Event Trent Jr and Simons to the G-League Baldwin Recalled

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by TorturedBlazerFan, Jan 20, 2019.

  1. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    ... Why would keeping Trent down for another G-League game mean trade...?

    People try to connect everything to a trade. Apparently were trading Stauskas, Nik, Trent, and Harkless now.
     
  2. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Just that he is playing for Dallas G-league team and just tearing it up. So there always possibility that Dallas would be a little interest in Trent. Myself I wouldn't trade Trent but if Blazers was going to do a trade and have to put fillers in to make the trade work then I would be asking for Trent before Baldwin Simons and even Nik to be that filler. But you should know this all speculation because more likely that Olshey will stand pat at the trade deadline.
     
  3. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Cool article on Trent before the draft. Good dad.

    https://www.twincities.com/2018/06/...s-advice-for-nba-gms-you-better-not-miss-out/

    Filled with teams overflowing with Division I talent, Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League often is considered the top AAU circuit in the country. In 2016, Gary Trent Jr. was named the league’s regular-season MVP.

    That same summer, Trent Jr. was part of the star-filled Team USA squad that won the FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Trent Jr. was named MVP of the tournament. The next year, he scored a game-high 17 points in the gold-medal game for Team USA as it won the U17 FIBA World Championship.


    Trent Jr. helped Apple Valley win a state title as a sophomore in high school and, heading into college, was ranked by ESPN as the eighth-best player and the top shooting guard in the Class of 2017.

    So why, a year later, is Trent Jr. projected in mock drafts to either be selected at the end of the first round of Thursday’s NBA draft or maybe even in the second round?

    “Trent is a sharpshooter who still has plenty of time to expand his skill set, but there are lasting doubts about his athletic ability and questionable perimeter defense,” Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo wrote in a mock draft that projected Trent Jr. to go 42nd overall to Detroit.

    Duke switched to a zone defense during the season, making it more challenging to fully evaluate the 6-foot-6 guard’s defensive play. But it should be noted Trent Jr. recorded the third highest standing vertical leap (33.5 inches) and sixth fastest shuttle run (2.99 seconds) at the NBA combine. Still, Woo’s commentary does seem to be the prevailing opinion of the Apple Valley native.

    Former Timberwolves forward Gary Trent Sr., Trent Jr.’s father, called this a “very humbling situation” for his son, and compared it to Devin Booker’s draft process a few years ago. Coming out of Kentucky, Booker was viewed as a sharpshooter who lacked elite athleticism and needed to improve his ball handling and play-making. Sound familiar?

    Booker was selected 13th by the Suns in the 2015 NBA draft. If a redraft were held today, the Phoenix guard likely would go within the top three picks.

    “Nobody saw Devin Booker potentially scoring 70 in a game, nobody saw him about to be an all-star potentially this early in his career, because if they did, he would’ve been drafted higher,” Trent Sr. said. “So this is the same situation my son is in. People keep questioning (Trent Jr.’s) athletic ability. You’re not going to see Devin Booker or (Golden State guard) Klay Thompson do any type of dunk or anything on the court that my son cannot do.”

    Trent Sr. also compared Booker’s one collegiate season to his son’s. Booker averaged fewer than nine points a game on an ultra-talented Kentucky team that lost just one game. Trent Jr. averaged 14.5 points a game for Duke, even though his usage percentage was the lowest of any of the Blue Devils’ five starters.

    “He did all of that with no opportunities,” Trent Sr. said. “He did all of that being a fifth option.”

    Trent Jr. told reporters at the NBA Combine that he can play make, facilitate an offense and take players 1 on 1 off the dribble in isolation situations more than he was able to show in his one season at Duke. Often, Trent Jr., who shot 40 percent from 3-point range as a freshman, was used as a floor spacer in the Blue Devils’ offense.

    “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have that killer instinct or mindset or skill set,” Trent Sr. said. “That system didn’t allow him to show it.”

