FWIW the 8th spot in the draft this year was the Detroit Pistons who finshed 32-50 and drafted Stanley Johnson. Not that we cant trade up but just to give you an idea
If our pick ends up in the top 2, my darkhorse would be sending the pick for Bradley Beal. Washington could put Labissiere or Simmons at the 4 next to Wall and Gortat and end up with $50M in cap space to get Durant and another allstar. They'd probably just try to pair Durant with Beal and Wall but you never know. Draft-wise, Malik Newman is a little undersized at 6'4 for a SG, but he's athletic and can score. Brandon Ingram is a possibility at 5 or 6, but I don't know too much about him.
See? Id rather see something like this if we get a solid draft pick. Unless there is a player that EVEYRONE knows will start coming out of the gates and fits our need perfectly, then I would rather package it with a trade for a solid PROVEN All Star. Besides. Its all moot. We are winning 42+ games this year. I said it first!
29th best? I think people forget that Lillard actually stayed... and yeah 2016 sucks. Labissiere is gonna be a superstar, Ben Simmons an all star, and the rest role players.. Jaylen Brown is overrated as hell in my opinion. He's average at everything except for he has decent athleticism and an nba ready body. Thing is once he gets here the nba ready body won't be an advantage anymore and his athleticism will be on par with most wings. There's probably a diamond in the rough allstar, and my bets would be on Newman.
Consolation? It's not a prize pool for runners-up, it's the cheapest way to acquire talent. Of course the lottery isn't the ultimate goal, but if you're going to suck anyway (and after losing 4 starters one way or another, that seems the likeliest outcome) you might as well look at the positive side of all that sucking. Besides, the topic of conversation is what is the best way to get the next Drexler? Not whether or not the lottery is good or bad. Based on everything we know about the NBA, what do you think the best way to acquire an All-NBA caliber player is in a small market?
To be fair that article was about starting lineups, not overall roster, in fact pointed out that Portlands bench is actually pretty strong so won't be the 2nd worst team in the league
I agree that it can't be a consolation, but it certainly can't be a goal. Gotta try to win so you develop these guys.
I don't see this as a one-time lottery team honestly. With the strength and depth in the West the Blazers are probably 2-3 years away from playoff contention (barring trades and unforeseen expedited development of a couple of guys - Vonleh, etc.).
If also say watch out for Harrison Barnes. If we nearly max him out we might get him, sonsince Golden State would has so many guys to pay. but I could also see us sign and trading for him using our pick. So they save money and still have a decent young player
We will have to agree to disagree on this. But even still every year you tweak. So wouldn't the quality of the draft class impact your idea of best way to find the next Drexler?
yeah but if you don't try to win and just handout minutes to guys cuz they're young then they have nothing to strive for.
Frankly the whole thing is just a thought experiment. If you have three avenues to acquiring an All-NBA player: trades, free agency and the draft. Most teams in small markets seem to make the most hay via the draft. That's all I'm talking about here.
Players and coach are always going to try to win. I don't think the organization is projecting and intention to lose to the players. Philly though is pretty clearly not caring about winning at all. Portland may not win many games but that will be attributed to simply not having the front end elite talent needed. They will though try to win every game.
My dream scenario for that type of wing is sending something Denvers way for our 2016 pick back, cuz it'll be assumed to be a lotto pick for the next 2 years. Send Crabbe, Kaman and a future 2nd to LAC for a future 1st, then at the deadline packaging Vonleh, Plumlee, Aminu, (Maybe CJ too), our 2016 1st (top 2 protected), and 2 other future firsts to go get Cousins once the Kings blowup, then going hard after Durant. trying to sell him on a big 3 of Lillard/Durant/Cousins. I think that trade could net Cousins and I think that K'D would at least have to think about coming here.
contracts won't get you in the gym an hour and a half before practice, they'll just make you play harder during games.
i would do a trade for harrison barnes. and if we somehow get ben mclemore without trading away our 1st round pick next year then let do this thing.
Le sigh. We already traded our first next year. We can't trade it again until after we make the pick if we can keep it due to protections on the pick
