Who would you keep?

[Norm2953]

Keep: Simmons and Little.

Everyone else I'm willing to trade. We aren't winning anything with Dame. Let him move on and let's get some good assets back.

I've been in favor of the proper rebuild for some time. I do think however they will bring back Nurk for they have
nobody to replace him, either via draft, trade or free agency.

They will try one last time with Dame and if its not working, will move him at next years trade deadline. I just hope
they have not committed to a Jerami Grant extension for if they are going to build around Simons/Nurk, they will
need to maintain some flexibility in payroll to make some moves.

I'd basically like to see that team that was playing well before the ASB, reinforced by Dame, Little and either their
FRP (s). With or without Grant, they are at best a 5-8 seed in 2023 and likely even with the LA Clippers/Minnesota
subject to moves by the Lakers and Pelicans. It's simply absurd to buy Portland being able to make the moves to make
Portland a contender for those teams ahead of them are just so much better

[Case2012]

I think the key is to find the best talent you can in the draft and if they take a year or 2 to develop then so be it, depending on who’s on the board when we pick, I might keep both picks.

Anyways, not sure where to post this but I watched this whole interview last night and Dame unsurprisingly is totally on board and confident that they can build a contender around him. Worth a watch.

Watch on YouTube

[Norm2953]

It usually takes 3 years of solid drafts before a team is ready to challenge in the playoffs.

Let's say they drafted AJ Griffin and one of the big bodied backup centers with their two lottery picks.
Team adds BPA, either via their TPE or MLE. Team rolls into 22/23 with Dame, Ant and Hart in the
back court. Team has Griffin, Little, Winslow and their BPA up front with Nurk/#1 pick. This isn't a
bad team but a team that could win 38-39 games and be in the play in games.

[dYYYh.k²]

is it possible to get AD? Would you do it and for whom?

[PDXKnight]

With the season on its last legs, I thought it would be an interesting topic to hear who you drop and who you bring back. I

Keep:
Dame
Ant
Nas
Winslow
Nurk

Watford
Dunn
Keon
GB3
Hart

I would wipe the slate clean and move everyone, including Simons except rookie contact players, for picks and youth.

But I’m not an interim GM hoping to keep my job.

If we are going nuclear why deal simons? Anfernee is the best prospect to come through portland since dame imo

My gut says the best call is to trade dame for a rebuild package that nets us significant pieces around anfernee. If teams lowball wait it out however long it takes but i don’t want to see anf gone as dealing him at such a young age would be a historic mistake for this franchise

[PDXKnight]

is it possible to get AD? Would you do it and for whom?

I don’t see any way we get AD without giving up anf or Dame. And if we deal dame for him i’m not sure there’s a point because he’s a lot older than anf so really it boils down to if we and the lakers would do something around anf for ad. Might be a difficult deal to make from a cap perspective but i suppose if we were totally committed to win now if la would bite maybe it’s something to consider i suppose. Either way i feel like dame/anf will have to get split up eventually as the combo doesn’t look good on paper. Probably will be dame because at the rate we are going winning a title or contending with Dame seems like a home run/unlikely scenario at this point especially given that his contract takes up a huge portion of cap space. Yes he’s worth the money but it makes it super difficult to maneuver in other ways

[Norm2953]

I do wonder if Portland would consider moving Dame to the knicks for something build around RJ Barrett+ Knicks lottery pick especially if the Pelicans pick does not convey.

Portland's options are greatly reduced if that pick does not convey unless they are stupid enough to trade the #6 pick for Grant

[Dame Lizard]

I do wonder if Portland would consider moving Dame to the knicks for something build around RJ Barrett+ Knicks lottery pick especially if the Pelicans pick does not convey.

Portland's options are greatly reduced if that pick does not convey unless they are stupid enough to trade the #6 pick for Grant

I shudder to think about us trading #6 (give or take) for Grant.

That's the exact same scenario as Gerald Wallace for Dame (#6). Obviously it's highly unlikely that a #6 ends up like Dame, but the point stands.

[GEE]

is it possible to get AD? Would you do it and for whom?

I was thinking about this recently... Offering the Lakers Dame for AD. But due to the amount of years left on his contract and injury history, I think I would have to pass. Good idea though. Far better than all the J.Grant regurgitation. And, anyone that still believes ANT might get traded, just isn't paying attention.

[Norm2953]

It would be very fearful of a scenario of the Pelicans pick not conveying and Portland GM Joe Cronin doing an impersonstion of Billy King and just mortgaging Portland's future to build a team around Dame

[Village Idiot]

Keep:

Simons
Little
Hart
Nurkic
Watford
Keon
Eubanks
Winslow

Trade:

Damian Lillard to Utah
Mitchell to team in top 3
top 3 pick and fill to Portland

Undecided:

Dunn
Brown
Williams

Let go:

Blevins
Bledsoe
Elleby
Hughes
McLemore
Louzada

[wjun15]

Keep:
* Dame
* Hart
* Little
* Simons
* Williams (TW)
* Watford


50/50:
* Winslow (not sure)
* Nurk (no other options, then keep)
* Johnson (just to see what he has one more year, but hes most likely gonna be out of NBA in a few years)
* Ingles (most likely not resigned)
* McLemore (most likely not resigned)
* Eubanks

