What is Deni's best position?

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With the makeup of the current roster I like Deni at Point with Simons playing 2-guard. And, DB Hooper best plays the point when he’s in. That said, I find watching the same player bringing up the ball quite boring after say 6 or 7 possessions. The defense can simply fall back into a zone and things get too stagnant. I therefore like to see Deni as a 2 or 3 with Scoot bringing up the ball. In fact, this is when Deni gets the majority of his open 3’s. What I enjoy os to see Deni penetrate as he is so strong (leader in “and ones”). I see Camara a perfect wing with no other responsibility other than to be the scrapper. And Sharpe is playing a typical 2 guard. At this point I’m liking the rotations of Billups as far as Deni / Simons / Sharpe / Scoot are concerned. They all seem to be getting good minutes and when adding Camara and Thybulle’s chaotic SF play and exceptional defense, we are really playing good ball. Now should we make the play-in, we need Ayton playing minutes - similarly in an equal mix of minutes with Donovan and Duop. We need the depth at Center if in the playoffs. But Donovan and Duop are getting valuable minutes now and are earning minutes in the playoffs.
 
STOMP said:
It amazes me big nba fans still get so rigidly hung up on positional labels as if they still mean anything. Deni is Portland’s best player and he’s the primary guy to blame for the failing 25 tank. He’s a 6’8ish 230ish lb plus defender who can effectively switch onto most players on D. On offense he’s also very versatile capable of both running the point or playing off the ball being a secondary playmaker. He gets to the line at an elite level.

Scoot is the other above average playmaker on the roster. While they play well together, with this 2025 squad the staff tries to keep one of its two best offense initiators on the court at all times to keep things flowing. Both are good 3 point shooters and versatile defenders capable of blending with most anyone with talent. That said, Portland could really use a knock down shooter especially from the frontcourt to compliment their ability to break down a D. Ideally that add would be at least as big as Deni improving their small ball look.

STOMP
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And I would think ww could get a knock down shooter in this year's draft.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Is he actually a point guard?

I'm wondering what's the best players to put around Deni. I think Shae is fine, and Tou is great, but is Simons actually the best guard to put with Deni? Or Can Scoot fill the role of off ball shooter?

Is Deni actually a poor man's Luka?
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He’s a two-way point forward.

Of course Luka is a much better player, but what I love about Deni is that he can do most/all of what Luka can do on the offensive side of the ball (to a lesser degree) but also play great defense. Luka wasn’t ever a defender, but even then, how could anyone expect him to be one when he exerts so much on the offensive side of the ball?

I wouldn’t want Deni playing making all the decisions every time down the floor. He’s shown real promise being able to spot up for 3. To me, that’s more valuable than if we gave him the ball every time and got him to a point where he averages say 8apg.

In the modern NBA, I’d love to have everyone in our lineup be a two-way point-*position*.

- Deni is a two-way point forward who can also really push the ball off a board.

- Clingan isn’t a point center, but he’s an amazing passer for a guy his size, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him bring the ball up every now and then once he’s in his prime.

- Shae’s offensive potential is limitless that you have to add him in there, and he’s going to average 5apg+ in his prime simply from having the ball more and passing out of double teams.

- Scoot has shown me he can be a two-way PG eventually. His growth this year has made finding a replacement is less of a priority. I do think he’ll be fine as a shooter.

Keep building off that identity.

My answer to your first question though is that no he isn’t really a PG. Point forwards aren’t held to the same standard as real PGs. Lebron’s always been known for his playmaking ability, I don’t think anyone is saying he’s a better than CP3 or Magic as a playmaker though. Magic was the size of a forward but also had like a 3-1 ast/to ratio.
 
You guys may have seen this, but it just popped up for me on YouTube
The nice thing about Deni, as you all have alluded to, is his versatility.
Regardless of where he starts, he can also be our backup at 3 additional positions.

 
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When we were trading Dame it seemed like the core of this team would be Scoot and Sharpe. Then guys like Camara/Deni/etc could be role players.

I'm wondering if its becoming the opposite - where Camara/Deni are the best Blazer players and Scoot/Sharpe just support them?

They all are a fun group of young players. I've actually even enjoyed Ant with this group the last few months now that Grant/Ayton are both out.

Really I think you can have any one of the Grant/Ayton/Ant trio as a vet and its a fine dynmaic. Two of them isn't good though. All three are a disaster!
 
I just don’t know yet? This guy to me seems like a decent role player that is putting up good numbers on a bad team.
 
STOMP said:
Portland has a lot of good young players who should only get better in time. If they can add one or two more to this mix in the next year or two they should have a squad capable of contending

Go BPA!

STOMP
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I'm just not seeing the contending part - we are missing two future allstars to be at that level which are extremely hard to acquire. I do think we have a great young core for the rest of the rotation, defense, role players, and depth.

