I'm pretty surprised some of you are thinking Zion right now, if I was gauging the chances, I'd put it around 10-15%
I think Scoot is going #2. Either Charlotte wants him, or they want what they can trade him for. Our choice is between Miller and whoever we can trade him for. I voted trade, but it's a coin toss between trading or just drafting Miller for me. The small chance that Charlotte takes Miller convinced me to vote for trading #2.
I actually think if we tried to get that we could end up with Zion and 14 for 3, Ant, Knox and Keon. I'd be happy with that. Then I do think getting Indy 14, 23, Nas and Nurk might net us Turner and McConnell. Dame, Shaedon, Jerami, Zion, Turner, McConnell, Matisse, a big we get using the TPMLE and see which of our end of bench guys pop or split the TPMLE between a big and a forward. I think that could give a lot of teams problems in a seven game series. If Zion were healthy.
I know that I was just saying Marang is crazy if he thinks NO would give us that package. That is bad as the scenarios I was listening to on my drive home today on NBA radio. They were asking if the Clippers would consider #3, Sharpe, and Ant for Paul George. Not if the Blazers would do it, but would the Clippers? I had to calm myself down before getting into an accident.
Yeah, that's the thing. If Charlotte wants Zion, they can snatch him by drafting Scoot before us. We are trying to hardline a deal with added players, picks. NO could just get Charlotte to take less than or what is already being offered.
I don't think Jones + 14 is a crazy unfair add from their side. We're parting with 2 valuable assets while taking on a big contract with a guy who's clearly no sure thing at the moment. They're also bidding against other teams AND pretty clearly wanting to move Zion, so will be incentivized to not sit on a max offer. Again, it's Marang, grain of salt, but I didn't think that particular comment was too crazy...
Not going to happen. This is why you don't do favors thinking you are going to be owed one back. It's a dog eat dog league and you'd better be the Lion.
I still think we trade the pick. The Blazers are just waiting for a team to cave and give the Blazers what they want. Besides usually the best offers don’t come in until a few hours before the draft starts. I wouldn’t be surprised if a trade happened on the clock.
This is the conclusion that you have to come to when you just look at the facts that we know. Dame said in no uncertain terms that he is not here for youth, that he doesn't want to mentor, that he's cool with Shaedon and that's it, he has actually said these things and he has said that if the team went that way that they'd have to have a different conversation implying that he'd ask out but before all of that he always says he's in constant contact with Joe and they're on the same page. Meanwhile we have a bunch of people reporting that we're going to draft and keep Scoot but every fucking one of them says unless a team gives us what we want. That means we're trading Scoot and just trying to drive up the value we get for him. We might not hear about the trade until we are on the clock... not saying rumors of the trade because maybe it's something that already has been rumored and maybe it will be out of the blue for us... but maybe it doesn't get reported that it's a done deal or even close until we're on the clock. All of that being said I think the chances that Scoot is a Blazer with a press conference on Friday are less than 10%.
Yes, Zion is a huge risk, but they see him as a former #1 pick who is still 22 years old and a 2-time all-star. Yes, he has been injured/out of shape, but they would have other suitors for him. One might see his contract as an issue, but others might see it as a plus since we would have him locked up for 4 more years. (as compared to say Siakam or Brown) They also view Murphy the same way we view Sharpe, which is the main reason I commented on what Marang said in the first place. That would be a deal breaker for them. Sure we can ask, but I would be happy with just swapping 23 for 14. (No Jones and no Murphy)
I want the best player available at 3. I want Dame....and I want Sharpe. Everyone can fight over what to do with everything else.
This is exactly what I've been bringing to the forum. It's hard not to when you really have no idea what is going to happen. I envy San Antonio fans not just because they get Wemby but because they know they're getting Wemby. The biggest move of their off season has already been determined.
If any of this is true, they've sure gone out of their way to NOT dispel any of the media commentary lately. You may be right about Murphy, specifically, I'm not trying to say you're not (though I've also not seen anything anywhere close our multiple leaks of Sharpe being untouchable, so how much of that is simply your perception?). Marang just threw his and Jones' names out. I'm not saying it'd be both or that we'd have our choice, simply that we would be asking for Zion + 14 + a player of that caliber. I think the broader point is that NO both seems to really want Scoot and really want to move on from Zion. That's leverage for us. That other teams are preparing their own "best offers" is added leverage, and often means that a team's resolve will break and they'll meet our asking price. Maybe that means Trey, maybe it doesn't, but again, the leverage is on our side, it wouldn't shock me.
