We're locked into the lotto. The chances we win and draft Noel about as high - between slim and none.
I don't think trading the pick would yield much. This draft is dog shit and, even worse, there seems to be a drop off in talent right around pick 10 or 11. I think if Muhammed, Gobert, Porter, or any of the other top 10 talent kinda guys slip you have to take them regardless of position. If not then you're looking at Len, Michael Carter-Williams, Plumlee, Olynyk...pretty depressing stuff. MCW could be a nice fit next to Lillard if he pans out. Problem is he seems like a late first or second round talent in most drafts. Olynyk isn't what you guys need but seems like the BPA IMO. But I really don't like Len. Plumlee is alright but sometimes hes unimpressive too. Could be a nice rotation guy I suppose. Glenn Robinson has a chance to go somewhere late lotto as a project pick, but I really haven't seen any kind of skill from him at all at Michigan that makes me feel good about him. Again, in any other draft he'd be lucky to go first round.
Michael Carter-Williams is one of the guys I would stay away from at all costs (in the lottery). An alarm goes off in my head any time I think about it. I couldn't post in the "Your guys" thread because I don't have any guys. This draft doesn't excite me in any way, we'll just have to get extremely lucky.
Gobert is somewhat intriguing because of the French Connection and his length. Too much of a project though.
You like Gobert (As I do) but you say there is a drop off after 11? Gobert is not even projected to go that high in the mocks I have seen. so that should add up to at least 12 decent picks. I don't think this draft is dog shit as you say. I just think it is full of young players who need a few years to develop. And it lacks "can't miss Players" at the top. . But at 12 we were never going to get a super star so it does not effect us. There will be decent players available at 12. Not sure we will pick the right person, but the 11-12th pick this year will be as good as last year's 11-12th. (And probably next years)
Said before....... wouldn't want the # 1 pick THIS year. Also, it looks like a crap shoot from 5-12......... all about the same level of talent. Weird year.
Doesn't that make our #12 (likely) pick much more valuable than most years? Acquiring it is a cheap way to move up to #5 level talent but at a lower pay scale. High reward, low risk, easy to justify to fans and minimal repercussions if it doesn't pan out.
This would be a "KP" draft. He was all about getting a bunch of picks in "weak" drafts, while talking about trading out of "strong" ones. I think there are plenty of contributors this year. If you look at it as "we need help in the 5/6/7/8/9 spots of our rotation", then yeah, there are a bunch of guys who I think could help a lot at some point in the next 4 years at a <2M salary. I mean, even if you hate Olynyk (I'm not sold on him, but it's only from box scores and anti-MickZagger videos that have been posted) I think we can agree that he'd probably get off the bench about as much and be about as effective as Freeland, right? Same for some of the Euro projects, if you either want to develop them in Idaho or in Europe--Sakic and Adetekunbo seem pretty legit. I'm not saying that Olshey shouldn't do his due diligence on seeing what the pick might bring back (can't trade it until after the pick is made, though it can be made "for" someone and consummated July 10 if a FA is involved), but I don't see this as a disposable asset just b/c some players might not be NBA ready. And I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me that Noel (before he was injured) was the A-Number-One, You-Couldn't-Draw-It-Up-Any-Better defensive-minded, paint-clogging, helpside-defending Center we need. If we got a Top 3 pick somehow I think he's a definite game-changer/ready-to-contribute-immediately player. If it's "just" an ACL injury that he can heal up from, then it seems like he's a fit. Or I'd try to trade for MKG.
No offense to any of you, but 95% of us do not know jack shit about this draft. Myself included. It's not like the old days when we watched the players for 3-4 years. The only thing we do know is that there is no apparent super star in this draft that dominated in college. There are decent players out there, we just don't know yet who they are. But you want to wait for a better draft. Well based on last year's draft it may not come very often. That doesn't mean there are not 12 players from around the world that can't turn out to be good players, it just means you have to be patient and develop them. College stars may have to get used to playing in the D league for a while if they want to leave early. The talent is there but they are just not getting enough coaching in college anymore. The smart franchises will develop good players and the others will try to trade for them after they develop. We want the Blazers to suck and build through the draft? Well this is the reality of it. now.
Exactly the reason we wouldn't trade Batum for Pekovic BPA only works if you don't take 17 PGs like Kahn did in 2009
We are in the lottery. We don't know whether or not we keep or give up the pick to Charlotte. Teams #13 & #14 could leap past us and into the top 3, putting us into #13 and CHA gets the pick. I like Plumlee, Hardaway Jr, Robinson III, and Oladipo if we're picking.
