This is a decent trade no doubt and especially good since Miami didn't get Dame. So with this trade and maybe some additional tweaking it's clear that it's Joe's team now. No more ghosts from Olsheys past to haunt him. Let's see where things go the next few years of the new Cronin era!
Even if we trade Holiday, I still think we'd have potential to be a good play-in team. And I'd be happy to see it. I hate the idea of continuing to tank for more prospects. Let the current team learn how to win and build chemistry. Let Chauncey prove his worth. Don't let them get stuck in a endless cycle of tanking as you could easily turn into Charlotte or Orlando doing that kind of thing. It all hinges on Ayton. This is the year to showcase whether he's an empty stats player or if he can revert back to his dominant 2020 form. I think playing with Scoot instead of Booker will help him. If he proves to be a solid piece, we will end the season over .500%.
The rare Greek-British-Oregonian. When it rains, it rains souvlaki and mash; and it rains often in Oregon.
Man, that's some high expectations. I don't believe in Ayton that much, and while I have faith in our team, going over 50% *this season* would be flat out amazing
Brogdon/Ant/Jerami/Williams/Ayton Bench mob: Scoot, Shaedon, Murray, Jabari That's a run and dunk team right there
Just because of what's already established in the West, I don't think so. Yet. If they keep Brogdon and he stays, though, even for half the season, this is going to be a much-better lottery team than we anticipated. On a given night, it can give just about any team in the league nightmares. It's a big-time spoiler team. The biggest thing that will hold it back is Scoot, who eventually will be the best player, is playing the position that requires the most seasoning. He's going to look fantastic sometimes but I suspect there'll be a lot of turnovers while he's figuring it out. Our guy with the second-most upside, Shaedon, is kind of in the same boat. At the moment, there are just too many proven commodities in this side of the NBA with the Nuggets, Suns, Warriors, LeBrons, Clippers, Kings, Grizz, Pels, T-Wolves and up-and-coming Thunder and Jazz. They might win a game that pushes a team into the play-in round, though.
We have to keep our eye on the ball. Giving our future core experience together has to be the priority. Winning isn't secondary or even tertiary. In fact, it may be detrimental to what we're trying to do. If our core gets better earlier than we think, then we need to throttle their minutes. Work the backbenchers and see who is worth keeping. We need another reasonably high draft pick. A first-round loss in the playoffs may be instructive, but it's not as important as getting another young, impact player. I'm sure Chauncey is sick of losing, but we are only in the beginning stages of our rebuild.
Making the playoffs is still far fetched despite the obvious rebalance of talent across the roster. But let’s just remember it’s the western conference. Even factoring in my Blazers bias, I can only see them being an 11th or 12th seed at best. We will probably be around the 9th or 10th best odds with more games to tank towards the end of the season when we’re mathematically out of it.
Scoot is more likely to reach his ceiling due to his drive, but there is zero doubt in my mind that Rim Shaedy has a vastly higher upside. As in MVP level talent if everything clicks. Again, we aren't talking floors (Scoot has a higher floor), we aren't talking likely scenarios (Scoot's work ethic is gold), we are talking upside and Sharpe has the 2nd most upside in the entire league IMO behind only Wemby. Maybe Holmgren is above Sharpe as well, but that's about it. Sharpe has unlimited upside.
Builds a tanking team when he's trying to win and then builds a playoff team when he's trying to lose.
