I suspect Blazers laid it out for Brogdon. Be a leader. Be a mentor. Don’t tank your value, do what we ask, and be a soldier for a few months and we’ll send you to a contender looking for reinforcements at the deadline.
Great interview by Brogdon. If I was nitpicking the 1% possible cause of concern would be him saying he will be finishing games. Are one or two of Sharpe Scoot Simons Malcolm going to be happy sitting on the bench to close games? Maybe we close with Sharpe at the 3 and just rotate those other guys. Or we have Scoot play big minutes starting but very few closing. Should be fine for a few months but I don't see how we keep these 4 together for an entire season. I do love that when an inevitable missed games or injuries hit we have great options to take those minutes instead of having to play Keon, Brandon Williams, or Mays major PG minutes.
Probably a very similar thing to what the Kings do with Malik Monk.. Monk comes off the bench but finishes the games.. Scootas gotta be on the floor late though -- Brogdon's presence here doesnt affect that... Henderson(PG)/Simons(SG)/Brogdon(SF) then depending on how small the other team is Shaedon/Grant at PF with Ayton at C.... A lot depends on what the other team does, coach billups won a championship starting at PG ill gladly defer to him as for who should be on the floor, cuz he'll have a better sense of 'whos hot'.. as much as Shaedon at PF might seem funky -- teams play small (and if they dont thats why Jerami Grant makes $30mm/season), give Shaedon the ball way ouside the arc n have him discard the defender off the dribble, well within his capacity to get a high quality look in that situation.. As much as Sharpe might be a sieve defensively, it can work both ways.. Plus were talkin 4th quarter high pressure reps, good for em nomatter how he gets the reps..
I see it like Chauncey's old Pistons championship team in '05 --- They had a much more oldschool starting lineup because of the forwards.. because of Rasheed Wallace at PF and Tayshaun Prince at SF. n Prince never made the all-star team but he got snubbed in '06.. The current Blazers IMO are being setup like that old Pistons team ---- with the one MAJOR exception being that its actually more for a 3-guard look and for those Rasheed Wallace/Tayshaun Prince forward spots to sorta be condensed into the PF, cuz thats actually much more how the game is played in the nba these days... N also theres salary reasons why that is too, Blazers already have allocated salaries out big money to Ayton, Simons is gonna be owed big money, Grants got a big contract.. I dont think Ben Wallace ever had a big contract with the Pistons, he famously ripped the Bulls off on a terrible deal after he left... But we pay Ayton big money here so we gotta shake n move stuff around, n one of the ways is -- cant be paying both forwards big $$$... Instead the plan is to basically overpay the 6th man who can also flex to SF, and then also fill in the rest of the holes at forward with rookie deals.. Makes a ton of sense if u ask me..Cuz they also flex the big money forward Grant between PF and SF, so bases are covered.. and we have a likely lotto pick on the way, to be used on another forward/wing, so the beat rolls on, its already setup that way.. and Brodgon's got a big contract too til the end of next season, but my point is, Brodgon's contract is actually the placeholder for the Tayshaun Prince SF spot of the Pistons conversion.. Brodgon's contract should be counted at SF, not like we have too many guards/chefs ruining the stew! Brodgons 6'5! I just cant debunk that whole theory cuz as time moves on it seems we keep taking more and more steps in that direction.. Should result in a more entertaining brand of ball... Why would we run out Kris Murray and Camara and Jabari Walker when we could play 3-guards n Brogdon at SF? I must be missing something... Murray, Camara, Walker arent even remotely on Brogdons level currently. They call it roster flexibility, Blazers have lots of players who can flex up and flex down, everyone does its the state of the game in 2023-2024.. So Brogdon can flex to SF, but if we're getting torched by a particular PG or SG, he can flex there too.. So IDK I dont think theres some urgency to move him, the perimeter defense might really suffer unless we get a fitting replacement (which is what i was worried abotu trading Jrue for, until we returned Brogdon) Its like how Kevin Durant entered the league as a wing player n now he plays PF.. or Tatum at PF.. Its not really like a "blazers" or "management" type of thing, this is just the way the game is played these days...
Theoretically, Portland could also play Shaedon at PF and have a 4 guard lineup. A good reason why not to is that he's too small, which is the same reason Brogdon shouldn't be getting much run at SF. Along with a nice outside threat and some savy, like Sharpe he brings SG size to the roster. Brogdon measured 6'3.75 with a 8'2" standing reach at the 2016 combine. Shaedon 6'4.25" 8'7.5" Murray 6'7.75 & 8'10" Camara 6'7 & 8' 11" Walker 6' 6.75" & 8' 9" STOMP
Agree but I think weight needs to be factored in as well, and Brogdon is bigger than all of those guys listed. If you have an SF who likes to post up Malcolm will provide some resistance. His wing span is 6'11 and he gets his hands on a lot of passes. I would still only play him at guard, I just think he is a good defender who could play some SF minutes at the end of games.....depending on the match-up.
