Can we have a future 3 guard rotation of Ant/Sharpe/Scoot?

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Does keeping these 3 preclude us from adding wing talent?

Since their combined salaries are just a little north of $40 million (slightly under Dame's salary for this year), I'd have to say no. Ayton, Grant and Brogdon, however, total $82.5 million. Seems like one or two of those guys have to go.
 
why?

manu had a HOF career coming off the bench.
the only time Harden ever went to the finals is when he came off the bench.

as long as they all get paid and get minutes while closing games, does it matter?

Those were kind of rare instances and Harden was really young and wasn’t a 6th man for long.

Too much persuasion by agents these days. Plus I think a team needs to be very good to justify it
 
He doesn't have a good enough handle.

He's not a "point forward" but he can handle the ball, drive, break his man down 1 on 1. He doesn't have the rebounding ability to be a PF. He's not a perfect wing, but he's pretty good.

If you were building a team, and were offered a player that was 6-8, athletic, good defender, shoots 40+% from 3, and scores over 20 ppg on 60% TS, you'd take it in a heart beat.
 
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Does keeping these 3 preclude us from adding wing talent?

Thank you. I am not sure why we want to accumulate draft picks if the goal is not to land a quality wing/forward in the near future.
 
Did you miss the entire last decade of the Golden State Warriors?

Klay is 6'7 and has spent plenty of time at SF; and, until his injuries he was a good defender who could easily switch onto the longer SF's and stretch-4's

besides that, I said "major talent & usage". Warriors have had Draymond; a major talent, at least until lately. A perfect complement to the splash brothers who averaged over 7 assists 5 times and over 6 assists 8 times. He has been all-NBA twice; a DPOY; and an all-NBA 1st & 2nd team defense 9 times

and of course the Warriors won two of their championships with Kevin Durant; won another with SF Andre Iguodala winning the finals MVP; and have had either Harrison Barnes or Andrew Wiggins at SF since their championship run started. And a 6'7 PG in Shaun Linvingston

so no, not a chance that Scoot/Ant/Sharpe can be equivalent to Curry/Klay/Durant/Draymond
 
Get a healthy Ayton and Grant along with Scoot/Sharpe/Simons and we can see what the team looks like.

Right now it's just a lot of guessing and watching Simons take over which might not be the case with Grant and Ayton healthy.
 
Does keeping these 3 preclude us from adding wing talent?

ok, I'm assuming we are talking about all these guys reaching close to their upside, and when they are no longer on rookie scale deals. If one falls short of their potential then it's not an issue because he'd be just a backup or role-playing starter

anyway, "preclude from adding"? maybe not

'keeping'? nope. I question if the Vulcans would even sign off on more than 2 max or near max contracts. Not much of a chance of them agreeing to 3 max deals. And Portland always seems to initially overpay for rookie extensions

there is also the reality that if Portland is banking on having a 3 guard all-star-level rotation in the backcourt of 6'3, 6'3, 6'5, then one of the two avenues for adding major talent in the front-court, trades, would be pretty much closed down

now, if the OP was talking about this year and next year, and even the year after, sure, it can work because two of the three will still be on their rookie deals. But Ant and Sharpe will both be due for new contracts on July 1 2026; coincidentally, Ayton, Williams, and Thybulle will be due for new deals at the same time
 
If all 3 are good enough to be on max contracts, that's a good problem to have. But I'd say you worry about that 4 years from now when it's a possibility, versus year 1 of Scoots rookie contract.

the thread title is "future 3 guard rotation"

that might need to be defined a bit better
 
the Blazers should have 2 FRP's this summer. Will Portland draft another guard and make it a quartet ?
 
the Blazers should have 2 FRP's this summer. Will Portland draft another guard and make it a quartet ?
Only if it’s Castle. Topic is a possibility if he’s able to shoot and play off the ball, but I don’t think that has a high likelihood. I also don’t think a team should draft Topic and take the ball out of his hands.

Buzelis has the height of length of a PF but the playmaking potential is real and he will be able to play SG, if you want to consider him someone who can play guard, maybe him.

Outside of that, I’d rather bring in forwards who have some playmaking ability. Tristen Watson is great to bring in if you want to make a ‘quartet’. Player who will impact the game right away, two way player who can shoot and pass the ball, Brogdon sized. He’s a mid 2nd rounder though. I would use the 1sts on improving the forward and big man depth.
 
If all 3 are good enough to be on max contracts, that's a good problem to have. But I'd say you worry about that 4 years from now when it's a possibility, versus year 1 of Scoots rookie contract.
That’s not fair. I said it was fine to have all three for now and Illmatic said he was talking about in the 3/4 years down the line when they are all up for extensions.
 
That’s not fair. I said it was fine to have all three for now and Illmatic said he was talking about in the 3/4 years down the line when they are all up for extensions.
Yep, I missed that, sorry!
 
Scoot is more traditional PG that I would prefer be the starter once ready for now I’m ok with him coming of bench as long as he’s getting minutes to improve. Having Brogdon is is going to cut into the minutes available so he needs to go.

