We got the #3 pick. Discuss the possibilities. (7 Viewers)

[Phatguysrule]

Chris Paul was a HORRIBLE three point shooter during his rookie season, but he massively turned it around and has shot over 40% a couple times.

But he was a good 3pt shooter in college. So that was just an adjustment.

 

[BIG Q]

There's no need to apologize for a top 75 all time player. Lack of respect for a great player is worth standing up to the BS. An unproven player being great is purely speculation. And should be treated as such.

I understand you are the President of the Damian Lillard Fan Club and find a need to protect Dame even knowing he has flaws to his game. He can not guard a chair and can not throw a lob pass amongst other things. I certainly do not need you preaching to me. I know Dame's game just like the rest of the local yokels here. He wasted much of his career on his own by being loyal to "his" guys. Is that admirable? Maybe. Should it be revered? Not in my estimation. He has never missed a pay day or settled for one penny less than the max he can. Great for him. Admirable, no. He got his, and has more coming for a whole hell of a lot more money yet to be paid. I lost respect when he started his tour telling anyone that would listen that he wanted vet players or to be traded. He tanked his tradability and also the value of Portlands assets. I root for the Portland Trailblazers, not the Damian Lillards. The only asset Lillard has not damaged is the draft pick if Portland opts to use it as you just select the player that is there. But in a trade, Lillard has poisoned it. Made it less valuable because 29 other GM's know Lillard has put the Portland Tailblazers on notice. That is not loving your team, loving your teammates or loving your city. That is Lebronesque egomania. So no, I'm not a fanboy. He is under contract. I am fine with him fulfilling his contract with Portland as they build their team. But don't pretend he did not do the franchise a disservice. Well actually go ahead, being emotional vs pragmatic works for you. Portland needs to pick BPA, the only way to preserve the picks value after the Dame world tour. EVERY draft pick is unproven and pure speculation!

 

[wizenheimer]

You would rather have KAT?

I'd rather have Eubanks and Hartenstein than Kat or Ayton. Ayton will be paid 34M over the next 3 years and he's not worth 20M; Kat will be paid 50M over the next 5 years and he's not worth 30M, probably closer to 25

unless they are absolutely elite players like Jokic and Embiid, C's are the least important position on the floor.

Sabonis averaged 19-13-7 in the regular season; in the playoffs he averaged 16-11-5. In the regular season he had a PER of 23.5; a .668 TS%; and a BPM of +5.8. In the playoffs he had a PER of 15.9; a .517 TS%; and a BPM of +0.7. It's way too simple to knock C's off their game in the playoffs and negate their impact, unless they are like AD (who had a substantial drop of efficiency) or Adebayo (who could have been a Blazer...fuck!)

C by committee on cheap contracts is the way to go. There just aren't many Jokic's floating around

 

[HansenYang]

So could Brown extend for 5 years $250 million in 6 months? I thought he couldn't, which is similar to Grant not being able to extend for the full amount thus he is going into free agency.

I believe the NBA just fixed this issue.

In the past CBA, extensions were maxed out at 120% of the current season salary. This meant that Grant's first season salary for the extension was limited to: ~$25M/yr

The new CBA now allows extensions to start out at 140% of the current season salary. For Brown that means the first season salary of the extension could be up to: ~$43M/yr. I don't think it's quite 'Max' money, but it's very close. My rough calcs show that it should be 4yr/ $192M or 5yr/ $248M

 

[wizenheimer]

Nobody seems to think about finding a partner for Sharpe.
That’s exactly what I’d be doing after lucking out on getting the 3rd pick.

uhhh...Dame would not only be a great partner but a great mentor

in the one game when they started together, on the road in Utah, Sharper had 24 points on 4-7 shooting from three, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. In the game before that when Ant started, Sharpe had 10 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist. Starting game with Dame would probably be the best thing that could happen to Sharpe next season. Watford was excellent as well with 21 points, 9 rebounds, & 5 assists. He's overlooked as a young asset too often in my view

Blazers won that road game by 12 by the way

 

[blazerfan11]

uhhh...Dame would not only be a great partner but a great mentor

in the one game when they started together, on the road in Utah, Sharper had 24 points on 4-7 shooting from three, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. In the game before that when Ant started, Sharpe had 10 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist. Starting game with Dame would probably be the best thing that could happen to Sharpe next season

That was one game.
How often during the season did Dame push the pace and throw the ball to Sharpe for an easy bucket?
edit: How many baseline lobs did Dame throw to Sharpe for the entire season?

 

[wizenheimer]

That was one game.
How often during the season did Dame push the pace and throw the ball to Sharpe for an easy bucket?

lol...ok, one game more than Scoot though. And we know that Dame does his best to involve teammates

I get that you are hot for Scoot but are you so hot and determined you can't admit that Dame might actually be better for Sharpe than some rookie who has never played an NBA game?