Ibou Dianko Badji and John Butler have very high standing reaches too.. should we play them instead? but seriously, how tall n what was domas sabonis wingspan at the combine? didnt domas measure a 6'10.5 wingspan? n dont the kings list him at 7'1 or something crazy nowadays? do u actually think he grew 2 inches in his mid 20's? doesnt look like it to me.. certainly not in that matchup vs kevon looney in the playoffs.. where the kings couldnt grab a rebound to save their lives in the 3rd q of game 7... Looney(listed at 6'9") made Sabonis look like a SF in that 3rd q! but the kings made the playoffs with him at C, n gave him a 5year $217MM contract.. n they had richaun holmes deadweight contract on the books too n made thje playoffs starting a rookie, which is the blazers goal now --- to make the playoffs with a rookie in the starting lineup Now I also watched Ayton DECIMATE Sabonis last year too he had liek 27 and 12 or something n was the best player ont he floor.. but i guess thats not relevant to this post, just occurred to me. -- (The Ayton destroying Sabonis game I mentioned) I used to read Draftexpress when Mike Schmitz worked there religiously they would talk about how Julius Randle's Wingspan was questionable FOR A POWERFOWARD.. Sabonis and Randle(4yr/$118MM) are All-Stars playing C these days.. I say the game has changed.. In the event we gotta deal with Brandon Ingram at SF, or that classic tall PF and tall SF look, we can flex Grant down to SF. So I dont really even see how this is an issue anymore.. ppl are just very rigored in their positions i suppose.. Look at the current state of the SG position around the league -- these players all have combo guard skills these days pretty much, or else your a SF.. Suns are gonna play Beal and Devin Booker a double combo guard look. James Harden kind of killed the SG position if you ask me when he was in MVP form in Houston, the SG position is really for Combo guards(Like Simons..) now and the SF position has turned into Swingmen n then PF has turned into combo forwards n C has turned into C/PF.. The dominoes sorta fell like that if U ask me.. Its nothing new or groundbreaking the Knicks won the championship in the 70's starting 2 combo guards in Frazier n Monroe. but so theres players like Brogdon with combo guard skills and more of a swingman build --- and these players now are like killing 2 birds with 1 stone on the depth chart.. but thats how i view him -- not like we have some backlog on guards.. Its called "a meta" in games.. but the Blazers need to try and manuever these metas n stay 1 step ahead.. cuz just doing it thru tanking and hoping for a savior, or even emulating a "smart team" is an arduous task cuz ur perpetually steps behind the competition, n u get treated like a pinata n a doormat by the other franchises.
idk call me crazy... if pedestrian sized chris paul can play this kind of defense on kevin durant in the playoffs.. I have faith in 6'5 malcolm brogdon being able to to defend lesser SF's.. n ill admit if im wrong but i think brogdon has proven to be a pretty good nba player n deserves some benefit of the doubt.. I mean Bruce Brown was listed at SF by the Nuggets right? they just won the championship... He's like 6'3 and some change without shoes with a sub- 6'10 wingspan IIRC.. Now Brown is strong as an Ox but still the fact remains he's not that tall and not insanely long for a SF.
If he could only hit the mid-range shot consistently as he did in that game.....it would be huge for this team. He should be able to get it off fairly easily. I love how he finishes at the basket as well.
I think you can use various lineups in crunch time so they are all content. Thybulle also needs to close games on defense. But getting the right combination that has good chemistry will be interesting to see. I am expecting some Chauncey to experiment for a while.
This is my dream trade (we would waive Otto): I would love for this trade to come together tomorrow. Toronto needs perimeter scoring and Ant has shown he's a phenomenal scorer, he could bring the ball up in some sets and Scottie Barnes could in others with Ant off the ball. Miami gets the PG that they need and a guy that fits in perfectly with what they do along with Thad Young who might just start for them at PF. If Time Lord can hold up he would be absolutely perfect next to JJJ. We get Dick who would automatically start at SF. This frees up the team to start and give heavy usage to both Scoot and Shaedon. Lowry is probably one of the only guys in the league that would be a better mentor off the bench than Brogdon. Obviously this would mean an even greener team and I would expect that we would definitely trade Jerami and Tisse by the trade deadline and then buyout Lowry sometime after that so he could mentor for more than half of the season but finish out this season with a contender.
You think Gradey Dick and an unprotected future first plus filler is a bad return Ant and a second round pick?