Ant would be huge as 6th man who could bring instant offense off bench. Personally can’t see him being happy in that role so if Scoot develops into the elite PG that we expect him to be then very likely we end up having to trade Ant.

Love love love this problem of having talented players pushing stars for their spot. This is a good problem
 
The only way this happens is if one of the 3 of them is 100% committed to being the 3rd guard and can't check his ego at the door (most likely it's between Simons and Scoot).

It just feels doubtful that this is possible.
 
I think that unless/until Scoot demonstrates above-average starter capability over an extended period of time, this will be a moot point.

I think that if Scoot does improve to the point that he is routinely playing like an above-average NBA starter, then we will gain a statistically-relevant data sample from which to analyze and draw conclusions as to which pairings are situationally the most effective.

I think that despite a couple recent positive showings, Scoot still has a long way to go before he has any kind of legitimate argument to be starting ahead of Simons (or Sharpe).
 
I think that unless/until Scoot demonstrates above-average starter capability over an extended period of time, this will be a moot point.

I think that if Scoot does improve to the point that he is routinely playing like an above-average NBA starter, then we will gain a statistically-relevant data sample from which to analyze and draw conclusions as to which pairings are situationally the most effective.

I think that despite a couple recent positive showings, Scoot still has a long way to go before he has any kind of legitimate argument to be starting ahead of Simons (or Sharpe).

Agreed. Scoot isn't ready to start yet, so it's not really something they need to worry about right away.

The bigger issue is Malcolm's place on the team. If there was no Scoot, he'd be a perfect 3rd guard.
 
Agreed. Scoot isn't ready to start yet, so it's not really something they need to worry about right away.

The bigger issue is Malcolm's place on the team. If there was no Scoot, he'd be a perfect 3rd guard.
So given assumptions that Sharpe is indisputably a long-term starter, and that Brogdon most certainly is not, maybe the question should be--if all are healthy and playing at rotation-player (or better) level, is the team better served by:
  • Ant/Sharpe, backed by Scoot
  • Ant/Sharpe, backed by Brogdon
  • Scoot/Sharpe, backed by Ant
  • Scoot/Sharpe, backed by Brogdon
I'm tempted to start a separate thread with a poll.
 
We'll see. I think Ant and Shae is a little clunky right now with Ant getting way more shots but Sharpe being more efficient and having the way way higher upside. I think if Scoot develops that Scoot and Shae seem ideal just given what their projected skill sets look like and how that would work together. I hope none of them are players that a team could afford to bring off the bench and I think both Shae and Ant have shown they are better than a bench role would indicate.

I think it's only a moot point until some other team comes along and blows our doors off with an offer for Ant or Scoot... more likely Ant than Scoot right now but I don't really see this as an issue this season and probably won't really know how to answer this until the trade deadline next season at the earliest. I mean if someone offers us a crazy deal around this deadline for Ant, I could see us taking it but it would have to be massive. With all of that said I don't think there's a viable or smart way for all three to be on the same roster long term if all three are reaching even their mid potential, let alone of all three max out their potential.
 
If all 3 are good enough to be on max contracts, that's a good problem to have. But I'd say you worry about that 4 years from now when it's a possibility, versus year 1 of Scoots rookie contract.
Blazers have ONE player on the roster (Ant) with more than a single full season of tenure on the roster.

Yet posters are worried about how we will fit some of these players possible raises for future contsaccts under the cap in 4+ years?

Totally beyond premature to say the least.
 
Agree. Why talk about how scoot may co exist with Simons etc when he hasn't even shown that he's a starting quality PG yet. Also, many of the top prospects in next year's draft are PGs. What if we pass on one because "we already have Scoot". Chris Paul 2.0?
Yeah this is a very real possibility.

Does anyone think Cronin will pass on BPA if it's a guard?

I'd bet against that.
 
Blazers have ONE player on the roster (Ant) with more than a single full season of tenure on the roster.

Yet posters are worried about how we will fit some of these players possible raises for future contsaccts under the cap in 4+ years?

Totally beyond premature to say the least.
Simons, Sharpe, and Ayton will all be free agents in 2.5 years. Scoot will be a free agent the following year. You can’t ignore future contracts.
 
So given assumptions that Sharpe is indisputably a long-term starter, and that Brogdon most certainly is not, maybe the question should be--if all are healthy and playing at rotation-player (or better) level, is the team better served by:
  • Ant/Sharpe, backed by Scoot
  • Ant/Sharpe, backed by Brogdon
  • Scoot/Sharpe, backed by Ant
  • Scoot/Sharpe, backed by Brogdon
I'm tempted to start a separate thread with a poll.
If you want to win today it's option 2 and it's not even close.

The reason to push for option 1 is A) to sell high on Brogdon for a team that can better use his wins now B) Develop Scoot with the hope he improves long term.

Prior to the season I may have considered option 3 - but with Scoots play that or #4 don't make any sense.
 

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