New Orleans has much better roster balance than Portland. And, with hypothetical good health from Zion (and Nance), their roster is balanced with the strength of it where it needs to be...at wing and forward. That's the opposite of Portland which has gaping holes at wing and forward.
Until Zion has proven he can actually put together a season where he plays, he's a far larger hole in their lineup than anything Portland has.
Portland sucks at D which starts with the Bigs. I'm fine with disagreeing with you and anyone else on this. Nurk is a liability on D mostly because he can't switch onto smaller players which teams regularly exploit. https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/def...r=-1&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular Season https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular Season STOMP
Duren as a player who needs to elevate a franchise from Day 1......not a good situation. Duren as a player who has plenty of scorers around him and just needs to come in and play defense, rebound, block shots, and dunk anything near the rim.....quite positive. He still needs to grow his game, but the pressure would not be so overwhelming. TimeLord, Green, Looney....none of these players can score and aren't incredibly switchable (Green was at one time) and certainly can't shoot, but there they are in the middle of the Finals. It doesn't seem to be much of a stretch to see Duren being much more of an overall contributor while giving the Blazers something they really need. And I think Duren could play some PF in the future as he learns his body. It's shocking how big and defined he is at 18 years old.
well, I did explicitly say 'hypothetical' Zion But the Pels have Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, Jaxson Hayes, half-time-Nance, & Trey Murphy at wing/forward. Blazers have Winslow, Watford, & Little
I will be the first say I am wrong on Duren but I really don't watch tape on players I actually watch them play the whole games on my evaluation. Tapes our nice but there going show the big things they do and not everything in the game beside them big plays. Again I think Duren is going good NBA or he going be a bust and I don't risk high lottery picks on players like that. Now we trade down then that's a different story.
I'm not super excited about Duren, but I think boom or bust is exactly who we SHOULD be drafting. This team won't attract superstar free agents, and we don't have the resources to go out and trade for one, so the only chance we have of adding superstar talent is through the draft. Taking safe picks, unless they're already projected out as stars, isn't going to get it done. That's why I'm not against drafting Sharpe, because the guy could turn out to be a legit star. Or he might suck. But that's the gamble.
Been brushing up on Duren the last few days and I’m starting to warm up to the idea. Think he has more scoring ability then he showed last year for whatever reason. Still don’t think he’ll be the pick but if he is, I don’t hate it as much I would’ve two weeks ago. If we ended up moving down and taking him I would be good with that
Something to keep in mind when watching his Memphis tape. He reclassified up, so he's always the youngest guy on the court going up against guys 1-5 years older then him. Whoever gets him is essentially getting a strait from HS kid who played his Senior season at Memphis. STOMP
That's how I figure it should be too. Oddly, if rumors are true (and maybe they're not) several of the teams picking before Portland are in "win now" mode. In their case "win now" means making the playoffs. So maybe it's possible Sacramento, Detroit and Indiana pass on Shaedon Sharpe because he is a project that won't be able to contribute much next season. They might opt for guys like Benedict Mathurin, Dyson Daniels and of course Keegan Murray. Maybe even Jeremy Sochan over Sharpe, because although he is also a project, he should be able to contribute on defense in his rookie season. If Joe Cronin is true to his word of wanting to take a big swing, he would take Sharpe if he's available at #7 if Keegan Murray is already gone. And if Murray and Sharpe are gone, Duren is probably the next biggest swing. Also, I think Portland is a great place for a player to develop.
I think there is much more to his game than most people think. His passing should be a plus eventually, and also his mid-range shot. The one area that is pretty rough is his feel around the hoop on short shots. If he doesn't dunk it, he can have bad misses. Much like Drew Eubanks, although Eubanks has that nice hook shot. But banking off the glass it's not very consistent.
The irony of this is that I think Sharpe has a very good chance to be a big contributor sooner than Mathurin and Daniels. Murray, OTOH, is plug and play, but his upside isn't anywhere near Sharpe's.
Noel is what Duren is if he doesn't develop those sporadic flashes of skill. Standing Reach: Dyson Daniels 8'9 Klay Thompson 8'7.5 Jaylen Brown 8'6.5 Other two didn't measure I'm not saying no to a guy because he can guard 3 positions well instead of 4.
exum. i like daniels but my problem with drafting him at 7 is his potentially low ceiling. does anybody think daniels can be an all star?
We would have to be the best team in the league. To me he’s Draymond. I don’t think Draymond is ever an all star if he’s not drafted by Golden State. Daniels is an intangibles guy.
No he's not... you're better then this. Noel has been continuously injured for his entire professional career (outside his lone season at UK). He's missed so many games each and every season, it's open to speculation that he's never played a game in the league at the level of health that made him the top overall pick. Also he's 50 pounds lighter then Duren and has less length. Other then those minor issues, spot on At 195, Daniels weighs as much as Lillard. The guys you're siting (Thompson and Brown) are quality SGs and he's coming into the league far lighter then they did. He's not SF sized, which was my counter to your claim. Thus far, he hasn't shown a reliable J. Oh boy, lets draft the second coming of Ben McLemore!!! (I can make a ridiculous analogy that degrades your guy too). STOMP
I'm comparing their play style, not their healthiness... Noel is a really good defensive big, but that's all he is. That's the only skill that I have confidence in projecting Duren as being good in, in terms of being someone who can hang and play up on the perimeter, protect the rim, and is simply a lob target offensively. That's the similarities. Yes Duren could be more, but people thought Noel could be more too, which is the point. Injuries aren't what caused Noel to not pan out, he just wasn't skilled enough and there's a legitimate chance that that'll be the same for Duren. Your talking about a players weight as a rookie? How much did Ant way as a rookie? How much did Giannis? Rookies normally did come in as strong as they're going to be over the course of their careers... Daniels is bigger than guys that are considered as big SGs that have the size to play SF. He needs to add some strength, but so do a lot of rookies.
