I really liked Clingan’s defense before his injury last season; he was forcing teams to respect him. I think Yang is definitely the better prospect, for sure, but why not have both of them compete against each other in practice and get better, then trade off the asset you don’t want keep later?
I feel like we've had an iteration of this type of thread the for the past few years where "Cronin's not done" when he actually is.
Yeah, I don't put it past Joe to bring 5 centers into camp... hell and at the end of the season, keep Jerami, burry our young talent on the bench and come up short of the play-in. I also don't think it's impossible that Joe moves Ayton, Rob and Jerami for meh player but less money in future salaries which would free up time to see if the guys Joe has drafted and others he's kept can win games with Jrue as their on floor general.
I think all out ideas about Portland somehow getting 1st round picks for their vets were just fantasies. People here were dreaming about Orlando sending two 1st's for Ant. But the Blazers had to add two 2nd's to Simons to trade him for a 35 year old guard with a bad contract Ayton-Grant? I think the best Portland could do is expiring contracts, and maybe a 2nd
I think at this point having been reality checked into oblivion. I would love to see those guys on other teams with expiring contracts returning that just don't get in the way of our young guys being able to show if they're capable of making it to the play-in and ultimately to the playoffs or not. Hell ideally I'd like to see Joe move Jerami, Deandre, Rob and Jrue just for flexibility and maybe a prospect or two that haven't really been able to get PT on their teams that we might think could be what Jermaine O'Neal was to the Pacers.
We can forget about him all we want but before the draft there were two different reports that claimed to have sources that we were shopping Ayton and Rob more than any other player. Joe has to clear those two guys because he has to show that the two headed monster at C that he spent our last two drafts on were a good investment. If he can show that him and his front office are smarter than everyone else then maybe the new ownership group will keep them. I don't think there's a great chance of that but at the very least he needs to prove that this week wasn't the clown show that it looked like, if he ever wants another job as a GM again.
