Ideal draft: • Jase Richardson • Collin Murray-Boyles Trading for an additional pick in a similar way Minnesota did last year for Dillingham. The OKC model - continue to build through the draft. The core would be set IMO.
I mentioned this in another thread but the poster at RealGM who said, a couple of months before the trade, that Portland was targeting Avdija... said that he heard the Blazers were working the angles for getting Jabari Smith Jr.. Maybe in the context of a blockbuster trade of Giannis or Durant would Smith be worth the 11th pick?
Jabari - now THAT would be interesting. He hasn’t put it together yet but his potential as a shooter and a rim protector is intriguing. Targeting a young player floundering in their current system, this is the blueprint that landed Deni.
If we can build a title team by picking up the Cameras, Denis, and Aytons of the world then I'm all for it. That would be a hell of a front office to keep around. And if Billups can coach them to that level he'll have a long and productive coaching career.
Sacramento want to get back into the draft, Sabonis apparently not too keen on Kings' direction. Would you? Would they?
Agreed.... Yeah probably we give the Bucks a 2029 pick and their swaps. Maybe we can keep the best of the 2029 as it's odd for us to give up our own unprotected pick in 2029.
Id certainly do it - no way Sacramento considers it though. They gave up Haliburton for Sabonis, their not giving up sabonis for bad contracts and only #11.
The obvious question is, is there someone in this draft with a higher ceiling whose floor might be Smith? The ones who come to mind for me who seem similar are Bryant and Fleming. Smith is still young, though (just turned 22)
IMO Smith has been somewhat disappointing, and I read recently some folks question his motor (take that FWIW).
So if Houston tries to land Giannis, and they want us included to get MIL those swaps back, what are the pieces we can get from Houston? Smith and Reed and other picks? Whitmore? We can include Rob if they are sending Sengun to the Bucks. Not sure exactly what makes sense or is reasonable, but feels like there are some fun possibilities there.
I can totally see the Blazers trade 11 and change for Smith. I'd kinda hope not but I can also totally see the pros.
Those Phoenix picks Houston have are unprotected in 2027 2029 and look amazing. I think we can easily give the Bucks the 2028 2030 swaps back. The 2029 pick is tricky, if we give them the best one it could be our own pick unprotected which would be tough for the Blazers to lose control. Not sure the Bucks would care for the worst of the 2029s we have. However more than the value of that single pick it would mean their guaranteed a pick every year except the one 2027 that was originally sent to the Pelicans for Jrue. So that kind of unlocks their flexibility in picks which they might like.
