right espn will do some segment about gamblign with some guy named "stanford steve" to normalize gambling n make it seem that this is what smart people who went to stanford sit aorund worrying about.. i hate what sports has become... im one of those guys... i grew up watching sports with my grandpa and my dad.. n they died a long time ago, n now i hate what i see, whats become of the coverage of the sport -- the sport is in magnificent hands on the court, with the coaches n trainers n all these great systems in place... but the coverage of the sport couldnt be worse.. its like Pleasure Island from Pinnochio... i truly believe that is what adam silvers legacy will be as a commissioner, he's the one who sold the nba's soul to the bookies... n surely some would argue its always been that way --- but it hasnt, its worse these days... theres 51 flavors of gambling they try to hit you with in 2023, its very predatory.. N I go outside n dribble my basketball n the weight of the world falls off my shoulders --- n the coverage of the game should be like that! When you tune into a great basketball game, n the play-by-play n analyst do a GREAT job, its escapism.. espn doesnt want u escaping, they want u captive in the moment --- blaming the refs! "make a shitty bet than blame the refs!" --- thats ESPN's favorite story to tell... not all these sob stories u see on nba draft night... thats why they release all those lists! those lists are time sinks! they arent designed to be accurate, their designed to be inaccurate to induce rage n --- its like shock jocks run sports... why not just vote howard stern the commisioner? he'd do 100x a better job than adam silver.. these people are rugged opportunists thye just pay a few glamorous looking females to throw off the average joe from that scent.. N dont even get me started with espn's daytime programing thats targeted for people without jobs.. N FWIW i think Disney's CEO Big Iger is brilliant.. but somewhere along the way they are making miscalculations on future earnings n sacrificing those to bring forth a shittier product today, robbing peter to pay paul. Sports films are the weakest genre in films these days, im fully entrenched in the belief these people mean well but lack vision.. Sports films should be about the John Wooden and Pete Carril type of stuff, not the individualist.. "doesnt matter who makes the shot, as long as the shot gets made." type of shit..
Oh, that’s cool to know. That would certainly fit with the kind of team we want to build. He’s really agile for a guy that is the size of a PF. He’s 210lbs right now, but man if he was 225-230lb, he’d be even scarier running with Scoot and Shae on the break. I’m starting to see this as well. That’s going to be important in the future of team building imo. Guys who exclusively play off the ball don’t give many people much faith that they can be the main star. Guys who exclusively play on the ball seem to have a shelf life like Harden, Westbrook. I’m happy to have a guy in Shae who seems to be fine making plays off the ball, and Scoot looks to be an unselfish PG. Buzelis being a threat on and off the ball would make us so dangerous once they’re all more seasoned. You can never have too many guys that know how to ball the ball. Just my opinion, but you’re asking for too much if you’re expecting him to be Ben on defense. But he does a lot of other things well that it isn’t an issue. In Matas, if we could get a guy who in his prime is going to be 6’10+ in shoes that moves like KD, that can shoot and be a primary playmaker, AND he’s an adequate defender, that’s already a home run swing.
With the Golden State loss tonight against Phoenix, the Blazers now have the best odds of getting the #1 draft pick in 2024. Nice.
Warriors losing has no impact on the Blazers chances of getting the #1 pick. The Warriors' pick that we own is top-4 protected.