I saw that game by the way and it looked to me like Dame & Sharpe had excellent synergy

 

[Ripcity4life77]

I never brought up Kat in my last post so how did you even come up with that ?? -- talk about putting words into my mouth -- LOL - but to clear it up not a Kat fan. IF we did not have Grant then I might be ok with it but I would still give KAT a C grade as a fit for this team but they are similar type players just one has more height and paid more. Now to make sure I am clear -- NO I do not want KAT on the Blazers

 

[DDolla]

Unless it’s Giannis Or Embiid, Dame will not win here. It takes years and chemistry to compete for championship. Our former GM screwed us all for not building around him early on.

 

[riverman]

Unless it’s Giannis Or Embiid, Dame will not win here. It takes years and chemistry to compete for championship. Our former GM screwed us all for not building around him early on.

I disagree...it takes talent...look at team USA....they win gold after rarely playing together and that's more than just 2 guys with Dame...great players don't take long to mesh and Dame can win without Giannis or Embiid. You're selling a lot of vets short in my view. Miami is headed to the finals with a bunch of scrubs and a star right now. It's fit....those guys haven't played together forever. Hell Cody Zeller is in the finals!

 

[blazerfan11]

lol...ok, one game more than Scoot though. And we know that Dame does his best to involve teammates

I get that you are hot for Scoot but are you so hot and determined you can't admit that Dame might actually be better for Sharpe than some rookie who has never played an NBA game?

I saw that game by the way and it looked to me like Dame & Sharpe had excellent synergy

Yes, that one game was great. Dame could be the best thing that ever happened to Sharpe, and Sharpe to Dame to the team.
Sure wish we could have seen a few more games like that.
I am not hot for Scoot in particular. I'm tired of seeing our guards walk the ball up the court, telegraphing passes, and having tunnel vision.

 

[riverman]

Yes, that one game was great. Dame could be the best thing that ever happened to Sharpe, and Sharpe to Dame to the team.
Sure wish we could have seen a few more games like that.

The game didn't slow down for Sharpe until the end of the season...he shot poorly leading up to the break and had a long shooting slump. We lost games behind Sharpe's figuring it out in the first half of the season. It was to be expected but did pay dividends in the end...he is going to be special and has some big time experience under his belt for the first time in his life. We were winning when Winslow had his minutes.

 

[STOMP]

I disagree...it takes talent...look at team USA....they win gold after rarely playing together and that's more than just 2 guys with Dame...great players don't take long to mesh and Dame can win without Giannis or Embiid. You're selling a lot of vets short in my view. Miami is headed to the finals with a bunch of scrubs and a star right now. It's fit....those guys haven't played together forever. Hell Cody Zeller is in the finals!

I'm confused... is Jimmy Butler the star and Bam one of the scrubs or vica versa? I wish Portland had a scrub near the level of whichever guy you're refering to.

STOMP

 

[Natebishop3]

The prudent thing, if he drops, is to take Miller and then flip Simons and Nurk for a center.

Dame
Sharpe
Miller
Grant
????

Or you keep Nurk and trade Simons for something. But the boring choice is probably the smart one. Miller should be able to contribute right away and then you have Sharpe and Miller long term.

 

[Predator]

This is similar to the "Brandon Roy kept information about his knee injury secret" line of thinking... Scoot will be measured by any team he visits, we will know everything about his body that we need to. Whether he's 6'0" 1/2 or 6'3", he's still a PG, an inch won't make a lot of difference...

I did not mean to imply that he's intentionally keeping his height a secret, my apologies.

Morant was a 30.7% three-point shooter this season, but took more 3-pointers than any other season (5 per game) in 2022-23.

Even with those dreadful numbers, he has been an All-Star starter the last two seasons, and his team has obtained the #2 seed in those seasons.

Ja Morant shot 36% his last year in college, 33.5% his rookie year, 34% last year (his first year as an all star); sitting at about 32% for his career while showing at least 2 seasons that he could hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean.

Scoot Henderson is at 27.5%, nearly a full 5% points less than Ja.

 

[Predator]

This is quite literally how we got Bowie over Jordan and Oden over Durant.

Two issues with that:

1) I'm not arguing for any specific player over Scoot, I'm just saying Scoot isn't that great in my eyes, particularly in the modern NBA. Very, very few PGs have ever won finals MVP - so I still wouldn't draft Scoot if this was 1990.
2) I DID argue for Durant over Oden and I would've argued for Jordan over Bowie. The numbers in both cases justify it.

The numbers, in this case, don't suggest Scoot is some world-beater.

So, no, that is not quite literally how we got those players.

We got those players by ignoring the numbers.

