Exclusive All things Amen Thompson

Dame owns the team?

 

Since when dame say no. I love seeing people acting like they know what dame think

 

That’s a ton to give up just for the sake of having both twins. I’d understand doing it if Dame was off the team, Ausar/Sharpe/Ausar would be a fun trio to watch grow, but that’s asking for too long of a rebuild. I think that the longer Dame stays, the shorter our potential “rebuild” will be. Dame is a a culture setter, young guys need a vet. SGA had a full season playing with CP3 to miraculously make the playoffs, I can only imagine how much of his growth was under that one year.

If we draft one of the twins, it’s all about picking your favorite one to pair with Sharpe and learn under Dame with. Then trade down to the right spot and draft the Thompson you want, so #3 turns into a twin + other long term pieces:

#4, #20, and Eason for #3, Keon - Not too into this one, Eason might still need more time that we think to develop and fill out his frame. I think there’s a chance Whitmore or another gets selected by HOU if we trade to #5.

#5 and Duren for #3, #45, and Nas. Here, we can pick the best one and also have Duren as our cornerstone at C for a long time. Anyone here who has ever been enamored with the idea of bringing Ayton here should be equally as hopeful about Duren. Duren is younger than Sharpe, and already has shown he’s going to be an ELITE rebounder. On defense he’s switchable enough and he will be a good to great rim protector. He now gives me no worries about the C position. A Nurkic injury means Duren will get a start.

#3, #45, and Nas for #6 and Wagner. Wagner already looks like someone that can be a contributor to a top 6 team, and he’ll only be 22 in August. I would honestly say our starting 5 doesn’t miss a beat overall, with Wagner in place of Hart. If Wagner is encouraged to crash the boards so he can lead the break more often, maybe there isn’t a huge gap in rebounding. Defensively, Wagner is as good as Hart only he’s in a 6’9 frame. Offensively, he can get his own shot and is an exceptional passer. If ORL insisted on #23 instead of #45, I would probably still do it. Sharpe/Ausar/Wagner lock up our future wing rotation for a long time.

I wouldn’t go past trading to #7. If I could get Thompson and Franz, I’d do it over having both twins. Same with Duren and either twin. Ant + #23 and 2 unprotected 1sts is a whole lot to give up.

 

it would have been really interesting if PG13 hadn't got Covid and the Pels had lost in the play-in giving Portland the 11th pick (instead of the Milwaukee pick). It seems unlikely Portland would have traded an 11th pick for Grant. That's too much. So, would they have used in on Duren and tried to work with the Bulls so they could have had a free pick to send to Detroit for Grant.

for instance, top 8-10 protection for this year's pick reverting to 2nd's if not conveyed...? That would have been sweet

by the way, would Portland had been better off taking Duren or Jalen Williams?

 

Getting Grant was key to Dame signing his supermax last summer. I think if we take Duren and dont get Jerami, Dame might be elsewhere right now.

 

right...but if the Blazers worked out a deal with Chicago to free up their future picks past this season, they could have still had a 1st to send to Detroit. What has more value a 2025 first from Milwaukee or a 2025 first from Portland

 

No, but his voice may be the loudest. Actually, not may be

 

He said he wants no part of more young players. HE said that

 

I'm sure it's the same gang. They did a good job relating info to the GM, drafting Sharpe was a great idea. While Lillard might not be happy playing with 19 year olds, the Blazers training staff certainly is.

 

I don't care even a little bit.

 

To add further context to this, Amen Thompson went up against six teams from Spain, Australia, and Serbia. These leagues have produced Jokic, the Gasol Brothers (iirc, Marc Gasol was playing in one of these games against Amen), Giddey, LaMelo, Pekovic.

Dozens of NBA players have come from these leagues. In terms of talent, they are lower Division I caliber teams. For example, he played against a 36ers team that beat the Phoenix Suns in an exhibition match a few days later.....so that level of competition is solid and features several former NCAA stars.

In those six games, Amen Thompson averaged 17.0 PPG//5.5 RPG//3.8 APG //2.0 SPG//1.5 BPG //74.4% FT (5.8 FTA)//63% TS......in 27.5 MPG

 

Dame just followed Amen and Ausar on IG. He's been following Scoot a while (not sure if before or after the lottery). Not following Brandon Miller on IG (at least not yet)

 

Thank you! Knew someone had the stats from that trip lol

 

Circumvention at its finest

 

Yeah good post, getting both twins probably isn't realistic, I was just trying to consider what that fantasy could look like. Seems like if we tried to get both twins - it would make more sense to move on from Dame, as you mention no way to align his timeline with all of Ausar/Amen/Sharpe timelines. Its possible one of them develops to contribute much sooner than we expect, but it's extremely unlikely they all do. Also we could likely use a Dame trade haul to get one of the twins as well as then keep #23/future firsts and flip Ant for a different asset or just keep Ant with all of those guys.

Ant
Ausar Amen
Sharpe

So even if all of them are eventually starting quality - we probably have plenty of minutes with one of them backing up 3 spots to get everyone over 30 mpg. Or maybe the plan would be to just roll with this for a year or two - and once twins show they are ready you trade Ant for frontcourt help. Ant value might jump way up if he can take over some of Dame's touches.

Would be a heck of a lot more exciting to watch, even if this team loses a ton, than the last decade of irrelevant Dame teams.

 

#GetBoth

 

Why would HOU want Ant with Green and KPJ? None of those guys are real PGs, and they already have a hard time with Green or KPJ trying to run the point.

Ant is still a clear upgrade in talent than Eason is right now.

 

Why would they need James Harden?

I don’t buy that they view KPJ as a solution long term.