(For the purposes of this exercise as we head to draft day, we assume no trades will be made/the draft order is set.) First two picks: Victor Wembanyama Scoot Henderson Who do you think Portland should take? Tomorrow at about noon I'll set up another poll with the results factored in.
I like Ausar better than Amen, but he's not rated highly enough as a prospect to draft at 3. I'd want to trade down with Orlando, and then take the guy I want at 6. Absent that, I think Miller would be the guy to take, just because he's likely to have the best trade value.
Miller is a safe choice IMO. Not all NBA level or maybe not even an all-star. But none-the-less he has length, he has great range, and has good enough handles to attack the basket. But I think he goes to Charlotte
Im probably a bit unconventional here in thinking that i would take Scoot if he's available at three, but would trade the pick if he goes to Charlotte. Not feeling Miller at all and would rather trade out or down. But I think Whitmore is the third best prospect in this draft.
As for my reasoning behind not liking Miller, I feel like he isn't fast or athletic enough to do anything with the extra space he'll get in the league. He's also an extremely poor finisher at the rim in the halfcourt and has iffy shot selection. Also worrisome to me is questions about his work ethic not being maniacal like Scoot's. Also, he's going to be 21 yrs old by Game 1 of the regular season, so it's not really fair to compare him against other freshmen. He's actually 6 months older than Shaedon. With #3, I want to swing for the fences. This ain't Miller. We have decades of experience of similar prospects turning into role players in the league... Or worse. Last but not least, the murder gives me icky feelings and his responses so far have not been satisfactory to me. I feel like it will continue to be a distraction and affect his career.
Don't over think it - just take Miller. Yeah Amen has athletic tools, possibly a higher ceiling, and may eventually be the better player. Thats why its a draft and inexact with projections. Miller is clearly the superior prospect as well as a near consensus to have higher trade value in the weeks that follow. The Blazers are in a very unusual situation with their roster for a team at the top of the lottery in that they may go full win now with an older all NBA player or they may tear down everything and rebuild. Better to keep trade options open as long as possible. If Scoot is taken at #2 I think it makes the Blazers decisions much simpler. They just draft Miller and evaluate any trade offers at the draft or later. If Scoot instead drops to 3 it will be much more difficult as its likely someone must be traded and it brings in more questions if it makes sense long term to have a team with Dame and Scoot as cornerstones. I guess the other potential aspect is Miller's legal issues. If this is a red flag for the Blazers they need to trade down or take someone else.
OK, I will bite since you keep bringing this up. What part of that story do you not believe? I am not saying you are wrong but everything I have read seems to make sense. What am I missing? If you were Miller what would you have done differently?
Thats a pretty good rationale. I see Miller value as much higher on offense as well as defense both from what I've seen as well as all the analysts. Seems like a player who will be a very good starter if not much better. I guess I'm not as worried about trying to get a clear #1 dominant ALL NBA option in the draft - I don't think thats necessary to build a championship roster. Spurs and Pistons and many great teams never had these player but were dominant teams. Its more important to have many well rounded players all over the roster with few weaknesses. We already have the athletic sky is the limit upside player in Sharpe, and even a bit in Ant, so I don't see the need to have a bunch of those archetypes. On the murder aspect I think his answers are fine, its pretty standard to point to your attorneys in a situation like this, it would actually be a red flag to me if he did anything different. I will say the Blazers need to get more answers on this, but that can be done in private and none of us need to hear about it. If the Blazers aren't comfortable with that aspect they absolutely should trade down or pick someone else. This is either a major issue or nearly irrelevant IMO. So I'm just going to leave my opinion of it as irrelevant but defer that responsibility to the Blazers of doing the right decision here.
Did you hear his response to questions about it at the combine? It was rehearsed and vague. He simply repeated 10 times that he needs to surround himself with different people. There was no remorse, or repentance that his actions directly led to the murder of an innocent single mother. And the fact that he showed up to team interviews with a legal brief saying he can't talk about it? If there is no involvement or he is exonerated (or rather, there is no case) why can't he talk about it? Feel free to ignore if you wish-- that's your prerogative. I dont think teams will.
There's a good reason they brought in Amen...and that Dame was smiling at his workout..he's from Oakland...both twins seem to be mature and have high character.....Miller has character flags and we don't need the next suspended Jah Morant contaminating our young guys. I think Amen is the guy.
After reading Brandon Miller's scouting report and also Amen Thompson's I think Thompson would be the better player
Unsure of how smart it is given that nearly every national mediaperson dealing with the draft still brings it up whenever they talk about Miller. Duncd on did a podcast on him and talked about this non-case for a fifth of their whole pod.
OK, so your whole issue is with his statement a couple of weeks ago. That is fine, I was just wondering if I had missed something important about his involvement. Apparently not. I have read multiple articles on the incident so I really did not expect him to talk about it at a press conference But I agree that teams will ask .......in private.
The matter is not closed, correct? They haven't tried his friends yet? He gains nothing by talking about it publicly. If he admits guilt or remorse, that could be used in a civil court. The guy legally just needs to keep his mouth shut. What you're saying is essentially, "why not talk to the police, I'm innocent." Meanwhile, every single legal expert will tell you to never talk to the police for any reason. Guilty or innocent. He is clearly not out of the woods yet.
Then that's even more reason to not brush under the rug while evaluating him. Regardless, I have about 18 other reasons I wouldn't take him at 3 as I outlined above.
It's smart because he's not putting himself at risk of jail time or a civil suit. National mediaperson and Duncd don't make any decisions on where he is drafted. Only parties he needs to address this with are those who make the draft decisions, and that is likely done in private.
If they take Miller, he sure as hell better be an All Star, on the low side. And at least be on the cusp of All NBA.