    Trent Sr. said his son’s high school achievements were not “accidental accolades.” He said Trent Jr. has played alongside high-level players throughout his career, and always been able to shine, a trait that should serve him well at the next level.

    Off the court, Trent Sr. said whichever team takes the 19-year-old wing on Thursday is getting a “good character person” who “understands life.” On the court, Trent Sr. said that team is immediately getting one of the hardest workers on its team and “one of the best future talents in this draft.”

    “My son has been a winner more than anything,” Trent Sr. said. “That’s what a team is getting. You’re getting a person who knows how to win.”

    Trent Sr. noted that no NBA prospect is completely ready for the league upon arrival, but added his son is the closest of anyone in this class. After 15 years of training his son, Trent Sr. said there’s nothing Trent Jr. could do that would surprise him. Nothing positive, anyway.

    “If my son ended up greater than Michael Jordan, that would not surprise me,” Trent Sr. said. “If my son doesn’t end up great, or doesn’t end up succeeding or doesn’t become an all-star, that will surprise me.”

    To general managers drafting on Thursday night, Trent Sr. had one piece of advice: “You better not miss out.”

    “Because I’m sure those other (12) general managers are looking at themselves about Devin Booker thinking, ‘(Dang), look what we missed out on,’ ” Trent Sr. said. “All those teams that pass up on my son, let’s see what you feel about that decision in three years.”
     
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  4. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Here’s another

    https://theundefeated.com/features/duke-bound-gary-trent-jr-nba-father-gary-trent-sr/

    Trent Jr. was born on Jan. 18, 1999, in Apple Valley, Minnesota, to Trent Sr. and Holt. Trent Sr. wanted to be the father he never had. He was available during the birth of his first child because of the NBA lockout that ended two days later. The 1998-1999 season was shortened to 50 games.

    Trent Sr. would often stretch out his son’s arms and legs when he was an infant, to create “muscle memory.” After retiring from basketball, he moved back to Columbus in 2006 with his main focus to spend time with his son. He said Trent Jr. moved in with him and his wife, Natalia, full time when he was in the fourth grade. An excited Trent Sr. would pick up his son from school and have a Subway sandwich waiting for him. After his son studied, he would take him to his football and basketball practices and be there to watch or coach. Pops also drove him to AAU tournaments, where they enjoyed long talks. Trent Sr. also became a mentor to many of his son’s teammates.

    As important as it was for Trent Sr. to spend time with his son, it was just as important on the flip side.

    “My son was my best friend,” Trent Sr. said. “I used to wait for my son to get out of school to hang out with him. My life was so dark. When I retired, I was going through so much turmoil with my family about money. I lost my career to help my physical health, which wasn’t good. It was to the point where the only joy I had was my children. Like, my life was in such a sad place.”

    Trent Sr. said he has been described as “Joe Jackson” by his friends because of the way he coached his first son. Trent Sr. had Junior run with a basketball on a track and do push-ups and sit-ups at age 6. After the youngster’s youth league games, they would go somewhere to eat afterward and go over the game film on a camcorder. Pops pushed his son to be a well-rounded, skilled basketball player. And when Trent Sr. was giving too much tough love, his wife, Natalia, would be there to be nurturing.

    Trent Jr. accepted it all.

    “One day my dad was like, ‘Do you want to play basketball? Do you want to be good at basketball?’ I was just a little kid. I was like, ‘Sure.’ So, we went to the track, and he was, like, ‘All right, you’re going to dribble the basketball around the track.’ I’m like, why am I dribbling a basketball? I’m like, ‘Why can’t we go shoot or something?’ He’s like, ‘Well you can’t get your shot over, if you can’t even dribble so …

    “I was, like, that’s true. So, for the first year we did nothing but dribble around that track,” Trent Jr. said. “I would dribble a mile’s worth and at each 100 meters I would do 10 push-ups and 10 sit-ups. So that ended up being 160 push-ups and sit-ups. So we just continued to do that for about the first year.

