Ayton is overpriced as a 2nd to 3rd tier center BUT I prefer him to Nurk. Period. And after watching the top centers in the NCAA, I’m glad we don’t have to pick one this year! Sarr at PF/C beside Ayton would be excellent. Otherwise, I hope for Time Lord health and minutes for Reath. I do like Zvonimir Ivisic as a prospect. In the lottery at forward, the Blazers can improve this team for the future. Absolutely. The tougher trick to pull off is when to trade Grant, Ant, Time Lord and Matisse.
You're obsessed with next season. The Spurs got the greatest prospect of all time and they were just as bad as they were the season before. Nobody is making us a contender next season.
Not all those pieces, but some combination of them. If we don't land #1, I'd love for a team who doesn't need or want Sarr to get it so we can move up. I'd rather us be aggressive than just sitting back and taking what's left over. I like Matas. We have enough assets to move up should we want. I just hope Cronin and Schmitz target their guys. We can't bring in 4 rookies.
"Obsessed" I would say I'm concerned with the team's future. Oh trust me, I KNOW nobody will make us a contender next season. That'd be different if there was an all time great in this draft.
There will be multiple All Stars taken in this draft. Maybe not All Stars next year. But we don't need them to be All Stars next year. We can wait.
Portland is drafting Cody Williams, and more guards that Billups can coach up. I saw Chauncey yelling at Rupert tonight, he doesn't like the tall guys. Give coach a fresh bundle of backcourt ballhandlers for improved zippy zap passing (defense optional) until the next draft next year.
LOL...since you've made the same "this draft class sucks" post about 70 times in several different threads, your opinion is already all over this board. In fact, isn't this a draft thread and haven't you made a dozen posts in it already? and just who the fuck are the "experts" anyhow? Are they the same experts that said Scoot would be the #1 pick in any draft that didn't have a Wemby or Lebron? There were a lot of those. Are the experts as smart as GM's? Are they the same ones who drafted Dion Waiters ahead of Damian Lillard? that drafted Jabari Parker ahead of Joel Embiid? Cody Zeller ahead of Giannis? Nic Stauskas ahead of Zach LaVine? Kris Dunn ahead of Domantas Sabonis? Ante Zizic ahead of Pascal Siakam? Mario Hezonja ahead of Devin Booker? Zach Collins ahead of Bam Adebayo? Caleb Swanigan ahead of Josh Hart? Marvin Bagley ahead of Luca Doncic, Jaren Jackson, & SGA? Are they the same experts who picked 40 other players ahead of Nicola Jokic? guessing...that's what we're doing and it's the same thing that the so-called experts are doing which is the same thing GM's are doing. Maybe they'll be right...this time...and the draft class will generally suck. But the Blazers are only going to get a limited number of dice rolls and rolling a hard 8 is about the only way they can climb up the ladder. They have to make the most of the chances they have, and they a few chances in June. It's worth talking about
After San Antonio beating Phoenix last night, I am still holding out for a chance to pass them in the Tankathon. They are three games ahead and we would need to lose every one of ours, including Charlotte and Washington, but they have five games left they could reasonably win. First Utah, then Warriors, then Philly in a game Embid may not be back for, then Grizzlies and last game of the season against Detroit.
Spurs? a 3 game lead with 10 games left is a steep hill to climb. The Spurs do own the tie-breaker, so it's possible I suppose Blazers do have a shot at 4th seed I suppose. They play Charlotte and need to lose that game. But Charlotte has a really difficult remaining schedule. 11 games left and 10 of 11 are against playoff/play-in teams. Portland's 4-4 record in the first 2 weeks of March is haunting them. Blazers needed to start their serious tank efforts sooner
I don't think there's a tie breaker in the lotto, I think two or more teams tied evenly split the sum of their odds in the lotto. Then if two teams land outside of the top 4 with the same record, I'm pretty sure there's just a coin flip or something. I think tie breakers like head to head or conference record only relate to playoff seeding.