I would have liked Khyri picked by our team in the 2nd round but there are more than those two: https://www.si.com/nba/2018/06/15/k...outing-report-highlights-strengths-mock-draft Portland had him in to work out yet passed on him in the draft. I would like to believe for a reason.
You forgot to mention the psychological and personality tests, and the interviews with coaches and others. The Blazers do their homework. I for one am not in a position to second guess them on choosing one player over another similar player based on those other intangibles.
Those are pretty big ones though for where you would slot him in. I think in NO's mind he would compare Thomas to what Simons and/or Trent would be at age 22. Others:
I understand they had him in for a workout, I'm not disputing that they obviously liked others more. Every weakness listed there is age related, ball handling related, or athleticism related. Defense to me is more about effort, understanding the concepts (like when to help, when to gamble on steals, when to lay off your man), having quick reactions mentally, and positioning. Sure athleticism helps but I like to go by what I saw on the court and that guy can defend extremely well.
I was showing his release point, which ti were talking about, not his set point. His release is high with great extension, due in part to his wingspan. This argument is about you thinking Trent isn't undersized but Thomas is. That's false unless you only look at height. That's my point.
I agree 95%. 5% was held out for Biebs. I think they got enamored with his shooting and size and didn't see something missing between his ears.
OK, I didn't know that some guy named Pelton has a formula for predicting 3 pt success. I truly do hope that Trent will be a great shooter. Maybe there is some evidence that he hits wide open shots at a very high rate, which is something we need. I would still rather draft only two way players. So I was frustrated. And I just today thought of something else (JLPRK ) is gonna like this!). Olshey apparently claimed he tried to make a deal for an impact player using the TPE and draft picks. Now he says he will use players off our roster plus the TPE. Well, why did he have to wait until the draft was over to realize this? Why couldn't he have used a combination of draft pick(s) and players and the TPE? Now those draft picks aren't really much of an asset, because Olshey picked them; the other team's GM won't have a chance to make his picks. So yeh, I'm not impressed with Olshey's work so far.
And I'll be watching them both for years. If I'm wrong I'll come out and say so; but if I'm right I think I will just sneer in private and hope somebody remembers.
No, but you can use them creatively in basically the same transaction. It's not me, but Olshey, who said he would be now trying to use the TPE and players from our roster to get an "impact" player.
I don’t think Olshey would give that information because it would be disparaging to the players he didn’t pick and likely make others think twice about working out in Portland.