    “Then, we went into the gym, then we just started working on my game. I was about 6 or 7. We just started working on jump shots, and stuff like that. I got older like 8 and 9, he started putting harder footwork and stuff like that. So we just continued to keep working and grinding to where we are now.”

    While living in Minneapolis and Columbus suburbs, Trent Sr. also ensured that his son had a diverse and healthy upbringing.

    Trent Jr. lived in a stable, suburban home with a father, mother and everything he needed. He got a quality education at private schools and elite public schools in Minneapolis and Columbus. But Trent Jr. also was able see what it was like to struggle when spending time with many of his underprivileged teammates or with less fortunate family members.

    “I did live in the suburbs with my dad,” Trent Jr. said. “But my grandma and my aunt and everybody was still living in the city, so I was always at their house, too. It’s always great to have the best of both worlds. In a sense, I’m able to connect with both worlds and network with kids in the suburb neighborhood, but still able to operate with kids in the inner city as well. So, it’s really great. It helps with who I am today, and being able to interact in different environments …

    “That can’t do nothing but benefit your life in many ways, being able to talk in the corporate field, being able to just play and talk in the streets, it’s really great. That’s all up to my dad for putting it in me early.”

    Trent Sr. eventually got a business degree from the University of Phoenix. And whether it was on or off the court, he constantly pushed his son to be hardworking and humble.

    “When I was younger growing up, he always just talked about, if you want something, you got to work hard for it whether it’s in the classroom or on the basketball court,” Trent Jr. said. “He always emphasized, ‘You got to work hard. You got to be smart and always stay humble.’ That’s some of the things he just always, constantly kept saying to me.”


    Trent Jr.’s hard work has made him one of the nation’s top high school basketball players.

    The 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard is ranked as the eighth-best senior in the country by ESPN 100 and the top shooting guard. He averaged a team-high 31.8 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 39.3 percent from 3-point range through 18 games for one of the nation’s top prep basketball programs, Prolific Prep in Napa, California. Trent Jr. has a 3.1 grade-point average this year at Napa Vintage High, according to his coaches. The NBA prospect also signed a letter of intent to play for Duke on Nov. 10, 2016, and will be playing in the McDonald’s All-American Game, the Jordan BrandClassic and the Nike Hoop Summit.

    “Gary is physically mature already,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said on the school’s website. “He’s strong and can score the ball. But he can also defend. That’s the thing that impressed me during the summer circuit, is his willingness to cover the best perimeter player on another team while still putting up points.

    “He works at his game. He wants to be an outstanding basketball player. He wants to do the process that gets there. He likes the process of becoming better, and that’s a key thing if you want to become a really good player.”

    Said Prolific Prep founder Jeremy Russotti: “Gary Trent Jr. is the epitome of what you want an all-around leader to be. Good student, elite worker, unbelievably focused, talented, unselfish and mature. A flat-out stud on and off the court. He simply gets it because he was raised so well.”

    Trent Sr. called his son’s decision to sign with Duke “the greatest decision of his life so far.”

    “I told my son, ‘First, go to a basketball school. Secondly, don’t make it a basketball decision.’ Since everybody [is going to] use you the same way basketballwise, this a business decision,” Trent Sr said.

    Trent Jr. said his dad didn’t let his upbringing define him, but it helped him become the man he is today. He said his father deserves credit for the man he is becoming.

    “My dad means everything in the world to me,” Trent Jr. said. “Without him I wouldn’t be where I’m at today in no phase of life. Whether it’s academic, whether it’s basketball talent, he’s taught me everything on and off the court. And without him I don’t know where I would be. So I’m thankful for him.”
     
  5. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Last one

    http://www.startribune.com/apple-valley-s-gary-trent-jr-ready-to-head-full-speed-into-nba/485875821/

    When Gary Trent Jr. announced in April he was leaving Duke for Thursday’s NBA draft, his famous father compared him to a vintage European sports car that obeyed the “speed limit” during his one collegiate season.

