2024 NBA DRAFT THREAD 3

[Dalek]

I would prefer to convey our pick to San Antonio this year. While it hurts missing out on prospects, there really is no consensus on who fits best and will be the best player from the class. We still have picks 19 and 31 which is enough for 2024, along with whatever we do with Bruce Brown (possible draft day trade) and free agency.

Next year, 2025 we will not have any pick if we convey next season. Likely we won't be top 6 bad again, and if we are, if we convey this year we would be in control of the pick in a way better draft class.

I know this stuff is in the hands of the lottery balls, but I do think losing the pick is the best outcome.

[Rapsfan07]

I agree with you man. Completely.

I agree that Carter is likely gone by 19, but disagree that there is a shortage of 3&D guys (also, Carter is more than a 3&D guard). There are a ton of intriguing 3&D wings in this draft (Watkins, Isaiah Crawford, Tyon Grant-Foster, Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban, Mccullar, Pelle Larsson, Harrison Ingram, Keshad Johnson, Trevon Brazile, etc.)

Watkins being slept on. He's going to rise shortly

Never heard of him. What's his full name and who does he play for?

[WuTang_OG]

I agree that Carter is likely gone by 19, but disagree that there is a shortage of 3&D guys (also, Carter is more than a 3&D guard). There are a ton of intriguing 3&D wings in this draft (Watkins, Isaiah Crawford, Tyon Grant-Foster, Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban, Mccullar, Pelle Larsson, Harrison Ingram, Keshad Johnson, Trevon Brazile, etc.)

Watkins being slept on. He's going to rise shortly

Never heard of him. What's his full name and who does he play for?

https://www.si.com/nba/draft/prospect-profiles/nba-draft-scouting-report-florida-states-jamir-watkins

Leonard hamilton connection too

[BoyzNTheHood]

A Buzelis - Carter - Dunn draft would be incredible. 3 rotation players from a “weak” draft class is elite.

[CazOnReal]

Read on Twitter

This would save Portland some money and give us a backup center (when healthy).

[ArthurVandelay]

Blazers won’t have any issues finding places to dump Grant or Brogdon.

The only issue will be if they get any assets of quality in return.

[grant101]

This would be an unbelievable haul! Where do I sign?

I would love this.

As an aside, I can't help but notice that Brown, GTJ an Nwora don't even figure into the rotation.

Could you add an additional contributor in FA?

Claxton, Melton and even Monk seem like fits.

I would add Jalen Smith to the list if I included free agents, which would probably mean not exercising Brown's option. Melton would be a nice add, though he is kind of similar to Carter so he'd either take minutes from him at PG or Dick at SG. My concern would be being able to get the young guys minutes and having their value going stale like Moody and Kuminga were for a while with the Warriors.

Barnes - Smith - Holmes
Holland - Agbaji - Crawford
Poeltl - Olynyk
Barrett - Dick
Quickley - Melton - Carter

I would add Isaiah Joe and Caleb Martin to the original list. Your point about Melton crowding out Carter's minutes is a good one though and should be taken into account with any FA signing. That said, Melton is good enough to where I would be ok with having Carter earn his minutes

[grant101]

Read on Twitter

This would save Portland some money and give us a backup center (when healthy).

That would be tempting depending on who we draft

The extra year and high likelihood that he gets injured again would be tough to swallow... I'd prob risk it

[canada_dry]

Read on Twitter

This would save Portland some money and give us a backup center (when healthy).

Honestly... hes very impactful when healthy.

I dont like the guy ever since he was making sweep signals at our team after the celtics went up 2-0 in 2020... but whatever lol.

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[Rapsfan07]

Read on Twitter

This would save Portland some money and give us a backup center (when healthy).

That would be tempting depending on who we draft

The extra year and high likelihood that he gets injured again would be tough to swallow... I'd prob risk it

Could be an interesting opportunity to move up in the draft although I think there are better things we could be doing with our capspace.

But something like Williams +#14 for McDaniels + #19 is technically doable. Gets Portland out of the tax at the cost of moving down a couple spots. They'll end up with a top 6 or so pick anyway so nothing much to lose for them.

[Grew]

Thierry Darlan has declared for the draft. 6'8 wing from Africa I've never heard of. Masai definitely promised this guy at 31

[MEDIC]

A Buzelis - Carter - Dunn draft would be incredible. 3 rotation players from a “weak” draft class is elite.

I'd be super happy with that. Even happier if we landed the 1st pick.

Sarr - Carter - Dunn

I'd be super pumped for next season.

[Psubs]

Could be an interesting opportunity to move up in the draft although I think there are better things we could be doing with our capspace.

But something like Williams +#14 for McDaniels + #19 is technically doable. Gets Portland out of the tax at the cost of moving down a couple spots. They'll end up with a top 6 or so pick anyway so nothing much to lose for them.

Brogdon, Williams, #14 and cash for Boucher, McDaniels (waive), and #19.

PG Scoot - Banton
SG Simons - Rupert/Thybulle
SF Sharpe - Murray
PF Grant - Boucher/Camara
C Ayton - Reath - Walker

[CazOnReal]

Brogdon really doesn't make sense for salary shedding purposes from Portland's perspective. Yes he's making a fair amount of money but he comes off the books next season and you can probably get something for him in the offseason or, at worst, the deadline.

You could make an argument for trading Simons since he probably has the most value on the roster but given how Scoot looked...I wouldn't risk being stuck with a potential bust as your centerpiece in a rebuild.

Grant can be more or less ruled out; Portland has, like, no wings and who knows if they'll acquire one in this year's draft.

