Exclusive OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA: NOVEMBER 2024

This part is true for many posters on this site before the draft. And there is only one reason for it. (maybe two)

"They didn't 'find' DK," James (26 points, 12 assists) said. "The other 16 teams f---ed it up. Did anybody watch him? S---. They just didn't f--- it up. You don't 'find' a SEC player of the year."

 

even though the last draft was a bad draft, history just about guaranteed there would be 2 or 3 players outside of the lottery that would have 'starting level' or 6th man talent. There almost always is. Right now, those two guys appear to be McCain & Knecht. Jaylen Wells might be another. Still very early though

speaking of way early, and in the interests of generating a food fight, would you rather Portland have:

Avdija

or

Knecht + that 2nd best 2029 1st + Blazer's 2028 & 2030 second's?

 

I’m excited for McCain. Seems like a great dude. Had Maxey/PG and Embid not been out, this wouldn’t have even happened. He won’t get this chance once they all return unfortunately.

 

Why does it have to be Knecht rather than McCain?

But either way, if you made me choose RIGHT NOW, I'm still going to go with Avdija. (a) we know he's shot a lot better (I still wonder if him putting on the muscle weight he did is affecting his lift) but I love his hustle and defense and (b) hustle and defense are weaknesses of the other two, and (c) Knecht at least would not be getting the open looks he's getting for the Lakers if he was playing on the Blazers, so he wouldn't look as good. In fact, I'm not sure he'd be getting minutes, because shooting is so far his only demonstrated strength.

 

Jokic is UNREAL!

 

If Scoot/Shae/DC/??? works out in 2029 The Blazers do not need 3 FRPs in 2029, so I am taking it out of the equation.

Both Knecht and Deni will be useful role players around that time. So, the question is - do you need shooting or secondary creation + defense. I think that assuming the Shae/Scoot/??? continue to grow offensively, the defense / secondary ball-handling is more important, but who knows...

I think the Blazers have are trying to build a very specific type of team, super long, tall and with good switchability on both defense/offense. For that, Deni seems like a better option, but who knows? Depends on how both/either one continue to evolve.

 

HISTORY MADE!!!

 

Yes, he's the best player on the planet, and the gap from him to the next is just silly. However much he gets talked about, it's not enough.

 

I can't imagine any rational Blazer fans would pick Avdija with how he and the Blazers have looked so far. Of course Knecht has been even better than average expectations too.

I'm sure we'll get a couple who post they prefer Avdija, they're likely the posters that always support 100% of Blazers actions as though that makes them better fans or the team better or such.

Edit or they just want to be a contrarian such as Rasta.

 

That's like saying the Celtics didn't need both Tatum and Brown since they already had a playoff team.

 

Nope, Since Sharpe was drafted in 2022 and JB in 2016, that's like saying that the Celtics first round draft pick in 2023 is not that important for the JB/JT Celtics. For the record, the Celtics had no FRP in 2023. The Blazers, even after this trade, will have 2. As I said, not-relevant.

 

Womp womp

 

Best part? He doesn't even really like Basketball. It's just a job that pays for his real love - horses!

 

I also "refuse to admit" that 2 + 2 might equal 5.

 

I guess Spaniards aren't white then

 

I'm sure Knecht will be at least as good as other hyped Lakers-rookies-who-were-teammates-with-LBJ like Talen Horton-Tucker