    So now that he’s entering a pro game all about space and pace, just how fast can he go?

    “I think I can go pretty fast, but we’ll see,” he said. “Only time will tell.”


    A Minnesota state high school champion when he was a sophomore and the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year when he was a junior, Trent decided to forgo his senior season at Apple Valley High and enrolled at a California prep school because it would better prepare him for his collegiate and professional future.

    The son of former Timberwolves forward Gary Trent was raised around the NBA, he is now headed there himself. A 6-6 guard, he was primarily a spot-up shooter on a Duke team that had four other possible first-round draft picks — including projected top 10 picks Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter — and reached an NCAA tournament regional final before it lost to Kansas.

    Like teammates Grayson Allen and possibly Trevon Duval, he could be selected in the first round — as high as the low teens possibly — or not until well into the second round.

    “It’s funny, I’ve heard everything,” Trent said during the pre-draft process at May’s Chicago combine. “I’ve heard 10 to 20, late lottery. I’ve heard second round. So I just stay true to me: Play hard, showcase what I can showcase, take care of myself.”

    Just as he considers his decision to play one season at Prolific Prep in Napa the right one, Trent calls Thursday’s draft the correct time to go pro.

    “I’m ready for it,” he said. “I work so hard, hours and hours and hours, blood, sweat and tears into my craft. I felt like my year at Duke was good enough where I could make that jump and be successful making it.”



    With two gifted fellow freshmen doing their work near the basket, Duke needed Trent to find the floor’s open spaces and shoot it, which he did. He broke J.J. Redick’s freshman three-point school record by making 97, two more than Redick in 2003. Trent averaged 14.5 points per game and made just over 40 percent of his three-point tries.

    Moving west

    Trent is part of an Apple Valley pipeline that sent former high school teammates Tyus Jones to Durham for one championship season before him. Tre Jones is headed to the Blue Devils next season. Trent’s road to get there, though, included a year at Prolific Prep, a school that plays a national schedule.

    “It was a great decision for me, it prepared me for the next level, which was college at the time,” Trent said about playing for the same prep school that produced 2017 lottery pick Josh Jackson. “Having to fly across the country, you still had to turn in homework assignments. It helped me with time management. It helped get me out of my comfort zone.

    “I left home a year early. When I went to Duke and some of my teammates were missing their parents or missing home, I was already a year removed from that.

    “Don’t get me wrong, Minnesota has some great basketball players. But I was looking for a new challenge.”

    Three-point threat

    Trent now calls himself a shooter whose ability to score is “second to none,” but also says he can do more than just that, such as create for others and put the ball on the floor.

    Just like his other draft-declared teammates, Trent said he did a specific job last season that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski asked — and needed — him to do.

    It’s a role his father once likened to that sports car you drive 60 miles per hour due to the speed limit when its motor really can reach 200 mph.

    Now apparently, it’s time to buckle up.

    “I believed in Coach K,” Trent Jr. said. “Anything he wanted me to do that was for the betterment of the team, I was willing to do that. We all sacrificed parts of our games. Coach needed to me to spot up and knock down shots. So that’s what I did, but there’s a lot more to my game.”

    Krzyzewski called Trent the ACC’s best three-point shooter last season when he announced his decision to go to the NBA.

    “At the NBA level, that’s what they’re looking for,” Krzyzewski said in a statement that day. “He has the size of a two-guard who will be able to fit in the NBA.”

    Family ties

    Trent’s game since age 5 was shaped by a father who played nine NBA seasons, first with Portland and last with Kevin Garnett in Minnesota. Trent Jr. deems Garnett one of the many “uncles” — his father’s NBA teammates — who helped raise him.

