I think it would be madness to draft Dieng with a top 10 pick. We need a PF for god's sake. He's only 6'9" and on most boards not in the top 20. That's a guy you make another trade to get a pick for, not use our top pick. Unless we trade down and try and get Dieng and Duren and then try and sign Miles Bridges as our PF. THAT would be interesting. EDIT: I somehow was sure Miles was 6'10" so forget that whole part about him at PF.
Still anyone shorter than 6'10" is not someone I want at the PF unless they are truly elite and I don't think Dieng is the guy certainly not in the top 10. He'd be great at SF. I'm a big believer in size and yes I fully admit I screwed the pooch on Miles Bridges. I swear, I swear I looked within the past two weeks and saw he was 6'10.
A great defensive player can't impact the game as well as a great offensive player, especially in the playoffs. Think about it based on who has the ball; the offense can always give the ball to their best offensive player and run their offense through them. But if a team puts their best defender on the floor, the opposition can just pass to a different matchup and the defender is out of the play. There is a legit reason the stars of the league provide more offense than defense. I'm not saying the Blazers can contend with a horrific defense. This 25-29th ranked defense of the last couple years has no chance in the playoffs. Yes there needs to be a balance. But history and NBA strategy confirm your observation that a defensive specialist player does not provide the benefit to a team as an offensive specialist.
With the lack of talent the Blazers have worrying about a rookie contributing now at PF with a size under 6'10" is so irrelevant to where this team's talent is currently at. The rookie could be 7'10" and win rookie of the year this year; and the Blazers still wouldn't contend. We need multiple starting level players. Rookies even when showing tons of promise are almost never a quality starting level player. Once a rookie we take now is, there could be so much roster turnover we don't know if any member of this team, even Dame or Ant, will be here. The Blazers just need to draft the BPA and figure out depth charts later, when they are a few moves away from contending. Its like your worried about which parking spot we will reserve on the end of our trip; but we are trying to peddle a bike from Portland to London.
Well, I find that talented PF's are the rarest commodity in the league currently. I don't see how we draft BPA and get what we need. Are you suggesting we should take a PG and then automatically lose any value he might have by having him on the bench only to Jermaine On'neal him in the future for min value? We need tall guys we have short guys in spades and yes we need a rookie of the year All-Star. I'm pretty sure a Rookie LeBron would fit great on our team and vault us into immediate contention with Ant, Lillard and Nurk. So yeah we need a star. Disagree that we cannot find a big impact rookie and really, really disagree that size doesn't matter. Obviously I'm not suggesting the next LeBron is in this draft class. I'm saying you can't argue that no Rookie could help vault us into contention a 7'10" Rookie of the year would almost certainly do exactly that especially if we traded Nurk for a PF.
Sochan has big time size at 6'9" and 230, and still 18 (turns 19 in 11 days. Could also play some small ball 5 and can guard 2-5, but a lot depends on what our FA plans are and we are all really blowin smoke as we will know a LOT more in a week when the lotto balls fly and we get some combine numbers as well.
I don't see us drafting a PG/SG who is better than Dame/Ant in this draft. I know there are two very talented guards. I would consider Sharpe because we could maybe have him play SF, but I wouldn't take Ivey unless he dropped to us at 6 and then next best guy was lightyears lower talent for example. I dont' think Ivey will be better than Ant next season or even the one after and even less likely he gets PT to develop behind Dame, Ant and Hart. So yeah we for sure at a minimum need a SF+++ sized guy.
If You think Ivey is a generational talent, you draft him. We had SG covered in 84…..How’d that work out?
Yeah man, I'm sure there is a player of that talent in this draft at our pick level. If we have the Number 1-2 pick (where your scenario matters) and we don't take Jabari Smith or Banchero I will lose my damn mind. Ivey is NOT going to win 6 rings. I know, I know incredible leap of logic on my part.
You think Ivey is the next Jordan eh? Sure guys, sure. Look like I said if there is a huge talent discrepancy on par with Bowie and Jordan (based on college not pros) then yeah draft Ivey if he say drops to 6 where we are. Otherwise, there are tons and tons of guys who at least can play a position of need (3-4 or even a possibly better, certainly cheaper 5 like Duren). In fact, I'd say PG and SG are weak in this draft beyond Ivey and Sharpe. Again don't REACH for a tall guy if Ivey or another guard is CLEARLY better, but if there isn't a big talent difference you draft the tall guy in our situation, come on.
Does anyone want to plant a flag and say Ivey will be better than Dame or Ant next year? Next 2 years? I'm guessing not and if not, then don't draft him if you have Bachero, Smith or other guys who are 6'6"++ on the board still. Remember we have to be able to parley this guy into a bigger player OR you are saying he beats out Dame/Ant/Hart in practice really please guys tell me you think Ivey is better than Dame so you can plant that flag and we can resurrect this thread next year. I highly doubt he will be better than Ant, let alone Dame.
We drafted Martel Webster instead of Chris Paul because we had Sebastian Telfair. The Blazers should draft BPA.
