.....Portland

last night's game against the Pels: Simons-Ayton-Grant took 46 of Portland's 84 shots (55%) and scored 59 of Portland's 118 points (half). Now, the Pels were so depleted by injury and so worn out by a back-to-back in the 4th Q, even without major contributions from those 3 vets the Blazers might have won. Still, this is one of those games when the Blazers rode the backs of those 3 vets to a pointless win that could damage their lottery chances in 7 months

what is happening this season makes no sense to me, but maybe I'm blind to the upside of a Simons-Ayton-Grant big-3

 

I already figured as much, but here’s an explanation of why there are no games scheduled today.

https://www.si.com/here-s-why-there-are-no-nba-games-scheduled-for-november-5-01jbwfgjpm9s

“It is a recent initiative by the league. The NBA first left election day blank on the schedule in 2022 ahead of the midterm elections. This will be the first presidential election with no NBA games scheduled for the night of the election”

 

Yeah most the signals do point to the Blazers building around this stupid trio. Kind of reminds me when all the actions the Blazers took with Dame were for a long rebuild, but we still had fans emphatically expecting Joe to pull a rabbit out of his hat and magically have a contender around Dame.

About the only counter point I can think of is the Blazers glasses having only young players.

 

Regardless of all my criticisms of the current Blazers roster, the one thing I LOVE this season is the length and defense our squad has. Can't think of a Blazers team with this much length since we had Sheed/Steve Smith/Pippen out on the floor over 20 years ago.

 

Hoping for the best for the Legend

 

Agreed. He will be 76 in two months. Sounds like a good time to retire to his vineyard.

 

Probably my favorite team of all time. I like the trend in getting bigger.

 

He's a widower. Pretty sure he's stayed in coaching after his wife died because going home to an empty house is probably not the most fun. 75 is life expectancy for usa dudes.