It's early, but we've all been waiting for what feels like an eternity for the draft... My total guess, today? We trade Ant for OG, who starts.
Grant can't defend SF though, so no. That's why Siakam while good as a PF is a bad fit. Blazers defense is a much bigger problem than the PF rebounding. If the Blazers had a guard or SF that was a great rebounder and solid SG/SF defender he would be a good fit with Grant. Someone like Josh Hart.
I voted Sharpe by default, since the other 3 options aren't on the team, none of them are as likely, and NAS isn't good enough. I think it's more likely Sharpe is on the bench though; unless we trade Ant or Dame.
A couple of counter-arguments. 1) You don't say no to Siakam because of Jermi freak'n Grant. If they turn out to be a bad fit - you keep Siakam & trade Grant. ALWAYS take the better player! 2) I don't believe Grant cant guard the SF position. Some loud posters keep reiterating that - without any arguments/reasoning to back it up. IMO, Grant can guard the SF just as well (if not better) than Ant, Sharpe, Little, Knox, Watford, Walker, Reddish, or Winslow. While he may not be a 'lock down' defender at the 3 - he's sure a hell of a lot better than anyone else on the roster. 3) Rebounding is one of the most important aspects of playing good defense. You can't be a good defensive team without it.
I definitely second this. I would like to see Grant actually be given the responsibility for a little while before we just declare he can't defend the position.
1 Of course Siakam is better, but he would be on a much larger contract and cost a huge asset such as the #3 pick plus Ant. So the comparison is Grant plus Allstar level elite rookie plus starter vs Siakam. 2. We saw this all last year, Grant was poor at that defense one on one. He's better helping than 1v1 like Roco. 3. Defense was a larger problem than the rebounding for the Blazers last year
I guess I'll just have to take your word on that. I thought Hart was defending 3's most of last year.
that's just flat-out false no matter how many times you say it Michael Porter Jr John Konchar Harrison Barnes Keegen Murray Kevin Durant Cam Johnson Kawhi PG13 Andrew Wiggins Jaden McDaniels Brandon Ingram Josh Giddey Jabari Smith just from the west and there's nobody on that list that Grant couldn't guard that Little or Norm Powell or Sharpe or Reddish or Knox could the NBA is to the point where there's almost no differences between PF and SF. They are just wings...like Grant
There were times when Chauncey had him try to defend guards one-on-one and that did not work. And I am sure there are some SFs that he (and everyone else) struggle guarding, but I don't believe that he can't adequately guard most SFs. Plus most good defensive teams have schemes that rely on help defense. They don't rely on multiple lockdown defenders on the floor. Grant is a decent help defender and if he was on a team like Miami we would probably think he was an excellent defender.
