Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

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spacefrog13x
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by spacefrog13x »

I think getting Scoot or Miller is a gift though, and we should hold onto the pick. Here is a list of players picked #3 the last ten years. You have about a 50% hit rate on an all-NBA level player at that draft spot.

2012: Beal
2013: Otto Porter Jr
2014: Embiid
2015: Okafor
2016: Jaylen Brown
2017: Tatum
2018: Doncic
2019: Barrett
2020: Lamelo
2021: Mobley
2022: Jabari Smith Jr
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by buckmarkduck »

Scoot or Miller would be better than anything we can get by trading the 3. The biggest issue we have, is a garbage HC. Time to fire him, go get Doc or Williams. Until they make that change, the Blazers won’t be improving much.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by pezsez1 »

#3 and Simons might bring back a Pascal Siakam level player. Doesnt really move the needle, but probably gets a healthy blazers team into the top 6 in the west. (Lillard, Sharpe, Grant, Siakam, Nurkic) is a pretty good starting line up.
Three points in favor of the "keep Dame" argument:

1) Before the Blazers started tanking, they were right on the edge of making the play-in tournament and that was despite the starting lineup (and core of the bench) being riddled by injuries almost all season long. If healthy, I think the current squad is good enough to run it back and be a 6-8 seed without too much trouble.

2) The league is still WIDE OPEN. The Warriors have come down to earth. Lebron is old. KD is injury prone. The Celtics are inconsistent. The Blazers still have a ton of roster issues (too small, not enough length) but reloading as a darkhorse contender isn't out of the question.

3) Don't underestimate Sharpe. This kid is LEGIT. I look at that starting five up above and I see two current all starts, but by the end of next season possibly three all-star caliber players. This is why I consider Sharpe to be the most untouchable player on the team. He's an all-star SG just waiting to happen.

I'll also throw out a fourth "pro-Dame" point. Although the bench would still need a ton of help (and I'm not sure how we'd make that happen, to be honest) it could get a lot better really quickly with a true backup PG... and someone on the cheap would do the job just fine. I honestly don't remember the last time this team had a real backup PG. Was it Steve Blake? It's time to stop filling the position with surplus SGs that don't fit anywhere else.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by squintsdd »

If the blazers can manage to work some magic in free agency I wouldn't be apposed to keeping both Lillard and the pick, but one way or another I definitely believe Simons has to go. He's a major liability on the defensive end. He plays his best ball when he's the primary ball handler, which is only when Lillard is on the bench, and he might be the most inconsistent 20ppg player in the league.

Portland needs to get better at the PF. If they do, then they can move Grant back to SF, where he should be. I think putting Ant on the block, with a combination of the 23rd pick or someone else, can bring back enough to see significant enough improvement at the PF to have Grant play at his natural position.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by Phalanx »

If you draft Henderson, you have to cut Lillard loose, or Scoot will never get a chance to develop. The Blazers can right an 8-year mistake dating back to when they made Lillard the centerpiece of the team after LMA left and Lillard just started shooting bombs and never stopped. Lillard has no business being a max player on a contender - he simply isn't up to the task. He's great at putting up stats, but he doesn't have the chops to take over games on a regular basis. People in Miami talk about 'Playoff Jimmy' but there is no 'Playoff Damian'; except for a few fortunate shots, he has largely melted down in his playoff career. What the Blazers need is several players coming up together and building a winner. It's better for chemistry, it's better for negotiating contracts, and better for team identity. Sharpe, Henderson, Simons, and whoever they can get for Lillard will make a great core to launch a new version of the Blazers. I guarantee they would not do worse than the abortion we've seen the last two seasons with Lillard trying to double as GM.

Instead of Dame telling fans he is sorry for the team sucking the last two seasons, he dares them to start a petition to get rid of him:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/da ... r-AA1bnbiN

Does anyone know where such a petition might surface? I'd like to sign it.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by greenyellow »

I don't think people realize how tapped out certain teams are in trying to acquire someone like Dame. Miami would at best give Portland Tyler Herro and a bunch of low first rounders for him. Philly would likely send out Tobias Harris and/or Maxey along with a few low first rounders. There'd have to be a 3rd or even 4th team to get enough assets that'd make Portland happy and the team getting Dame from absolutely gutting itself while trying to remain a contender.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by pezsez1 »

I don't think people realize how tapped out certain teams are in trying to acquire someone like Dame.
Yeeeep. The longer I think on this, the more I find myself leaning toward keeping Dame and just going for it. He's far too good of a player to trade away for anything less than the best package.

One variable I've not seen heavily discussed is that we might be able to make the pick without Dame leaving. He's tried (admirably) to apply pressure to the organization, but he clearly loves it in Portland and the city loves him back. I wouldn't be surprised if he opted to stay even if we made a pick.

That's still problematic if Charlotte takes Miller as expected. Scoot Henderson would be the most redundant player imaginable, and nobody wants to see another undersized backcourt that can't play D. But maybe we draft Scoot and he spends his first few years getting big minutes at backup PG/SG to spell Dame and Sharpe. That could work. Then trade Ant+23+pieces for someone like OG or Siakam. A starting lineup of Dame/Sharpe/OG/Grant/Nurk with Scoot anchoring the second unit would be a significant upgrade over the current roster and would actually somewhat "thread the needle" by relying more heavily on rookie contracts. I definitely wouldn't call that roster a favorite to contend, but in this wide-open NBA I'd definitely give it a Miami chance.

