https://www.nbadraft.net/players/jordan-nwora/ May not be athletic enough to thrive at the NBA level - but a very good shot maker.
A name that has been mentioned before - Tillie. He has too much game to be ignored and somebody is certain to give him a chance, but what are the realistic odds of his body holding up?
At #46, can you get someone who has 'specialty'? Sharpshooter (Nwora) Wingspan/defensive ability (Ebuoa) Shot-blocker (Kelly from Oregon St) Big playmaker (Bolmaro) Athletic ability (Scrubb) All of those have flaws, but if they have a niche and can fill a role, that is about all you can hope for that late in the Draft.
I think Eboua goes undrafted, he’s not much different than Hoard and this class has more depth in the second round than last year. Could probably get him on a two way.
Could easily go undrafted. The Athletic and NBA Draft Room both have him going at #59....so right at the edge. Would like to pick up up as an UDFA on a 2-way deal.
Yeah, unless Neil is super high on a second as he was with Trent, I'd rather go with vets. We have Simons, Little and can bring back one or more of Gabriel/Hoard/Brown for youth. They also don't have to learn a new system/culture. This is probably the worst season ever to draft players with any impact as a rookie; there is no summer or practice time. If it was a first rounder with starter upside sure give them one of the 15th spots. If not I'd rather have veteran minimum guys that can fill in for injury, or a couple games for a matchup. Dame is 30, he is going to decline every year, there is no reason to have young guys with very limited upside on the 15 man roster.
For Dame's sake, I hope they go with veterans instead of adding a bunch of young players. Dame's time started 3 years go and goes for a couple more years before the inevitable NBA player decline starts. Prime: Dame - 30 RoCo - 30 (next month) CJ - 29 Hood - 28 Entering Prime: Nurkic - 26 Years to go: Collins - 23 (tomorrow) Trent - 22 (in January) May never have a Prime: Hezonja - 25 (lost cause?) Gabriel - 23 (energy and defense that can hit a few shots. Could jump...if there are minutes for him) Simons - 21 (said to be working on ballhandling/playmaking) Little - 20 - (could be a defensive terror and was starting to hit shots) Feels like the Blazers still need: Legit PF Backup PG Backup center behing Collins who should get minutes at 4 and 5.
The Covington deal certainly feels like Neil "gets it". He's such a talented dumpster diver though, will be interesting to see if he tries to pull a rabbit out of his hat with the TPE for a draft pick idea or can't help himself and buys his way into a kid he likes tonight. With RoCo on board, easily the top 2 needs for me are backup PG and a backup big. Zach may/may not stay healthy, but I think between outscoring teams and being able to throw long/energetic bodies in the 4 if Zach goes down (RoCo, Wenyen, Little) to soak up minutes, we'd be okay if we didn't come out of the offseason with a locked in PF. Agree that it should be on the list because Zach's reliability is now on shaky ground (at best) but I'd prioritize PG and a backup big over PF.
Glaze, I think your positional needs might make sense if the Blazers had to lock their roster at the start of the season. The thing is backup PG and backup C are extremely easy positions to fill, or flip a second round pick for if an injury came up. However wings are the most difficult positions to fill. It's also the position we don't have our three best players at (Dame, CJ, Nurk), as well as the position we have the most need for a mix of offense and defense. At backup PG or backup C we can get more of an offensive or defensive only specialist which greatly opens up the number of potential acquisitions. I'd still target a 3 or 4 as the #1 priority. Roco as a 3/4 wing and Trent as a 2/3 wing gives us the flexibility that we can really now add either a small wing or big wing. We need someone who is a legit rotational player or occasional starter. Danillo Gaillinari would likely be my preferred choice, but Crowder, Millsap, etc would be great additions to the roster. So even post Roco trade I'd allocate most our assets to the best forward we can get, then use whatever is left from trade exception, BAE, vet minimums for backup C, backup PG, etc.
46 is a good spot for an end of the bench shooter for spot minutes. Any thoughts on this kid? He doesn't need any space to get off a shot.
He's a great option for a 2-way contract. His absolute peak would be a JJ Reddick type player. Most likely he ends up being the 13-15 man on the bench for several years.
You make good points. I just think, between our roster composition and the way the game is going, a solid backup big and a solid RELIABLE backup PG are bigger necessities. I think when you're talking the 8th-10th guys in the rotation, you can get away with playing guys like Simons for 5m as a "wing". We've got Little who deserves a shot, Wenyen provided some productive minutes and probably fits some sort of bench/depth roll as well and although it makes most of us want to gouge our eyes out, Hezonja probably sees (or could conceivably see) wing minutes too. 100% in agreement that it would be great to have another dynamic wing, but I see that as an easier need to hide than the others. EDIT: I guess I should also say that I'm operating under the assumption that Hood comes back. Put another way, I'd see this offseason as a greater failure if we don't come away with a veteran backup PG than another wing.
