Short term, sure. Long term, you really have no clue. Thankfully it seems that Portland's FO is seemingly pretty decent at evaluating talent.
Agree, it is impossible to know how these guys will be in 2-3 years. I do think there are a few who can give some depth next year (i.e CMB), but like with most drafts, this is about developing for the near future.
I think this is going to be a very quiet offseason. We might trade Simons. I don't think we are going to trade Grant/Rob/Ayton. I hope we do but I have serious doubts.
Because no good player was ever taken with a draft pick? They all magically appeared, like mushrooms after rain?
I think there's going to be a lot of stuff happening all over the NBA and Portland has a lot of pieces that can help facilitate trades, so I suspect the opposite. I have no idea what or who the blazers will trade, but I suspect multiple transactions they will be involved in
Blazers will likely just use the pick. The Blazers will try for a draft trade, but it will probably fall through. Blazers will probably act as facilitators in a trade, but get little out of it.
Potential rotation players on rookie scale deals are critical these days. I think we use the pick for sure.
I'm not opposed to trades but what is the major hole on the team? I want Simons gone so we can actually see Scoot start for a season and see what we have. Ayton is fine. I'm not sure if Clingan is ready to start every game. Grant..... would be fine off the bench if he's okay with it. If someone is willing to give us some value I'd move him in a second. Simons is the main piece that's in the way of our young guys. But like.... what major hole are we trying to fill? We have a young guy at every position. Unless we're getting a bonafide star, I'm not really that motivated to move the pick. There seems to be some legit guys who could be rotation players and we're going to need those guys on cheap contracts when we have to extend She/Scoot/Deni/Tou.
There are current players on the team who will be gone. The draftee at 11 has a high likelihood of being better than some of the current players who have earned a rotation spot and on a relatively smaller contract with rights for several years. As a result, the team will be better. That’s the draft for you. Irrespective of what other teams do, for management, this off-season needs to be about (1) improving the team through the draft, (2) resetting the team salary both through trades and not re-upping EC’s, and (3) moving to the next generation of the team where defense is in its DNA.