Would love to see a few more years of Dame, though! He fits in so great with our city and he's an absolute joy to watch.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by Boom »

greenyellow wrote:I don't think people realize how tapped out certain teams are in trying to acquire someone like Dame. Miami would at best give Portland Tyler Herro and a bunch of low first rounders for him. Philly would likely send out Tobias Harris and/or Maxey along with a few low first rounders. There'd have to be a 3rd or even 4th team to get enough assets that'd make Portland happy and the team getting Dame from absolutely gutting itself while trying to remain a contender.
There's 5+ teams that could make significant offers for Dame. I don't think Miami & Philly would make the cut.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by squintsdd »

greenyellow wrote:I don't think people realize how tapped out certain teams are in trying to acquire someone like Dame. Miami would at best give Portland Tyler Herro and a bunch of low first rounders for him. Philly would likely send out Tobias Harris and/or Maxey along with a few low first rounders. There'd have to be a 3rd or even 4th team to get enough assets that'd make Portland happy and the team getting Dame from absolutely gutting itself while trying to remain a contender.
It's not unheard of for there to be be more than 2 teams involved in a trade, it's actually relatively common.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by Tray Dub »

Here's CJ giving his thoughts on the trade scenarios, thought it was very interesting:
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by Phalanx »

Erik Spoelstra, coach of the team that just beat Boston to go to the Finals: "If your best players aren't defenders, it's hard to create a good defense". Pretty much sums up the reason Lillard never went anywhere in the playoffs in my mind. Scotty Pippen has also had some interesting things to say recently about how the Bulls were before he got there and anchored their defense. I believe him, because he did a similar thing when he got to Portland. That's the kind of players the Blazers need.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by dd10snoop28 »

Lillard is at peak value. If blazers were smart, they've be devoting all of their resources to shipping off Lillard over next 12 months.

If anybody thinks that Lillard-led blazers will ever compete with the Nuggets during Lillard's career, then lol. It's the same thing as the Warriors for the same 2016-2020 stretch. We had 0% chance of ever getting past the warriors with Lillard so we wasted all of those years.

I digress.
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by squintsdd »

dd10snoop28 wrote:Lillard is at peak value. If blazers were smart, they've be devoting all of their resources to shipping off Lillard over next 12 months.

If anybody thinks that Lillard-led blazers will ever compete with the Nuggets during Lillard's career, then lol. It's the same thing as the Warriors for the same 2016-2020 stretch. We had 0% chance of ever getting past the warriors with Lillard so we wasted all of those years.

I digress.
Well, a Lillard led blazers team beat the nuggets in the past to go to the western conference finals, so they can compete with him. Also, Lillard is not at his peak, which means he not at peak value. He's aging and has a very hefty contract. Neither of those indicate peak value to any GM in the league.

I would prefer Portland not mortgage their future just to keep Lillard happy for the next couple of seasons, but I'm also not opposed to keeping him if they can get a no brainer trade for the 3rd pick and/or Simons
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by dd10snoop28 »

squintsdd wrote:
dd10snoop28 wrote:Lillard is at peak value. If blazers were smart, they've be devoting all of their resources to shipping off Lillard over next 12 months.

If anybody thinks that Lillard-led blazers will ever compete with the Nuggets during Lillard's career, then lol. It's the same thing as the Warriors for the same 2016-2020 stretch. We had 0% chance of ever getting past the warriors with Lillard so we wasted all of those years.

I digress.
Well, a Lillard led blazers team beat the nuggets in the past to go to the western conference finals, so they can compete with him. Also, Lillard is not at his peak, which means he not at peak value. He's aging and has a very hefty contract. Neither of those indicate peak value to any GM in the league.

I would prefer Portland not mortgage their future just to keep Lillard happy for the next couple of seasons, but I'm also not opposed to keeping him if they can get a no brainer trade for the 3rd pick and/or Simons
Nuggets are vastly improved talent-wise, have a core that has been together for 7 years, and all their main players are just hitting their prime (Jokic/other guy). They are not even close to the same team that we played in the playoffs and it was as evenly-matched series as you will get. No way we are coming close to beating them now.

When I say peak value for Lillard, I mean that today is the highest value he will ever hold (going forward).
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Re: Blazers 2022-2023 Thread

Post by nogerO »

dd10snoop28 wrote:
squintsdd wrote:
dd10snoop28 wrote:Lillard is at peak value. If blazers were smart, they've be devoting all of their resources to shipping off Lillard over next 12 months.

If anybody thinks that Lillard-led blazers will ever compete with the Nuggets during Lillard's career, then lol. It's the same thing as the Warriors for the same 2016-2020 stretch. We had 0% chance of ever getting past the warriors with Lillard so we wasted all of those years.

I digress.
Well, a Lillard led blazers team beat the nuggets in the past to go to the western conference finals, so they can compete with him. Also, Lillard is not at his peak, which means he not at peak value. He's aging and has a very hefty contract. Neither of those indicate peak value to any GM in the league.

I would prefer Portland not mortgage their future just to keep Lillard happy for the next couple of seasons, but I'm also not opposed to keeping him if they can get a no brainer trade for the 3rd pick and/or Simons
Nuggets are vastly improved talent-wise, have a core that has been together for 7 years, and all their main players are just hitting their prime (Jokic/other guy). They are not even close to the same team that we played in the playoffs and it was as evenly-matched series as you will get. No way we are coming close to beating them now.

When I say peak value for Lillard, I mean that today is the highest value he will ever hold (going forward).
Smart move is to move Dame now while they can get some value. No defense and getting long in the tooth. Keeping him is not a smart move for all the reasons you listed.
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