Scoot and Sharpe for the future would be scary for sure. The peak of that duo could be like a better Westbrook/PG imo, where Sharpe is a more athletic PG and Scoot is an unselfish/better-on-defense Westbrook.
I don't know if Schmitz was with Draft Express then but they absolutely loved Chris Paul that year. They didn't outright say it but it seemed they thought he was the best player in the draft.
Not true. Most of the discussions I've seen talking about Scoot mention conflicting with Damian Lillard and the position Scoot plays.
Sad part is we are more likely to drop than go up in the draft. How depressing is that…. although worked getting Sharpe last year.
@TBpup you make an (almost) compelling argument. At any other time I would agree with you, and the Sharpe pick is the #1 reason why. The kid has superstar written all over him. But now, here, today, I think we have had our fill of obscure "guys with upside". That was Olshey's whole shtick after all. Alan Crabbe anyone? Mo Harkless? Aminu? No, right now I buy into Cronin's vision: Stock assets, and combine them into a trade this summer for a player that can move the needle now.
Yeah, if you’re drafting scoot you move on from Lillard. Simons as well as it’s been proven the small backcourt sucks
I'd love it if that worked. The concern is, we trade young players and assets that could be quite good Draft picks down the road in a few years when Dame is old or gone. Portland seems to have a 19 year old with as much potential as any player to put on a Blazer uniform. Who knows what happens, but chasing a short term fix doesn't work out very often. It did for the Raptors, but Kawhi was quickly gone and while nice, seemed a little bit hollow of a title with no team legacy. If a player like Embiid (I don't think any other one player would make enough of a difference) did come here and Portland was suddenly a contender, would it be more about him than Dame who has been here for years? The bigger likelihood, is he would be injured again and we would have traded a lot of assets for nothing and for the amount of assets it would take, it might gut the team. It seems I'm jaded about Portland actually making any trade that really works out for them.
Yeah I too am tired of trading draft picks for it to work out. Olshey was constantly overpaying with draft picks for guys that flamed out. In the one year he won a trade and received a draft pick, he wasted it. We don’t even know if Cronin is any better in the negotiation game. So far, I feel like we’ve seen that he’s worse. We DO know we’ve gotten considerably better in the scouting department. Maybe actually try playing to our strength. There’s a chance there isn’t a difference maker for the right price like last year. I’m pleasantly surprised both that the FO showed restraint by holding onto the pick and that Dame was understanding of it. Under the assumption we keep two 1sts, we have a chance to bring in two young core pieces for four cheap years while Dame’s contract is so high.
When does the new CBA kick in with the stipulations that players can gain part ownership in the team? A good indication that could signal Dame being here for the long term is Dame quickly being a minority owner. Maybe it’s just me reaching, but I imagine Dame would be more open to drafting talent over trading for immediate fixes if he also became more financially invested in the team.
Does no one think itd be a good idea that if we got scoot we just trade anf move sharpe to start next to dame and let scoot learn from dame til dame is ready to pass the torch? Especially if we think sharpe and scoot would be a dynamic back court of the future. if we’re worried about talent below scoot being up to par and we don’t want to trade down to get more assets it doesn’t seem that bad of an idea. Then sign mays as third string pg. I guess the only way that’s a bad idea is if it somehow stunts scoots growth. Which suppose is possible. But injuries happen and he’d probably get what sharpe was getting in way of minutes this year. Which clearly wasn’t enough, but enough to get going.
All drafts are not created equal. There have been some drafts that produced many hidden gems who went lower and some where most of the lotto players were blah to outright busts. Blazer management is reputed to be real draft geeks so it figures they have opinions about the quality of this one and what they'd like to do once the draft order is set. I'm sure Schmit & others have watched all of the guys in person many times and likely spoken to the various players and important figures around them. Maybe they have a target or two they're high on if they end up mid lotto, maybe they've has good reason to want to pass on all and trade out? Short of landing at the top of the lotto, I continue to view this roster as several players away from being a legit contender so I'm hoping management takes the long view rather then try for an insta-fix to appease Dame. Yes they've made some statements about trying to contend now around Dame, but they pretty much have to say thats their intention or invite a public rift with their star. STOMP
Celtics traded the 1st pick to Philadelphia, Phily ended up drafting Fultz at 1 and the Celtics Tatum at 3
The idea of drafting Scoot if we had pick #2 keeps sounding better in my head as time goes on honestly. There are scenarios, like DET getting pick #2, where we realistically could get Scoot at #3 as well. I don’t think Scoot coming off the bench is bad for a first year. Dame had like 12 games missing due to injury as well this year, so Scoot should have a solid stretch to start.
What do you put the odds at Portland keeping the #2 pick if they were to land it? I'd guess in the 20% range.
Trading the 2nd pick means: ==================== Trading away a 6'9" forward in Brandon Miller that shot 38% on threes, had 8 rebounds per game, and shot 86% on 4.6 fta /game. Miller is 20 years old. OR Trading away what for many drafts would have been the #1 pick in Scoot Henderson, who could quickly become one of the best-two way guards in the NBA, with his combination of defense, playmaking and scoring. Henderson is 19 years old.
Correct. And the team trading for either of those players would be putting a package together with those things in mind. You never did answer my question.
At some level, this is my worst nightmare because, yeah, the Blazers seem more likely to trade it than not, even though taking Henderson would be a perfect choice (given I want us to trade Dame) or that Brandon Miller would be a pretty good way to add a guy who can help us right away at a position of need. I'd say maybe 45% likely to keep it, although picking Miller (more of a "win soon" move) would be much more likely than if I were supreme ruler of the Portland Trail Blazers. I'd love to end up with either of those guys at the 2 or 3 draft spot, and without knowing who we could get for them, it's hard to get myself too worked up... but I'm worried we'd move the pick and, say, Simons for Siakem. That wouldn't be enough to make us good enough while Dame is still kicking butt, and it hurts our future more than becoming HCA-competitive would be worth in my opinion.
