With the #7 pick, the Portland Trail Blazers select....

Takes two

 

Bobby Marks with a bold prediction

 

That certainly is bold. The only way I see Banchero working is if Dame is traded (meaning we do a complete overhaul, at which point trading up for Banchero would make sense) or finding a new starting C. Nurkic just doesn’t work with Banchero imo.

Nurkic sat out the remaining games of the season eventually. I’d assume it’s because they’ve come to an agreement on a new contract.

Yeah, with Dame/Ant/____/Banchero/Nurk, idk how it all fits. Bamba in place of Nurk though, and I’m a lot more interested.

 

I agree with all that, except I would not trade the 7th pick for OG. The good and the bad of the draft is the unknown upside and downside. We have to take the risk for the upside.
And I can't just ignore this report from April 3rd:

"The 24-year-old forward will miss Kyle Lowry's return to Toronto due to a thigh injury he suffered in Friday night's game against the Orlando Magic, Raptors coach Nick Nurse said pre-game.
It's a new injury for Anunoby who has missed 30 games this season due to various injuries including a fracture in his right hand that has yet to fully heal. Prior to that, Anunoby was sidelined due to Health & Safety Protocols."
"Various injuries?" Fractured finger. Thigh injury. Calf strain. Hip injury.


Should the Raptors be worried about OG Anunoby’s injury history?

https://raptorsrapture.com/2022/03/07/raptors-worried-og-anunoby-injury-history/

 

I'm not criticizing you with this:

I really don't like the height 'in-shoes' gauge because it can be deceptive. And it's so simple to compare w/o shoes, providing the player and his agent didn't chicken-out of being measured:

Ochai Agbaji 6' 4.50''
Paolo Banchero (chicken)
Kofi Cockburn 6' 11.00''
Dyson Daniels 6' 6.00''
Johnny Davis 6' 4.25''
Ousmane Dieng (chicken)
Jalen Duren (chicken)
Tari Eason 6' 6.75''
AJ Griffin (chicken)
Chet Holmgren (chicken)
Jaden Ivey (chicken)
Nikola Jovic 6' 9.50''
Bennedict Mathurin 6' 4.50''
Keegan Murray (chicken)
Shaedon Sharpe 6' 4.25''
Jabari Smith (chicken)
Jeremy Sochan (chicken)
Mark Williams 7' 0.00''

 

Agreed. Everyone got excited about Mark Williams being 7'2", and that's fair, but you look at barefoot measurements and Kessler was a quarter inch taller than him. With shoes, he was an inch shorter! Kessler had 3/4" shoes, williams' added 2 inches!

 

players don't play barefoot, though.

 

I understand, and I'm happy for them to be listed at their shoe height. But looking at barefoot height gives a better comparison, IMO. I bet the guys with the 2 inch lifts don't generally play in those shoes.

 

pretty sure people were excited about mark williams because of his standing reach which was 9’9 - or the highest in combine history. Not because he was 7’2.

 

0 chance Keegan is available at 7 btw

don’t get your hopes up

 

That sounds like a good reason to lowball the Raptors. No to #7

 

So mystery man Shaedon Sharpe is working out with Detroit sometime next week. Finally some news about this guy. Given the silence around him, I was convinced he had a promise from SAC. Guess not.

 

Personally, I wish the league would grow a pair and require players to take part in the measurement/physical exam part of the combine. When agents are allowed to control the process the league and the fans will inevitably lose.

 

I wouldn't touch this kid. His fear of competition and exposure speaks volumes.

 

I think offensively banchero and Nurk would do fine together. Banchero is a good 3 point shooter, but I can see potential defensive issues with them and dame/ant in the backcourt

 

NbaPA would never agree to this. It's essentially similar to players ducking workouts and hiding medicals from some teams and not others. Hell, even Evan Mobley avoided working out for Houston last yr.

 

I think you can see the question marks next to Sochan and Murray's heights. Meaning their measurements are unknown, both barefoot or in shoes. The height-in-shoes numbers given for Daniels and Mathurin are simply their recent barefoot measurements plus 1.5 inches, so I don't think there is any reason to say those numbers are deceptive.

 

I didn't say they were "deceptive". What I am saying is that I have seen 'in-shoes' measurements turn a 6'3 guard into a 6'5.25 guard; and a 6'6.5 forward into a 6'9 forward. In shoes measurements are terrible gauges for player comparisons

 

He shot 33.8% at Duke. If that is 'good', it would need to get better.

 

smart man...