Exclusive Official 2020 Draft Thread

PD Web on Twitter is one of the best draft follows...

Here's one of his many in-depth pieces which covers Malachi Flynn, Theo Maledon and Cassius Winston.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/43376700

 

CBSNBA review of each team needs going into draft. I found this to be pretty accurate in my opinion.

Portland Trail Blazers
Draft picks owned: 16, 46

Needs: Small forward, backup center, overall defense

The Blazers entered last season without a small forward-sized player on their roster. Their solution to that was acquiring 35-year-old Trevor Ariza, who skipped the bubble, leaving Carmelo Anthony and Gary Trent Jr. the unenviable task of defending LeBron in the playoffs. It didn't go well, and if Portland wants to have any chance at changing that next season, it needs an actual small forward athletic enough to hang with the best of the West. Hassan Whiteside is a free agent, and if he leaves, Portland will need someone to spell Jusuf Nurkic. Their defensive struggles in the bubble speak for themselves. They won't make the playoffs giving up 120 points per 100 possessions, and Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum aren't helping much on that end of the floor. Every other spot in the lineup needs to be stout to make up for them.

Potential fits: Devin Vassell, Saddiq Bey, Patrick Williams

Recent videos of Vassell's revamped (not in a good way) shooting form might allow him to drop to Portland at No. 16, where they'll happily snatch him up due to his defensive potential. If he's gone, one of Bey or Williams might still be around, and they're excellent consolation prizes. Bey is more of a finished product while Williams has more upside, but both should immediately help a team desperate for wing defenders.

 

I would put our needs as

1. Power forward. I think Collins is best used around the rim, as a rim protector and as a pick and roll defender.

2. Backup point guard- This somewhat depends on Simons. This should probably be a veteran though.

3. Wings- I’m high on Nas, think Wenyen is best fit as a small forward, and we have Ariza, Trent, and Hood. Hoard also had his flashes.

Agree about defense. That should be a focus.

 

The problem with your last statement about defense is that our perimeter D is going to get lit up as long as we're playing Dame and CJ together for the majority of minutes. I would also say you are right that we need a vet at backup PG but we probably also want someone with experience at PF... ideally someone who could start so Zach could backup both post positions. I know all of these changes I'm wanting to happen this off season are a collective pipe dream but they need to happen if we want to contend.

 

Id be surprised if Olshey didn’t go after Millsap.

 

If Olshey is standing pat with everything else, landing Millsap to start at PF with the MLE and bringing Melo back as a sixth man for the BAE would be about as good as we could expect him to do with this roster. I mean the idea that Olshey will put any significant money into a backup PG might not be very logical even if it is needed. He sees CJ as being able to take all of the meaningful minutes running the offense while Dame sits. As far as Millsap goes, I just worry that he's slowed down too much to get out on the perimeter defensively the way a 4 has to these days but that won't stop Olshey and I think Millsap is better defensively overall than what we had in Melo last season.

A rotation of Dame, CJ, Ariza, Millsap, Nurk, Melo, Gary, Zach and Hoodie isn't very exciting and would likely just be in contention for HCA and max out in the second round of the playoffs but it's also a very Olshey thing to do. Obviously a lot of young guys will need development and having old players like Millsap and Melo taking the minutes Nas, Wenyen and probably one of our picks could get won't be great for our future. So pretty much Olshey will play it too conservative to contend during Dame's prime but will acquire vets like we are contending... really frustrating.

 

showed his age or the layoff hurt him in playoffs. i have advocated for him too but looked slow at the PF and might be better suited to small ball 5 going forward. jamychal green looked to be a very usful piece if he opts out of the clips chaos. he could be had for $7-8 million and might jump at an initial offer in a hyper shortened free agency signing window. perfect stretch 4 candidate to start or back up. played small ball five against us in the bubble effectively. saric would have been a nice

 

idk, I’d say his playoff performances were inconsistent. He was a big reason they came back against the clippers, on both ends. I wouldn’t draw any conclusions about the end of his career based on those games. I’d be comfortable giving him a short term (1-2 years) deal.

 

Yeah, if we can get him for the MLE it's the perfect move if what we are competing for is the fourth seed and an appearance in the second round but not if we're competing for the championship. Don't get me wrong, if Olshey is committed to this roster then Millsap would be a very solid addition and I can't think of a better one that we could get for the MLE. I'm just very frustrated with Olshey's blind commitment to the Dame/CJ back court and this roster overall. We need to make big changes to maximize what Dame does best and remedy our terrible defense.

 

this roster has literally yet to play one game together. Collins and Nurk haven’t played with Ariza. Hood hasn’t either. That alone will impact the defense.

 

I have watch the games from the bubble a bunch of times and our defense is trashed. Yes occasionally someone makes a good defense stop but majority of the time we was really bad.

 

And what exactly does that address in Scalma's post that you quoted?

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article246851412.html

 

Is it possible to rate those three you were discussing as to desire, toughness, confidence, IQ and work ethic?

 

Olshey gonna take him at 16 heheheheh

 

You never know about olshey it will not out of character for to pull the trigger on him at 16. I don't know to much about him to say he should or not. To me it really depends who is left at the time we draft at 16.

 

Ainge probably trying to get into like the top 7 with that package. Not gonna happen