2024 Training Camp thread

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Pinwheel1 said:
I am still trying to figure out how all you guys "know" he won't come off the bench long-term. Granted I can see it short-term if Scoot struggles, but inevitably that is his best role.
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it is completely impractical, IMO

Lou Williams was 6MOY 3 times. He was comparable to Ant as a scorer; a little better as a passer; and arguably, a better defender

his highest salary as a 6th man was 8M in 2020-21. That season, the salary cap was 109.1M. This season, the cap is 140.6M. Projecting Lou's 8M salary to 2024-25 dollars, it would be 10.3M. Ant's 25.9M salary is 2.5X as much as what Williams was paid. Naz Reid was 6MOY last season with a 14M salary; his salary this season will be 10.8M less than Ant's. Malcolm Brogdan may be the closest comp in terms of salary as a 6th man. He made 22.6M. But he was a 6'5 PG who shot over 40% from three and played good versatile defense. He was also on a team good enough to afford the luxury of a very expensive 6th man. The Celtics paid 69M in tax penalties the year Brogdon was 6MOY. Just go back to last season, who would have been a better 6th man, Brogdon or Ant?
 
mook said:


Deni's arms look huge. Much bigger than I was expecting. He's now listed at 240lbs. Dude is going to be a physical problem for most small forwards.
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That looks like 20lbs of muscle in the off-season!
 
mook said:


Deni's arms look huge. Much bigger than I was expecting. He's now listed at 240lbs. Dude is going to be a physical problem for most small forwards.
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Or opposing teams will have their 3 on Grant and their 4 on Deni.
 
mook said:


Deni's arms look huge. Much bigger than I was expecting. He's now listed at 240lbs. Dude is going to be a physical problem for most small forwards.
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That was the first thing I noticed as well. I watched every video I could see of him from last year and I was not expecting that either. I think it is easier to find a versatile SF than it is to find a versatile PF. So that makes the trade that much better IMO. Even if he drops 10 lbs during the season he will be big enough for most PFs these days.
 
I don't see them moving Ant, I believe he will start either along side Scoot or Shae. Of course anyone on this team is tradable for the right deal....
 
Pinwheel1 said:
That was the first thing I noticed as well. I watched every video I could see of him from last year and I was not expecting that either. I think it is easier to find a versatile SF than it is to find a versatile PF. So that makes the trade that much better IMO. Even if he drops 10 lbs during the season he will be big enough for most PFs these days.
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I seriously doubt he'll be playing at 240. I'm skeptical that's his weight right now; maybe

traditional PF's have kind of vanished. Very few PF's use their mass as leverage these days. Way back in the Drexler days, PF's were physical beasts: Karl Malone; Charles Oakley; Barkley; Buck; McHale; Rodman; Michael Cage; Otis Thorpe....are there any PF's like those guys these days?
 
Hoopguru said:
I don't see them moving Ant, I believe he will start either along side Scoot or Shae. Of course anyone on this team is tradable for the right deal....
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It did sound that way listening to Grant and Ant give different answers to the same question about discussions with Cronin.
 
Hoopguru said:
I don't see them moving Ant, I believe he will start either along side Scoot or Shae. Of course anyone on this team is tradable for the right deal....
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Ant will be our best player and leading scorer as long as he is on this roster. I could have cut/pasted this from LAST October when people were on here actually saying he would come off the bench. You all should get ready for heavy ISO ball with Grant and Ant for the first few months of this season.
 
THE HCP said:
Ant will be our best player and leading scorer as long as he is on this roster. I could have cut/pasted this from LAST October when people were on here actually saying he would come off the bench. You all should get ready for heavy ISO ball with Grant and Ant for the first few months of this season.
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he wasn't the best player last season; that was Brogdon. Ayton was probably 2nd best. Ant and Grant probably tied for 3rd
 
wizenheimer said:
he wasn't the best player last season; that was Brogdon. Ayton was probably 2nd best. Ant and Grant probably tied for 3rd
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Agreed.

A lot of people conflate being the best scorer with being the best player. As long as Simon's is as terrible has he is on defense - he will never be the best player on the team.
 
CJ_is_Gone said:
Agreed.

A lot of people conflate being the best scorer with being the best player. As long as Simon's is as terrible has he is on defense - he will never be the best player on the team.
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Like Dame?
 
wizenheimer said:
oh for fuck sakes....