Time to move on from:
* Blevins (the fact that he is on the team because of Dame is disgusting. He should not be an NBA player period)
* Bledsoe
* Elleby (sucks)
* Dunn
* Hughes

Updated List:

Keep:
* Dame
* Hart
* Little
* Simons
* Watford
* Eubanks

50/50:
* Winslow (not sure)
* Nurk (no other options, then keep)
* Johnson (just to see what he has one more year, but hes most likely gonna be out of NBA in a few years)
* Ingles (most likely not resigned)
* McLemore (most likely not resigned)

Time to move on from:
* Blevins (the fact that he is on the team because of Dame is disgusting. He should not be an NBA player period)
* Bledsoe
* Elleby (sucks)
* Dunn
* Hughes

[BlazersBroncos]

I actually am content with the depth and bench players on this team. It all comes down to adding 2 starting forwards - thats what we truly lack right now. And its going to be really, really hard to find 2 this offseason IMO.

I think Hart can be a 30mpg 6th man type, Little can pass as a 7th man (With upside to boot IMO), Winslow brings some nice utility skills as a 15-18mpg swing forward, Eubanks and Watford can eat the 20mpg or so behind Nurkic, Dunn is a nice defensive 3rd string specialist and Brown / Keon are worth keeping around to see if they develop.

But we have gaping holes at the starting SF and PF spots. I think Grant + Murray is a best case scenario in filling those spots - but I am also not sure we should rely on a rookie playing starter minutes, Murray would be better used as a rookie in a bench scoring role IMO. So that would still leave starting PF as a hole as Winslow is not good enough to play that role. IDK, going to be tough to figure out.

[Case2012]

The last time we picked 6th we picked Dame who was 22 at the time and was rookie of the year, If we can grab Murray who is 22 with the 6th pick, I’m starting him.

[Village Idiot]

I just don't get the love for Keegan. He's not that athletic and has poor ball-handling skills. He makes a lot of bad decisions and shot release is on the slow side. His best case is Tobias Harris. In the high lottery I want a guy with a lot more upside even if the downside is higher.

[BlazersBroncos]

I just don't get the love for Keegan. He's not that athletic and has poor ball-handling skills. He makes a lot of bad decisions and shot release is on the slow side. His best case is Tobias Harris. In the high lottery I want a guy with a lot more upside even if the downside is higher.

The reality is this draft is pretty universally considered really poor. And IMO its especially poor in the 5-15 range. Which sucks.

I think Granger is a closer best case with Toby being the high-middle case.

Murray is a pretty good athlete though, I certainly think better than Harris. 2.0BPG is pretty hard to average if your floor bound.

But his passing is my biggest concern. 1.5APG w/ his usage is putrid. I see shades of later stage Melo at times when watching him, which isnt good. I think Keegan has a nice shot for his size, its AJ Griffin and Tari whos shot I worry about.

[Norm2953]

Actually I've heard the opposite for most draft pundits view the real value in this draft to be in the mid to late
lottery. What the draft lacks is a sure fire franchise altering player for there is nobody at the top worth trading
up for but just a lot of guys who will good solid pros.

I think Portland's pick at six will fall amongst these guys:

Keegan Murray
AJ Griffin
Benedict Mathurin
Shaedon Sharpe
Jalen Duren

Who they pick will depend on what they see at the draft combine and the individual workouts at the training
facility. If they pick Sharpe, it would be repeat of the 2018 draft for he's a guy who did not play his senior year
in HS ala Simons. Now if one of the projected top 4 picks slips to six for whatever reason, Portland would no
question pick one of the three bigs in this draft class.

[Dame Lizard]

Consider me someone who doesn't rate Grant as being much better than Hart, value wise. I'd say he's a better player (although Hart has killed it for Portland), but Grant will want a big contract next offseason. I feel Hart will be more affordable to retain.

This give me hope that there wasn't some handshake deal made.


https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10031712-nba-rumors-blazers-tried-to-trade-for-jerami-grant-pistons-wanted-more-than-offer

[JasonStern]

None of the scrubs are worth keeping. Kris Dunn put up 7 points? I could put up 6 to 8 ppg on this team. And they would probably let me as I would give up 16. We do this every year with g league prospects. Remember Moses Brown? Wenyen Gabriel? Well they were both flavors of the week at some point. And I don't mean to be negative on the guys getting minutes but no team should realistically be giving them minutes.

[BlazersBroncos]

The allure with Dunn is you can put him in for 5-10 minutes and get some disruptive defense. I am not stuck at him at all and would hope he rarely sees the floor if we kept him but for a 3rd string PG on a team with 2 PG's that are meh defenders at best in Dame / Ant a guy with a totally opposite skillset is alluring.

He isnt good, but on paper the fit seems nice. If we find a PG prospect in R2 then ya, walk away from him. But this PG class is really, really bad. Kennedy Chandler is the only guy at PG that might be there at 37 that could be worth drafting over the other non-PG talents likely available (Mostly alot of promising but flawed SG/SFs and a bunch of older C's)