Most starters get around 32 minutes. Scoot has averaged 28 over his career. Starting him only gives him about 4 extra minutes per game. Those minutes are not holding him back. He is developing just fine. The guy turns 21 next week.
Most guys drafted that high aren't forced to beat out a veteran. When he's has been given the opportunity to be the main PG he's been plenty good. He just hasn't gotten the opportunity enough.
He's young, he's talented, he's been getting plenty of opportunities, he's improving & seems a focused happy young man... I truly don't get why anyone is complaining. He's still got a ways to go, but for a guy of his age he's well ahead of the curve on figuring it all out. STOMP
Scoot did earn it, he played great as a starter. Then he got benched. Grant has played like shit all year and is the one who has been handed a starting spot he didn't deserve.
People are complaining that Ant Grant Ayton serve no long term purpose here and are just in the way. Scoot proved he deserved to start, and got benched for veterans that many of us have been bitching make zero sense for this franchise for years. I don't get why anyone is complaining about people complaining about that.
The sad part is we have multiple young players who have beaten out Grant all season long. But Grant still gets handed the starting spot, with big minutes and big shots.
I'm complaining because we have vets playing a ton of minutes helping us win games we should be losing. In doing so, we're also holding Scoot and Sharpe back in their development. I'm sure they'll eventually be fine, but that won't make me feel better when we're picking at the end of the lottery instead of 3rd this upcoming draft.
I am all for trading Grant, but which young players are you talking about? Camara has started every game he has been healthy (45 of 47) Deni started, then came off the bench, and now starts again. Who else deserves to start?
Scoot and Sharpe are playing around 30 MPG recently and for the season. Thats not holding back their development, thats giving young guys plenty of minutes to figure it out. The team's two highest paid vets Grant and Ayton are missing entire games left and right for seemingly ticky tack tanking type injuries. Them missing games hurts what little chance management has at profiling them for trades. While I'm generally pro-tank as I'd like to see the next wave of a Blazer team feature as much top talent as possible, the players who suit up are always going to try to try their best to win. I could see it being problematic for the team's culture going forward if management was heavy handed in sitting the young difference making vets like Deni and Toumani too... is that really what you're advocating for? Deni is the one who has really upped his production of late and led the team to some wins. Having another playmaker who can also switch onto and D up a variety of players is proving very anti-tank. Playing Grant more over him would be more helpful (not less) to the tank effort. If that were to happen, my strong suspicion is that most of the same complaining posters would just shift what they're complaining about. STOMP
Should have traded Grant and Simons. Deni has been solid, but has he been better than a top 3 pick in this draft? Has he been better than a too 3 pick in this draft, another potentially top 5 pick in a few years and another first rounder? Do we have enough talent to win championships moving forward? Or even hang with those top teams? It just sucks to see us screwing up the rebuild trying to shortcut it. For what? The opportunity to win 28 games? What a CF...
The thing about Deni is he was a proven talent in the NBA when we traded for him and still only 23 (turned 24 this month) He was supposed to be a top 5 pick but slipped to 8th (a lot of mistakes made in that draft) Is he a superstar? No, but you are calling it a mistake based on future unproven NBA talent. Yes, Flagg seems like he has superstar talent, but the others just might end up being really good, but not quite good enough to lead us to a championship. I prefer the bird in the hand. I understand your strategy for building a contender, but let's not forget that it also has a lot of potential to be a CF.
There is no realistic alternative. If we stop dipping high in to the draft you are either saying we can win championships with this team now, or we're counting on getting incredibly lucky to add talent (drafting a superstar or two late lotto or later), or we just actually don't care about winning a championship. Those are our options. I'm not really calling Deni a mistake because I absolutely love everything about him. I'm saying the plan seems incredibly flawed and short sighted. I had more respect for Cronin than this. I hope to be proven wrong. It's just super disappointing to see the opportunity slipping away right now.
Yeah, I would say half the time it is luck. OKC got their Super Star with SGA because two other teams were stupid. Charlotte drafted him at 11 and traded him to the Clips for #12 and two seconds. But then the Clips traded him to OKC when they knew how good he was going to be just because Kawhi demanded it. It's not like OKC sought out the trade, it fell into their lap. Yes, they tanked to build the rest of the team, but that part is much easier. It is getting the superstar that is the difference maker and much harder to get........as we all know. Look at the last 5 champs, Boston tanked, Denver got lucky with Jokic (2nd round superstar) Milwaukee got lucky with Giannis at 15, Golden State with Curry, and especially Draymond. The Lakers tanked but it did not work. They got lucky because two superstars and their agent forced the trade there. So although I understand that we need to build through the draft, it still takes a shit load of luck.
But again, as we've looked at before, you are between 2 and 3 times as likely to be "lucky" in top 5 as the next 10 spots. If we're stopping the tank now we are either convinced that we can win with the talent we have or we are hoping to get there by being less than half as likely to get lucky. Likely far less than half as likely.
Look we all agree that getting a superstar is the goal to get a Championship. And by no means am I saying I don't wish we had a top pick. But the list of past champions since the lottery odds have changed doesn't support that that a top 5 pick is the answer. I think it helps, but again there is no reason to think that we have to do whatever it takes to tank that far. It did help Boston, SA, and Cleveland (after LBJ went back home but not the first time around) But not Denver, not GS, not the Bucks, not the Lakers, not the Raptors, not the Heat. So I guess what I am saying is don't get caught up with "the process". The odds of it working are not that great.
Lol, the way you worded it fits your narrative that he got “benched” but it’s far from that, why did Scoot start in the first place? Because it’s not like he started when we had a healthy team. He started 4 games because Deni was out for the first 3 games he started and Ant was out the 4th game he started. He simply went back to the role he was playing before those guys missed games. lovely way for you to spin it and make it look like he got “benched” lol
But that's not an accurate indicator of building a championship caliber team. I'm not advocating for a single superstar. I'm advocating for getting the most talent on the team as is possible. You do that more often the higher in the draft you get. And you're also more likely to add a superstar higher in the draft.
Deni is a fantastic player. he is someone any team would want and he has serious impact on WINNING. Look at how well we’ve been playing… Maybe he’s not a “star” but who cares? Guys getting paid peanuts and does everything in the court Acquiring talent isn’t just through the draft. Talent is talent period. You can also trade for stars. OKC didn’t draft SGA