Dame, Curry, Nash...yeah, that are all on Ant's level as players because of defense
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Lighten up mouth breather….. ANT is our best player right now and every GM in the league knows it. Please save your analytics. Easily our best player and its’s not even close. Ayton is up there because he is 7 foot, but when I was told that Whiteside wasn’t good even though he led the NBA in blocks and rebounds, then Deandre can’t be any better.
 
wizenheimer said:
oh for fuck sakes....

Dame, Curry, Nash...yeah, that are all on Ant's level as players because of defense
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Agreed. They aren't even in the same stratosphere.

Dame is a poor defender, but he's a lot better than Ant (who is one of the worst in the league).


Dame's worst season (rookie year) was better than Simon's best season (last season).
 
wizenheimer said:
traditional PF's have kind of vanished. Very few PF's use their mass as leverage these days. Way back in the Drexler days, PF's were physical beasts: Karl Malone; Charles Oakley; Barkley; Buck; McHale; Rodman; Michael Cage; Otis Thorpe....are there any PF's like those guys these days?
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Well, Buck actually weighed less than Drexler, and Rodman probably weighed less than that. Jabari's probably heavier. Biggest difference is that PFs are supposed to be able to dribble the ball (the Draymond effect) and/or shoot threes, and literally nobody plays consistently back-to-the-basket. Avdija could be a Justice Winslow-with-a-jump-shot, and frankly I'd love that.
 
THE HCP said:
Lighten up mouth breather….. ANT is our best player right now
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Counterpoint: no he isn't. He's half of a good player - only good on offense, and undersized even there.
Also: even if he was our best player, he wouldn't be our best asset because there are so few teams that could actually use him. Grant could plug in and be useful on a lot more teams. I mean, Grant hasn't played good defense for a while, but at least he's shown he could at one point.
 
wizenheimer said:
I seriously doubt he'll be playing at 240. I'm skeptical that's his weight right now; maybe

traditional PF's have kind of vanished. Very few PF's use their mass as leverage these days. Way back in the Drexler days, PF's were physical beasts: Karl Malone; Charles Oakley; Barkley; Buck; McHale; Rodman; Michael Cage; Otis Thorpe....are there any PF's like those guys these days?
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Randle? Technically Giannis - but he uses both his size and his speed
 
THE HCP said:
Ant will be our best player and leading scorer as long as he is on this roster. I could have cut/pasted this from LAST October when people were on here actually saying he would come off the bench. You all should get ready for heavy ISO ball with Grant and Ant for the first few months of this season.
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He's not even better than Ayton.
 
So let’s get back to basketball, shall we?

Who is the first Blazer to go down with an injury?
 
THE HCP said:
Ant will be our best player and leading scorer as long as he is on this roster. I could have cut/pasted this from LAST October when people were on here actually saying he would come off the bench. You all should get ready for heavy ISO ball with Grant and Ant for the first few months of this season.
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I know you are speaking the truth, unfortunately, IMO.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Counterpoint: no he isn't. He's half of a good player - only good on offense, and undersized even there.
Also: even if he was our best player, he wouldn't be our best asset because there are so few teams that could actually use him. Grant could plug in and be useful on a lot more teams. I mean, Grant hasn't played good defense for a while, but at least he's shown he could at one point.
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But he’s our BEST player right?
 
Rastapopoulos said:
He's probably our best shooter. When he's hot he can be the best player on the court. But overall, in terms of his contribution to our success, no, he isn't our best player.
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We aren’t talking about our teams success. We are talking about the player who has shown the most talent. The best player. That goes to show you our talent level on this roster. It’s ok to admit HE is our BEST player. Didn’t say he had the most upside or he has the ability to lead us to the most wins…..He is just simply the BEST. People last October were saying the same thing about him….like he shouldn’t be starting when he was easily our best player. Sorry bro, that’s my view.
 
I can promise you the scouts on the opposing teams are focusing on Ant and how to stop him before anybody else on our roster.
 
THE HCP said:
We aren’t talking about our teams success. We are talking about the player who has shown the most talent. The best player. That goes to show you our talent level on this roster. It’s ok to admit HE is our BEST player. Didn’t say he had the most upside or he has the ability to lead us to the most wins…..He is just simply the BEST. People last October were saying the same thing about him….like he shouldn’t be starting when he was easily our best player. Sorry bro, that’s my view.
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I know what you said. Do you think the best player is the one who'd win a one-on-one game? Or who averages the most points? Otherwise I can't see why anything other than "contributes most to team winning" is the measure. Isn't that what players are for? And if they're the best at that, aren't they the best players?
 
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