I'm not saying you don't draft well...Camara is a late second round pick...he's way better than guys picked ahead of him. I'm saying you trade well and scout chemistry and yes...that tanking is not a winning philosophy...not many folks think it's gambling like I do but I like sure bets. Ant was a draft pick and Jerami was signed to put talent around Dame and I'll tell you this much, I'd trade Scoot to the Bucks for Dame tomorrow and enjoy the playoffs year after year. I don't want to go the Kings route to winning. I think we build a winner through team chemistry and good coaching. I'm old Eric....at 70 the future for me is a smaller window than the future for you my friend. I want Ant gone...I like the guys we have but they're not building winning habits in the 4th quarter of games and the vets are always injured as it is. Four years of tanking isn't impressing me much so far. Our trades have been pretty good recently though after the Dame assets were moved around. I think we have the best bench we've had in a long time. For what it's worth, the stat loving arm chair GMs amongst the fan base all agree with you. Nice thing about being old and retired is I actually do get to bash tanking in basketball ..choices
Sorry river but no. He is not better than most of the lottery picks. The fact that he is 24 gives me pause to even say he is better than our 3rd pick. I do agree you can find some gems in the second round obviously but banking on it would be insane. He certainly is not better than the lotto picks that will be taken in this years draft class.
agreed...besides that, the Blazers didn't take Camara in the 2nd round, Phoenix did. Since Olshey was named GM 13 years ago, the best player Portland has taken in the 2nd round has probably been Will Barton not only that, Portland's success outside of the top-10 has been pretty limited over the last 15 years: #22 - Victor Claver #22 - Eliott Williams #21 - Nolan Smith #11 - Meyers Leonard #26 - Caleb Swanigan #24 - Anfernee Simons #25 - Nassir Little #23 - Kris Murray doesn't instill a lot of confidence although you'd need to gauge by who else was available when those picks were made
You bring up some interesting points. I consider Shaedon and Avdija part of the Blazers future core. Let’s call that ‘tier 1’. I consider Camara right in that fringe. I then have Scoot and Clingan in the ‘show me’ tier 2 level.. I don’t give a lot of weight to potential. Where a guy was drafted only matters to me on draft night. Yes, Camara’s age is a factor. But I’m also impressed that he put in the time in the off season and continued to improve his game. That’s a valuable character trait at any age.
It's not bad. It just means that at his age and experience he probably doesn't have a ton of growth left. There is nothing wrong with that, at all. Camara will just probably never be star player. He's fantastic and I'm personally incredibly pleased with him.
I always say it's not the years, it's the miles....Banton is like buying a car several years old with 2k miles on it. I also believe Camara is a better player today than Scoot, Murray, Clingan and Sharpe so I'll stick to the idea that a bottom of the barrel 2nd round pick can be more NBA ready than many 1st round lottery picks...Ayton was a first round pick. This draft has a lot of good options, sure. Being the worst team though now doesn't guarantee you get Cooper Flagg and like everyone I'd love to get Flagg next draft but won't hold my breath that we will. after their rookie season we'll be able to better gauge how good this upcoming draft class translates to the Wemby joining the NBA or how many become Adam Morrison
I put this together a few years ago - Ages 25 -28 are the most productive for an NBA player. Here's a look at this year's Blazers: The average age of the Blazers is below the peak 4 years of productivity. Hopefully this is an indication of fruitful years to come...
The biggest obstacle between us and winning is talent. Being the worst team now gives us the best odds of adding the most talent. There are no guarantees.
There's a lot of mileage difference between 25 year old Banton and 25 year old Ant as well as 24 year old Deni vs 24 year old Murray using my used car method of scouting players.
I'm curious about that top chart was that based upon all NBA players?....drafted players?...1st round? I know it would have been crunching way too much data, but what would make that chart more revealing is a comparison between PG's-Wings-Bigs to see if those prime years might be more of a sliding scale than fixed scale. Maybe by height as well. For example, I'd think a 20 year old 6'3 player would be more advanced along that prime-year scale than a 20 year old 7 footer
It's been a few years since I crunched those numbers, but if I remember correctly it was based on all nba players (with a minimum number of minutes played). Yeah, interesting. I would be curious if that prime range does fluctuate based on position or height. With the way the nba is moving, classifying position is getting more and more difficult. So many players slide between 2-3 positions now. Height might be a bit more direct to calculate...
No guarantees is for sure. The ping-pong balls can screw you, and the 'bust' specter can haunt you. Being in the top 5 certainly helps. The odds drop off significantly after 10. But there are always gems sprinkled into the late first round and into the second...
Absolutely. And I would advocate for us having the best possible draft crew to find those gems. I would absolutely not count on finding them as a part of my talent acquisition plan. If we're able to find and develop those guys into contribitors or stars that's a bonus, IMO.
A high draft pick should be small consolation for a losing season, not a goal. Fuck the draft. Play to win, period.
I agree, from a coach and player perspective. From a management perspective, in the currwnt NBA, if you fuck the draft you are playing to lose.