If we can add one allstar somehow then perhaps we could trade multiple future picks for a Domantas Sabonis level of vet as the final move to make that contending jump. But how do we first acquire an allstar this offseason with just a late lottery pick, overpaid vets, and the MLE? That will be very difficult.
 
kjironman1 said:
I just don’t know yet? This guy to me seems like a decent role player that is putting up good numbers on a bad team.
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When Deni has put up his best numbers the last few months the Blazers haven't been bad, they've been average.

He always had defense, playmaking, and intangibles that showed he could be a good role player or better.

The #1 question I had when we acquired him was if his final year shooting 37.4% from three in Washington was sustainable or if he would revert to the ~30% shooter his first 3 seasons. Him being at 37% this season on the most attempts of his career is a great indicator.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
When Deni has put up his best numbers the last few months the Blazers haven't been bad, they've been average.

He always had defense, playmaking, and intangibles that showed he could be a good role player or better.

The #1 question I had when we acquired him was if his final year shooting 37.4% from three in Washington was sustainable or if he would revert to the ~30% shooter his first 3 seasons. Him being at 37% this season on the most attempts of his career is a great indicator.
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Other thing is he seems to want to be here and get better. Those are things you don’t teach.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
I'm just not seeing the contending part - we are missing two future allstars to be at that level which are extremely hard to acquire. I do think we have a great young core for the rest of the rotation, defense, role players, and depth.

If we can add one allstar somehow then perhaps we could trade multiple future picks for a Domantas Sabonis level of vet as the final move to make that contending jump. But how do we first acquire an allstar this offseason with just a late lottery pick, overpaid vets, and the MLE? That will be very difficult.
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My contention is that the young guards are going to continue get a lot better, that they are the future ASs. They are already pretty decent at 21 and clearly have improved considerably in the last year. Most players improve a lot between the ages of 21 and 25 and they have the physical gifts to be special once they really put things together. It's not a sure thing, but this year has been very encouraging

STOMP
 
I think Shaedon and the team will look better in an offense that produces and encourages more ball movement. Shaedon spends too much time going iso with a handle that isn't good enough. If he can get his opportunities more off ball ala Rip or Klay except going down hill, I think we'll see even better results.
 
AmirIcon said:
I think Shaedon and the team will look better in an offense that produces and encourages more ball movement. Shaedon spends too much time going iso with a handle that isn't good enough. If he can get his opportunities more off ball ala Rip or Klay except going down hill, I think we'll see even better results.
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If Shaedon's J evolves to the level of automatic of a RIP or Klay, this team will absolutely contend as one of the biggest things they lack is a true lead offensive weapon. Not sure thats in the cards though as most great shooters seem to have that as a god given gift that they hone rather then something they develop over time. Fingers crossed on that but I don't see Sharpe as having an innate feel for it.

I'd 100% love it if the team relied more on ball movement and continuous motion. Iso ball is boring, selfish & undependable unless you've a Roy/Dame sort of talent. Hopefully they move Ant to the bench next year and take advantage of having two ballhandlers/passers (Scoot & Deni) in their lineup & the youngins all up their 3 ball percentages a tick or two

STOMP
 
Egor Demin is willing to shoot and has plenty to improve, but his passing/playmaking and size would be outstanding. Bigs at PF who are lob threats and good feet to complement Clingan.

AND shooting. Absolutely. With the young 5 and bench crew, the bones of a good team are there. A contender? That’s a lot of development and a lot better coach.

Toumani taking a couple steps with Deni (having at least one more?) is better as multi-position forwards and D than LMA and Batum. Deni’s best position is a starter on the court all the time.
 
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STOMP said:
If Shaedon's J evolves to the level of automatic of a RIP or Klay, this team will absolutely contend as one of the biggest things they lack is a true lead offensive weapon. Not sure thats in the cards though as most great shooters seem to have that as a god given gift that they hone rather then something they develop over time. Fingers crossed on that but I don't see Sharpe as having an innate feel for it.

I'd 100% love it if the team relied more on ball movement and continuous motion. Iso ball is boring, selfish & undependable unless you've a Roy/Dame sort of talent. Hopefully they move Ant to the bench next year and take advantage of having two ballhandlers/passers (Scoot & Deni) in their lineup & the youngins all up their 3 ball percentages a tick or two

STOMP
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This is 100% on the coach. So unless we change the coach, you can expect this to continue.
 
dviss1 said:
This is 100% on the coach. So unless we change the coach, you can expect this to continue.
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There are many examples of coaches varying their offense from year to year, usually to best fit their roster's talent. If Portland wants to increase ball movement in their attack, adding a few catch and shoot guys would help the effectiveness of that cause. Currently they're 23rd in the league in 3pt% which speaks to their struggles. The only team shooting a lower percentage from 3s below them in the playoff mix is Houston.

STOMP
 
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