Ayton and Timelord (Robert Williams) are both making a not significant amount of money, have contracts extending beyond the next season and both have been disappointing in Portland for their own reason and thus have lower trade value - if they have any trade value. They're the guys that make the most sense for either a "move down" or "take on salary" move since it's hard to see either being in high demand and thus represent a potential "buy low" option. Robert moreso than Williams since Ayton is making $34 million and that is, to be frank, a lot of money to invest in your center rotation. If the team does plan to move on from Poeltl then that changes but I digress.

Just as an example:

[Potential]

I dont know why but I had a feeling the Falcons would pick either a WR or Penix at 8. They just feel like the type of team to do that. I think the odds were like +5000 or more for Penix in the top 10. Crazy

[LoveMyRaps]

too bad he won't be there. there's already a massive shortage of 3&D guys in this draft. I won't be surprised if Carter goes as a high as 10. his stock will probably rise a ton during the combine.

I agree with you man. Completely.

I agree that Carter is likely gone by 19, but disagree that there is a shortage of 3&D guys (also, Carter is more than a 3&D guard). There are a ton of intriguing 3&D wings in this draft (Watkins, Isaiah Crawford, Tyon Grant-Foster, Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban, Mccullar, Pelle Larsson, Harrison Ingram, Keshad Johnson, Trevon Brazile, etc.)

You just proved my point - this draft is deprived of 3&D talent. Your list is so flawed - majority of those guys aren't even getting drafted.

For example...
Crawford - 5 year senior (24 year old)
Foster - 6 year senior (24 years old)
Clifford - 4 year senior (24 years old / 175lb)
Johnson - 5 year senior (is also not a reliable 3pt shooter)

[KillaSham23]

I dont know why but I had a feeling the Falcons would pick either a WR or Penix at 8. They just feel like the type of team to do that. I think the odds were like +5000 or more for Penix in the top 10. Crazy

Unreal. Why give Kirk 4 years guaranteed if you're drafting a QB.

[Rapsfan07]

Could be an interesting opportunity to move up in the draft although I think there are better things we could be doing with our capspace.

But something like Williams +#14 for McDaniels + #19 is technically doable. Gets Portland out of the tax at the cost of moving down a couple spots. They'll end up with a top 6 or so pick anyway so nothing much to lose for them.

Brogdon, Williams, #14 and cash for Boucher, McDaniels (waive), and #19.

PG Scoot - Banton
SG Simons - Rupert/Thybulle
SF Sharpe - Murray
PF Grant - Boucher/Camara
C Ayton - Reath - Walker

I gotta imagine they could get better value for Brogdon than just throwing him into a dump deal like this. The reason why I'd argue it makes a little more sense for Williams is because he's owed a lot more and chronically injured. At least this way Portland gets to avoid the tax by getting off a guy who doesn't really play anyway.

[grant101]

I agree with you man. Completely.

I agree that Carter is likely gone by 19, but disagree that there is a shortage of 3&D guys (also, Carter is more than a 3&D guard). There are a ton of intriguing 3&D wings in this draft (Watkins, Isaiah Crawford, Tyon Grant-Foster, Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban, Mccullar, Pelle Larsson, Harrison Ingram, Keshad Johnson, Trevon Brazile, etc.)

You just proved my point - this draft is deprived of 3&D talent. Your list is so flawed - majority of those guys aren't even getting drafted.

For example...
Crawford - 5 year senior (24 year old)
Foster - 6 year senior (24 years old)
Clifford - 4 year senior (24 years old / 175lb)
Johnson - 5 year senior (is also not a reliable 3pt shooter)

The list is not exhaustive, and i purposely left off a lot of the obvious guys like DaSilva, Tyson, Dadiet and Furphy, Klintman, Edwards, Ajinca and George (not all of whom I'm a fan of). In any case, i think we just disagree on the pro potential of some of the players you dismissed. I guess we'll see, but I bet we see a number of them on NBA rosters next year (Johnson i'm less high on, but I know he has fans).

[Rapsfan07]

Brogdon really doesn't make sense for salary shedding purposes from Portland's perspective. Yes he's making a fair amount of money but he comes off the books next season and you can probably get something for him in the offseason or, at worst, the deadline.

You could make an argument for trading Simons since he probably has the most value on the roster but given how Scoot looked...I wouldn't risk being stuck with a potential bust as your centerpiece in a rebuild.

Grant can be more or less ruled out; Portland has, like, no wings and who knows if they'll acquire one in this year's draft.

Ayton and Timelord (Robert Williams) are both making a not significant amount of money, have contracts extending beyond the next season and both have been disappointing in Portland for their own reason and thus have lower trade value - if they have any trade value. They're the guys that make the most sense for either a "move down" or "take on salary" move since it's hard to see either being in high demand and thus represent a potential "buy low" option. Robert moreso than Williams since Ayton is making $34 million and that is, to be frank, a lot of money to invest in your center rotation. If the team does plan to move on from Poeltl then that changes but I digress.

Just as an example:

Well I can't see why Masai would ever want to take on Ayton. And if he did, it would need to be for a lot more than the #14 pick in this upcoming draft.

To mention we have needs of our own and capspace is limited. Even a deal of McDaniels for Williams results in us taking on an additional $8M this year and $12M next year for a player that's injured all the time.

The good news is making a deal like that would allow us to take potentially move Yak to a team like Memphis if we liked a player in the #7 or #8 range. But doing that probably means we're taking in more salary too.

A lot of this really depends on how much we like who's on the board and where our pick falls.