    “I’ve known him a long, long time,” Trent said. “Whenever I’m around him, I pick his brain, hear him out, listen to what he has to say. Being at his house — seeing his house, his cars, everything he has — is motivating. It pushes you to try to be that.”

    Born nearly four years after his father was drafted 11th overall and dealt by Milwaukee in 1995, Gary Jr. grew up with a dad who coached him and with the game all around him.

    “Just being in the locker room when I was a kid, playing with Sam Cassell’s son, I remember those little things,” he said. “He has given me everything. We’ve been working on my game since I was 5 years old, so every question teams now will ask me and what the pre-draft workouts will be like, he gave me the blueprint.

    “The connections he has and everybody he knows, the way he can talk to me about certain things, it’s almost like I have a cheat sheet in a certain sense.”

    Trent considers himself a versatile guard who also can play some small forward offensively and defend four positions (power forward as well), while his father was a 6-8 power forward who banged with the big guys.

    “It’s kind of funny,” Trent said. “He was a big man who produced a guard.”
     
  6. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Trent 9 minutes 3-8fg 1-3 3 pointer 1-1ft 2rebs 8 points.
    Started off strong in his shooting cool later in the quarter. Had 1 defense rebounds 1 offense. Had his shot block twice at the rim.
     
  7. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Trent 17 minutes 7-13fg 2-4 3 pointer 1-1ft 4 rebs 2 assist 17 points.

    Trent had strong 2nd quarter 4-5fg 2assist 2rebs.
     
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  8. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Trent 25 minutes 8-16fg 2-5 3 pointer 1-1ft 4rebs 2assist 1TO 19 points.

    Slow 3rd quarter for Gary for shooting wise.
     
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  9. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Trent is a fucking MONSTER. Just hit the game winning shot. 39 points. Goodnight.
     
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  10. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Trent 35 minutes 14-25fg 5-11 3 pointer 5-5ft 7rebs 3assist 1block 3TO 39points

    Trent hit 2 key free throws 3pointer game winner. He totally out class everyone in the 4th with 20 points.
     
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  11. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    And two of those turnovers weren’t his fault. One he was called out of bounds when he wasn’t and the other was his teammates fault for passing him the ball with a second on the shot clock.

    Trent needs to be given a chance. Fuck not playing rookies. I know it’s the g league but he’s often the youngest player on the court and just looks like he’s on another level.
     
  12. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    And the game winner

     
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  13. hoopsjock

    hoopsjock Well-Known Member

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    So they almost blew a 12 point lead with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left?
     
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  14. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    Who does he deserve a chance over? Curry? Layman?

    Both are playing really well. He deserves a chance, but also doesn't deserve playing time over who's in front of him at the same time.

    Once Curry leaves though, I assume he'll get his chance.
     
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  15. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Leonard once he’s traded.
     
  16. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Trent will get his chance maybe not this year but next year. He just have continued playing like he is then there will a opportunity for him. You never know we still a week away from trade deadline. But when he he does come back up he need at least be in uniform every night. He shoots better then Nik does. Tonight he had blood in his veins that last Qt. That right there show me a lot about him it doesn't matter what level it was.
     
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  17. KeepOnRollin

    KeepOnRollin Well-Known Member

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    At that point Trent is our new backup PF? Good to have dreams in life!
     
  18. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Didn’t think I would have to explain it. That’s my bad.

    Curry
    Trent
    Turner
    Harkless or Layman
    Collins

    Although now that I think about it, if we trade Leonard and a pick we’ll get a rotation player back. I’d personally play him over Curry but that’ll never happen.
     
  19. KeepOnRollin

    KeepOnRollin Well-Known Member

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    I didn't think about Harkless but figured you would say Layman. He is more likely to get backup SG mins then PF. Prepare to be disappointed and seeing Caleb play in this scenario.
     
  20. craigehlo

    craigehlo Elite Wing

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    Curry will walk this summer after opting out. Trent will replace his production and then. Unless Curry gets injured, he's just coming back to be practicing.
     

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