 

[LayneStaley]

I have a funny feeling we are taking Amen Thompson

 

[Labinot41]

I'm really excited so see Sharpe next season. Really hyped

 

[blazerfan11]

I did not mean to imply that he's intentionally keeping his height a secret, my apologies.


Ja Morant shot 36% his last year in college, 33.5% his rookie year, 34% last year (his first year as an all star); sitting at about 32% for his career while showing at least 2 seasons that he could hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean.

Scoot Henderson is at 27.5%, nearly a full 5% points less than Ja.

This past season, Morant took 75% of his shots as 2-pointers and shot poorly on 3-pointers, and still was an All-Star starter as a guard.
I'm not comparing Scoot to Morant's career.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Scoot Henderson is at 27.5%, nearly a full 5% points less than Ja.

I can't see how this is relevant in determining his potential. It reminds me of how people were using useless 3 pt stats early in CJ's 2nd season.
Scoot only took 51 3s last season. 5 more makes and he is at 35%. He is 19 years old and only played in 19 games. The sample size is way too small for any analytics to be relevant in discussing where he will be in a year, let alone 3-4 years from now.

 

[blazerfan11]

I have a funny feeling we are taking Amen Thompson

That would be very interesting. He would be a good fit with the Blazers. The Blazers have what he lacks (outside shooting, or maybe any shooting) and he has what the Blazers lack , insane speed going up the court, dynamic passing, good size at the wing, and hopefully someday soon, great point-of-attack defense. Also help defense around the hoop.
Amen's defensive potential is way beyond Scoot's or Miller's.

 

[damianlillard]

That would be very interesting. He would be a good fit with the Blazers. The Blazers have what he lacks (outside shooting, or maybe any shooting) and he has what the Blazers lack , insane speed going up the court, dynamic passing, good size at the wing, and hopefully someday soon, great point-of-attack defense. Also help defense around the hoop.
Amen's defensive potential is way beyond Scoot's or Miller's.

I’m very high on amen. I’m curious to hear how he does in the workouts

 

[wizenheimer]

I can't see how this is relevant in determining his potential. It reminds me of how people were using useless 3 pt stats early in CJ's 2nd season.
Scoot only took 51 3s last season. 5 more makes and he is at 35%. He is 19 years old and only played in 19 games. The sample size is way too small for any analytics to be relevant in discussing where he will be in a year, let alone 3-4 years from now.

I agree the sample sizes are likely too small to reach any substantial conclusions. I'm not persuaded by the "5 more makes" argument though because with 5 more misses he would have been under 18%. That would be really bad. It's probably the case that he would have been more likely to make more three's than miss more three's, but we really don't know which direction he might have gone. It's a small sample but it's the only one we have

 

[BankTeller]

You would rather have KAT?

Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t it be “neither”?

 

[BankTeller]

I can't see how this is relevant in determining his potential. It reminds me of how people were using useless 3 pt stats early in CJ's 2nd season.
Scoot only took 51 3s last season. 5 more makes and he is at 35%. He is 19 years old and only played in 19 games. The sample size is way too small for any analytics to be relevant in discussing where he will be in a year, let alone 3-4 years from now.

Scoot isn’t afraid to shoot, that’s what matters the most to me.

 

[BIG Q]

That would be very interesting. He would be a good fit with the Blazers. The Blazers have what he lacks (outside shooting, or maybe any shooting) and he has what the Blazers lack , insane speed going up the court, dynamic passing, good size at the wing, and hopefully someday soon, great point-of-attack defense. Also help defense around the hoop.
Amen's defensive potential is way beyond Scoot's or Miller's.

I'd just add that Houston, at 4 would love Scoot and a trade would certainly be possible. Not sure about the idea of Amen over Scoot/Miller. Anything is possible.

 

[wizenheimer]

I'd just add that Houston, at 4 would love Scoot and a trade would certainly be possible. Not sure about the idea of Amen over Scoot/Miller. Anything is possible.

if they like Scoot that much, and Portland doesn't (but doesn't reveal that to Houston), Maybe the Blazers can leverage the 4 + 20 out of the Rockets. I'd like if the Blazers could steal Sengun, but that's probably too much to ask for

 

[RR7]

Scoot isn’t afraid to shoot, that’s what matters the most to me.

Neither is Westbrook. Teams have started defending him below the 3 point line.

 

[wizenheimer]

Celtics looking shaky...may get swept

how many are OK with #3 + Ant for Brown? Will it take more or are the Celtics headed for a cliff?

and how much more would be OK?

 

[Natebishop3]

Celtics looking shaky...may get swept

how many are OK with #3 + Ant for Brown? Will it take more or are the Celtics headed for a cliff?

and how much more would be OK?

Nothing more.