We got the #3 pick. Discuss the possibilities.

How many 1st are you including with Nurk and Ant for Siakam? Toronto would want much more.
I would love to get Duren though in that swap. But they would really have to like who is at #3 to just move up 2 spots.

 

hard to believe anything I read or hear this time of the NBA year. It's a bullshit tsunami for the next month

I can believe that some front offices, including Portland's are fed up with Masai Ujiri and simply won't engage with the Raptors anymore. We've been hearing for essentially a year that many Raptor players are being shopped. We've also been hearing that the Raps are asking for a king's ransom plus more for any player they shop. Yet the roster is still pretty much the same...leading to the assumption that indeed Masai is demanding ridiculous prices for his players

for example, OG is absolutely NOT worth a 7th pick...not close. But apparently, at least according to rumor, Portland was engaged in trade talk where OG and #7 were the main parts, but Toronto was demanding more. If true...fuck those guys

 

I don't understand how the GTJ/Powell trade was pretty even for both sides, with the Raps coming out ahead slightly I think. But now he's just trying to gouge everyone.

 

I feel like Masai has gotten very over rated. He brought the franchise a title, so I don't want to bash him horribly. Just seems like he's talked about(not here specifically) as a GM god that you never want to be negotiating with because he's going to rip you off but has made a good amount of head scratching trades himself.

 

He sent a top-6-protected 2024 pick to San Antonio for Jakob Poeltl, who was on an expiring contract.
(Edit: Toronto also sent out their 2023 2nd round pick and their 2025 2nd round pick, and Khem Birch.)
Unless he is planning on the team to get really good or really bad that seems to be an overpay.

 

Maybe he did that because Poeltl is "one of his guys", we saw how Olshey was in love with CJ and wouldn't have traded him for Lebron, Kobe, KD and MJ

 

I encourage you to take a long look at Jarace Walker's tapes. Here's guessing you'll like him a lot

STOMP

 

I'd much prefer Turner to Ayton - so just do the same thing but cut Phoenix out of it.

 

So lets say it is Ant and #3 for Brown and that becomes a done deal.

So Dame/Sharpe/Brown/Grant are likely locks.

what is the next move?

i was thinking it would be to find a more mobile/ defensive minded center who can rebound.
However, im not so sure it isn't getting a solid veteran back up pg and a few more proven role players on the bench.

what im about to say hinges alot on Sharpe coming into his own defensively, but if he can/does, i think that Dame/Sharpe/Brown/Grant can be lethal on both ends of the court. This will make Nurks job much easier. He has never had quality perimeter defenders to help him out.
Nurk can focus more on defending the paint, rebounding and blocking shots.
On the offense he would have to lose the thought of being a go to guy. He would need to be happy with facilitating at the top of the key a bit like Jokic but mostly live as a screener and rebounder.

if Sharpe takes the defensive jump ( we already see where his offense is at)and Nurk puts the ego aside for team ball,

im not so sure that starting five cant be seriously dangerous. We need more depth of quality role players on the bench though.
If we could find a quality backup big and a solid backup four, i think thybulle/reddish/justice and eubanks can fill the rest in and we could be a top four team.

A balanced team is often better than the individual parts. The sum can be greater than the individual.

Something like this?

Dame/Pritchard/Mays
Sharpe/Thybulle/Reddish
Brown/Justice/Reddish
Grant/ZachCollins/Watford
Nurk/Poetl/Eubanks


I think the players i brought in could be gettable with little return.

23 and a second to chi to free up future firsts.

A future first and Johnson or re-signed Reddish for Collins?

A future first and Walker for Poetl?

What would it take to get Pritchard?

I think moves like this, after getting Brown, will be the more likely scenario, with the hopes of tweaking it before the trade deadline based on who is fitting and the needs/holes still left.

 

huh? Is trusting your GM who (with his staff) is proported to be an excellent talent evaluator to take the BPA a big risk? Granted that may take a few years to accumulate enough talent to compete for a championship, but I see that as the prudent path not risky. If you're trying to turn this crappy roster into a contender next year, then yeah, nothing but big risks await

STOMP

 

He is including #5 pick in this year's draft. That plus Nurk and Ant seems fair for a guy on last year of his contract....

 

Agree. I've looked at Walker as very similar to Grant but he rebounds.

 

Spending another first round pick on Zach Collins is laughable, we already gave up two for him and cut him. I can't imagine sitting at the 2027 draft and seeing our pick go to San Antonio from a second trade for him.

Don't think I've ever heard of a franchise giving up multiple picks 10 years apart for acquiring the same player twice.

 

Good post overall though, just the Collins and Poetl for 1st part isn't smart IMO.

If the Blazers send out a first for role players it should be a single first for ~4 role players like the Lakers did.

 

I know. I rolled my eyes while typing that too. But we can't change the past. Collins would be an ideal backup though. So of im overpaying then thats great. We have a boatload of 2nds. 2nds per player instead of the firsts? Then we have future forst to matbe even go after a true 6th man s oree to put with pritchard/ collins and the like?

i just think people are more down on this team right now as not being good enough because of the last two years. BUt we were tanking. We were damn near a 500 team with major imbalance. Balance the roster and add a player like Brown and i think we are in the mix.

 

A little short with a nice wingspan. Paul Milsap vibes. Loves to play defense and rebound

 

I've said it before, you don't play basketball with the top of your head. Nonetheless, taller, longer, heavier & much more explosive then Draymond at his predraft. Also has a handle, some playmaking and a 3 point shot. Like Green, he's a 4 who could definitely spend time at the 5

STOMP

 

lol, good one

STOMP

 

Nobody said this team had to be a contender next year.

Historically, it is much easier to get to a championship when starting with an all star than starting with none.

 

#3 and Johnson for #5 and Duren is interesting. I doubt DET agrees to that. Duren is their clear cut big of the future, at least a full tier above Bagley and Wiseman. They would really have to LOVE Scoot to do this. No way they do this for Miller. I do this 100% if this was on the table though. If you go the young route, turning #3 into two future cornerstones.

Sharpe is the future at SG.
Duren would be the future at C.
It only takes HOU to love one of Walker or Whitmore for the clear #4 prospect to fall to us. Likely Amen, who would be a cornerstone at SF.

I don’t know if I would trade #5, Nurk, and Ant for Siakam. Duren also isn’t seasoned enough to start yet imo. This is where the roster would stand after drafting Amen.

Dame/Ant/Mays
Ant/Sharpe/Thybulle
____/Amen/Thybulle
Grant/Watford/Walker
Nurk/Duren/____

We would still have #23 and the 2nd rounder. Siakam and Grant isn’t a winning tandem imo. I’d rather make a trade for a bridge 3-D guy like DFS. I don’t think Grant and someone that we can trade for that fits in the GPII TPE or a MLE guy wouldn’t be that much worse than Grant/Siakam.

Cronin could either trade #23 for our pick back if Schmitz doesn’t see someone he likes or trade the 2nd rounder to unprotect the pick in 2023 if he does. Nurk and Ant are expendable if Duren or Sharpe show during the season that they can be a long term starter. Ant, Nurk, Little, and a full assortment of picks could bring in an upgrade at SF or C during the season.

Sure, Siakam and Grant sound better than Grant and DFS, on paper. But we still don’t have a point-of-attack defender with Siakam. We would with DFS, and we also have Amen would could possibly be great at that one day and Thybulle who still is despite gambling too much. I’m staying away from Masai.