Shaedon Sharpe is our future

I don't trust Ayton to set good screens (or any screen at all sometimes), or to affect paint shots by the opponent the way Clingan does.

To me, Ayton is not a good complementary piece to Sharpe. Sharpe will do best when all of his teammates are looking to break him free to get downhill.

Sharpe will also probably do best when he knows he's the 1st option and dumping a pass to a standstill Ayton for a mid-range shot isn't part of the offense.

I would rather Sharpe himself dribble to that spot and take that shot.

At times in a game, if the Blazers need some 2-point shots, Ayton would be a good option.

 

DA had become the ultimate role player before he went down recently - in terms of not getting in the way. Unlike Ant and JG, DA usually doesn’t even have the capacity to shoot us out of games. I don’t get the constant hate he gets

 

it sure opens things up for him when he's hitting from the outside. Thats two games in a row he's been rolling though it was against bottom feeder teams. Tomorrow will be a real test against Cleveland.

STOMP

 

His drives and step backs….. purely TMAC.

 

On this redraft of 2022, the writer bumped Shaedon down to #13. Seems harsh! (I also think one or both of the Thunder players should move past Banchero just because they play elite defense.)

 

At first glance that seems shocking low but looking at each player above Sharpe you can make a pretty good argument for all of them. I was going to say Ivey and Duren have been on a bad team but the Pistons were way better last year than the Blazers have ever been in Sharpe tenure.

I guess the hope with Sharpe is that as a high schooler in the NBA he breaks out more in the next few years than these older players.

Sharpe had a super promising rookie year. Then 2nd season was filled with injuries. Then last year he was super inefficient - so its understandable he isn't ranked very high.

 

This dynamic kind of reminds me of the Dame vs Jrue arguments. Yeah Dame was way better leading a team's offense just as Paolo is. But a guy like Jrue can fit with nearly any set of other talented NBA starters and elevate far more teams to a title.

Guess it comes down to if you think its better to lead a losing playoff team in scoring or be the 2nd/3rd best player on a team winning a title.

 

I am already starting to feel sorry for the kid. We do need him to be great for the Scoot, Deni, Tou, Clingan, and SS young core to work. We need scoring from the SG. But I have a feeling we are going to put a lot of pressure on him to be great, rather than just being pretty good.

Ideally, we draft another scoring option (i.e, Coward) that can keep other teams from doubling Shae. So IMO that takes players like
Egor out of the discussion at 11. We will need scoring off the bench.

 

Agree. Both Holmgren and Williams better than Banchero and I don 't think it's close.

 

You failed to mention that our Jabari Walker came in at #25 in the redraft!

 

He really figured out his 3 ball last year. I hope he's retained and can get in the rotation because he's shown to be a productive player already.

 

Just draft whoever projects as the best NBA player. If it's more of an all round player we can add a scoring vet. If it's a scorer we can prioritize a role playing vet. Our team isn't a finished product so we don't need a draft picks to be the final piece. If the draft picks can be a good player that matters 100x more.

 

Yeah if Walker can continue to hit the 3 that's a game changer. Can't believe he was MUCH better from 3 than Sharpe last year.

If Sharpe can't hit the 3 he's really kind of useless. His defense is below average. Shaky, handle, poor ball control. Can create his own shot sometimes but not near enough to be a lead offensive player.

Kind of think Sharpe will jump way up into the top 10 /top5 of this list in a year or drop below Jabari in the 20s.

 

You are absolutely right, but I think this year there are some players like Coward who already possess 2-way skills. I love that he has the pull-up mid-range jumper as well as 3pt range. (and is long with solid defensive skills) The fact that he fits a need that I think we will have to add is a huge plus. Players like Demin, on the other hand, make me nervous. Right now, despite having a huge upside......is just a good passer.

 

Useless? He was one of the best in the mid-range. What are you talking about? His defense significantly improved in the latter half of the season. If he stays healthy and has no Ant to compete with on shots, he's going to be great.

 

with the ubiquitous disclaimer that I am bad at gauging how college players will perform in the NBA...

I'm in favor of BPA, but with some mitigation that is should be BPA among wings. I don't see as much value in PG's or C's as the value of wings. If it was a tie between a PG/Wing or a C/Wing, I'd take the wing every time

at this point, in my ignorance, I'd be looking at either Rasheer Fleming or Coward at 11. I'm not happy that they are older; both with 3 years of college experience, Coward will be 22 next season, Fleming 21. But maybe that's why their highlights look better, at least they do to me. More developed.

I don't really want the Blazers to take Queen (poor man's Zach Randolph), Richardson (homeless man's Ben Gordon), or Demin (middle class man's Delano Banton)

 

I agree with your post. Although as much as like Fleming, is he a wing? I have flip-flopped a lot on the draft, as I always do
weeks before it happens, but I would move Carter Bryant up over Fleming because he is more of a wing IMO. Coward above both.

 

not if he's a 6' SG....been there/done that/fuck that