Alright.. and im sure to regret posting this cuz then ill want to keep updates.. n also cuz ive surely made oversights (but im trying to do this fast) but whatever.. i was bored.. so heres a basic mock before the nba and college seasons begin (well a mock takes into account team needs if u ask me, this is more like a bigboard).. 1 Alex Sarr 7'1 pf/c 2 Matas Buzelis 6'10 sg/sf/pf 3 Justin Edwards 6'7 sf/sg 4 Isaiah Collier 6'4 pg 5 Donovan Clingan 7'1 c 6 Aaron Bradshaw 7'1 pf/c 7 Aday Mara 7'2 c 8 Izan Almansa 6'10pf 9 Ja'Kobe Walter 6'5 sg/sf 10 Ron Holland 6'8 sf/pf 11 Tyrese Proctor 6'5 cg 12 DJ Wagner 6'3 cg 13 Nikola Topic 6'5 pg 14 Bobi Klintman 6'9 pf/sf 15 Trevon Brazile 6'10 f 16 Kwame Evans Jr 6'10 f 17 Mackenzie Mgbako 6'8 sf/pf 18 Tidjane Salaun 6'10 sf/pf 19 Melvin Ajinca 6'8 sf 20 Riley Kugel 6'5 cg 21 Trynten Flowers 6'8 sf/pf 22 Elmarko Jackson 6'3 cg 23 Zaccharie Risacher 6'8 sf 24 Stephon Castle 6'7 sg 25 Caleb Foster6'5 cg 26 Thierry Darlan 6'7 sg/sf 27 Baba Miller 6'11 pf/sf 28 Freddie Dillone 6'5 sg/pg 29 Zvonimir Ivisic 7'2 c 30 Elliot Cadeau 6' pg 31 Jarred McCain 6'2 sg 32Kel'el Ware 7'c 33Henri Veesaar 7' pf/c 34Tyler Smith 6'10 pf 35Jarin Stevenson 6'11' pf 36Johni Broome 6'11 c/pf 37Robert Dillingham 6'2 pg 38 Garwey Dual 6'5 cg 39 Milan Momcilovic 6'9 pf 40Xavier Booker 6'11 pf/c 41 Nikola Djurisic 6'9 sf 42Aidan Mahaney 6'3 pg/sg 43Pacome Dadiet 6'8 sf 44DaRon Holmes 6'10 pf 45 Ryan Dunn 6'8" pf 46Terrence Arceneaux 6'7 sg/sf 47Dillon Mitchell 6'8 sf/pf 48JJ Starling 6'4 sg 49 Michael Nwoko 6'11 c 50Wooga Poplar 6'5 sg 51 Isaiah Miranda 7'1 c/pf 52Matthew Murrell 6'4 sg 53Berke Buyuktuncel 6'9pf 54Ruben Prey 6'10 pf/c 55Chance Westry 6'5 sg/sf 56Rylan Griffen 6'5 Sg/sf 57Jackson Shelstad 6' pg 58Lucas Ugolin 6'5 sg/sf 59 London Johnson 6'4 pg/sg 60 Samis Calderon 6'7 sg/sf **Ullrich Chomche (I would have him listed in the 1st rd near the lottery but it seems he will play 1 more year in the NBA Africa Academy and then try and be a 1-and-done college player, despite being young enough for this draft) and make no mistake lots of these players listed in the 2nd rd would pull out of this draft and try again in '25 if they felt they were headed to the 2nd rd.. but still this is how i set the bigboards -- the way these draft sites separate the mocks into 2024 and 2025 is almost clickbaity to me, they sorta work in concert n then split up at a later date,, rather than being seperate unaffected entites
Its not truly a preseason mock cuz lots of the other leagues are already in action.. u can be assured that when the other mocks across the internet get their next update -- Nikola Topic will be getting bumped higher in all of them... so I'm sort of ahead of the curve with Topic in the lottery already, but not really, its just cuz they havent done updates in a few weeks..
and mady sissoko gets honorable mention for the mock.. i threw some hail marys cuz its early season.. n shorter C's like this often tend to get overlooked but hey the blazers just cut Ibou Dianko Badji for a 6'10 C in Duop Reath.. but sissoko is sure to outwork and outperform some of those bench players listed in that top60... if Mady doesnt have massive numbers this season somethings wrong at michigan st.. he should be a demon on the boards at the college level.. in the way that Adama Sanogo flew under the radar, even though he was excellent all season long, (and ends up carrying them to the national championship) last year -- sissoko could be that way this season (though MSU isnt built to win cut down the nets, just talking draft value) I also dont have Xavier booker in the top60 though he could easily be plugged in near the 40's, gonna wait and see with this michigan state team..
This threads carried on far too long without this highlight of Zach Edey getting obliterated by Cliff Omouryi.. In the event the trailbazers rebounding is absolutely atrocious, which is hard for me to believe with Ayton and Robert Williams here.. Cliff Omoyuri could be an interesting rebounding specialist to bring in and groom for the 3rd string.. He is monstrously powerful just see this video! n he's pretty skilled too.. this kid is a pro for sure.. n I prefer him over the above Sissoko.. Cliff is closer to 6'10 or 6'11 n more of a real C, Cissoko is short for NBA standards n those guys sorta get treated like a dime a dozen -- n we have Reath whos got lots of inside out skill n can pass, Sissoko is a bit more redundant here for the blazers.. we'll see though.. both of these players should put up crazy offensive rebounds this season.. plus Rutgers has this insanely high ranked recruit Ace Bailey who will vie for a top5 pick in 2025 coming in so Cliff could wait n Rutgers could really make a run n he'll have lots of scouts eyes on him cuz of Ace.. n I understand the Blazers have had a few bigmen named cliff n the last one was a big bust of a draftpick but Omuryi is a 3rd stringer type whos gonna have to work his way up the ladder rung by rung Moses Brown style. so this cliff cant really burn the blazers, hes too low cost..
theres a report floating out there that Donovan Clingan measured 7'3" without shoes... which not to toot my own horn before UConn even played a single game.. but thats why I havehim like top5 in that mock, or in part. I always knew Clingan was gonna be good.. Kinda stinks I showed up to this forum this offseason and not last one so yall can see how I was always vehement that Clingan was rediculously underrated by the scouting services n easily profiled as a 1rp (I always knew Clingan was superior to Ivica Zubac who is a player I thought highly of back in the day) I was vehement that Zubac was superior to Georgios Papagiannis who went in the lottery back in the day.. had a huge argument with some greek fan about it on another forum n i was spot on the money... Papagiannis cant jump not an NBA athelete.. Zubac was vastly superior even tho he went 2nd rd and PapaG went 13th.. but Clingan puts most of these giants in question TO SHAME, the giants mostly are huge defensive liabilities, n clingan is a 1 man wrecking crew on defense, he reads/digests the game well... cuz Clingan i believe has the touch to really improve that FT% this season n that will draw a lot of attention --- though really Clingan just shot it poorly from the FT stripe last season which will lead to a more 'surprising' uptick this szn.. Clingan used to shoot 3's in highschool,, n they didnt look bad out of his hand.. but he completely dominates the paint where itd be insane to put him at the 3pt line in college.
I like Clingan a ton, too. But, I hope one of the teams priorities is length with quickness. Obviously, 7 footers who are "quick" are unicorns. Wemby will be on our schedule every year at least 4 times. I know there really isn't a perfect matchup out there, except maybe Durant, but finding guys that fit that mold should be a top priority. I think OKC is in a good position with Chet and Poku having the traits that are necessary. Nobody will STOP Wemby, but having as many guys as you can that can effectively matchup with him will be very important for the near future.
so Sergio De Larrea 6'6" SG/SF from Spain is still 17 years old, turns 18 in december so he'll be absolutely one of the very youngest in this draft fields first year of eligibility.. n considerably younger than many of these 20 year old freshman.. Might only be on the 2nd rd radar n late but this is a player that could be worth keeping an eye on to stash for the Blazers.. n with all the blazers picks going after some solid stash candidates will be a good idea cuz theres already a backlog from the g-league with the two-ways n whatnot.. Ive seen De Larrea play a few times in a few different tournaments -- pretty skilled n worth keeping an eye on.. De Larrea is playing and starting in a lower level spanish league n right now hes shooting 50% from 3.. so getting high reps a good sign.. De Larrea is liek 6'6 but he's got combo guard skills too a sort of poormans Bogdan Bogdanovic type of game.. he's leading the team in scoring right now 14ppg 6rebs 3ast
Well i mean the thing is part of quickness is processing the movements of the offense n adjusting to them and in that sense Clingan is quite a bit quicker than lets say Ibou Dianko Badji who the Blazers just cut whos long as can be and more classically 'quick' and nimble and light on his feet... lots of these guys are light on their feet but they arent very quick in a basketball sense compared to clingan, is i think what im trying to say.. but we'll see how that holds up this season.. if they list Clingan at 7'4 that sure isnt gonna hurt his cause..
yup Matas at like 215 might be safe too.. cuz its just one of these things where... Buzelis is infact very athletic.. n some guys can jump high but it takes them a little longer to reach that max height compared to lets say Robert Williams(vs other players his weight) who gets to max height quickly.. Now Marvin Bagley III was overrated because of this, Josh Jackson too, but those guys couldnt shoot and Buzelis can, also Buzelis is just a major matchup problem at SF.. and the Blazers are starting Matisse Thybulle at SF and he was bad in that 1st half, tho did get it rolling later.. But Thybulle isnt even a pure SF, despitre the long wingspan, hes much more of a 'swingman' and it shows when we have to match him up against Kahwi Leonard.. Buzelis will fare much better in those matchups cuz Matas will RUN like the devil n find some way to cause mayhem..
but my goodness... last nights debacle at the 3pt arc is why we need to be CLOSELY monitoring these 3pt shooters..
I cant see how the 3pt shooting isnt gonna be an issue for this blazers team, so somehow Freddie Dilione is gonna stay relevant in these draft discussions thruought the process... check this out... Dillone is #5 in purple with the big hair as u can see he plays a bit like Simons, but I think they could play next to each other, the Blazers need all the shooters they can get and Dillone can get his off the dribble or the catch and hes a legit 6'5... veddy interesting.. razor sharp offensive player, doesnt need to drain the shotclock, slippery and very much used to dropping 30+ u can see dilione keeps his dribble VERY LOW for a 6'5 guy, he gets compact.. and he's used to dealing with insane traffic.. Cuz he's very much like facing Simons back in highschool or aau, its about to be the freddie dillone show, hes tries to drop 30 everygame n is gonna take 15+ shots.. but surely he watches films of guys like Shai Gilgeos Alexander cuz u can see him trying to mimic these sort of choppy steps, his footwork is solid... very reliable stepback j, so he gets cooking, profiles easily as a 6th man sparkplug but maybe hes even better than that.. good player forthe blazers to take a flyer on if the 3pt shooting is suboptimal. Buzelis with the lotto pick and Dilione with the warriors 1st lookin like quite the optimal haul after game 1
and so the brilliance of the OTE's business plan.. well theres multiple layers of why the OTE cant fail.. but its already coming to fruition that lots of players who sort of just play 1 season in the OTE then go elsewhere are making it to the NBA and draft discussions a year after the fact..so the amount of players they'll have 'make it' is sure to explode, its a certainty, n then ofcourse they'll brag about those stats to pull more players, its the same old thing yet repurposed n theres plenty of merit if it functions properly -- make no mistake tho theres lots to be improved on still, the quality of the defense in OTE games is glaringly bad.. and this draft is already gonna be a shining example of that because they got their hands on 2 of the international gems in Alexandre Sarr and Izan Almansa N so the OTE sorta is sewing lots of seeds, plus they really have an insane pipeline of talent cuz their also taking in the best of the best from these Basketball without borders camps n overseas operations.. The NBA truly does a magnificent job at spreading the game, and the OTE is setup as a sort of stop gap.. The G-League draft isnt til the 28th of october this year last year it was the 23rd so I am anxiously waiting to see who goes where cuz theres gonna be some of the leftovers from the OTE who I want to check in on..
look at the pure anguish on the face of the defender at the end of the move starts 0:59 -- kid plays solid defense n Freddie just sorta finds a sliver of light n flicks up a circus shot n drains it.. far as i can see the Blazers can use these sort of hot hands that are scorers with a deft touch, cuz i dont wanna wait around for all these young players to get better at 3pt shooting, we can just keep adding more.. the Muscle is already in place we can now bring the offense up to speed, n Dillone represents massive floor spacing as well.. at 6'5 lots of teams are gonna be very interested in his progress. There's a lot of Ja'Kobe Walter in these highlights btw sometimes hes guarding Dilione.. N Walter is commonly projected like top12 everywhere u look right now.. sometimes Walter is wearing #4 in red.. He's particularly devastating with the In-And-Out dribble, into the stepback... n so sometimes he'll just stand there n rock the defenders, now they wont have him doing that nearly as much in college and when he gets to the NBA but vs lesser competition (this is a camp with all very highly ranked players btw, no slouches on this court) Freddie can sorta toy with defenders..
Would Sarr and Ayton work as twin towers? I really like what I’ve seen via YouTube from that kid. I know it’s early but I like the shot and the finishing around the rim.
I think they would Sarr is extremely mobile and spreads the floor, shouldn't be a problem playing PF and Ayton is a really mobile C.
