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Maybe it's the Blazers piss poor defense, but Jeremy Sochan's ball handling looked Hella good against us. It sure would be nice to have a taller player that can make something happen on the offensive end with his dribbling skills. Shaedon is a MUCH better shooter and has had quite a few games where he looks like the real deal. But he doesn't seem to create at all and that's Hella important. I'm probably an idiot for thinking I'd rather have Sochan at this point. But I figured I'd put it out there during the dog days of winter.

I don't think so...not at all

I think the Blazers need to bite the bullet, trade Ant for front court help, and turn the keys over the the back court of Scoot/Sharpe. And is standing in their way

I don't think it makes much sense to trade Ant as long as he's a much better player than Scoot

red_power wrote:I don't think it makes much sense to trade Ant as long as he's a much better player than Scoot

Monta Ellis was quite a bit better than Curry when the Warriors made the trade

Zach Randolph was quite a bit better than Lamarcus Aldridge when the Blazers made the trade

I think the common thread is that you can see what kind of players were being traded and where their impact level was

I sort of agree but we need to keep a few things in mind.
First of all, the problem is the fact that Ant is a MUCH better player than Scoot right now. With his current performance level, Henderson doesn't appear to be more of a fringe rotation player at this point.
Secondly, in your examples these teams didn't yield a good return. Bogut was often injured big past his best career years. Dumping Z-Bo for Frye and 2 years of Francis' dead-weight contract was a crap deal in itself.

That's why I can't see the Blazers FO trading Ant unless a godfather offer emerges. There is no reason to play lowball.. yet.

Shaedon is and will be a much better player. Sochan would currently be a better fit. I don't believe that will hold true for long.

red_power wrote:I sort of agree but we need to keep a few things in mind.
First of all, the problem is the fact that Ant is a MUCH better player than Scoot right now. With his current performance level, Henderson doesn't appear to be more of a fringe rotation player at this point.
Secondly, in your examples these teams didn't yield a good return. Bogut was often injured big past his best career years. Dumping Z-Bo for Frye and 2 years of Francis' dead-weight contract was a crap deal in itself.

That's why I can't see the Blazers FO trading Ant unless a godfather offer emerges. There is no reason to play lowball.. yet.

I think that's kind of the point. Even though the return wasn't great on either of those trades, long term it worked out.
For Z-Bo, it was an addition by subtraction. We dumped his long term salary and attitude, and let LA have minutes and touches.
With Monta, it was a swing for the fences deal, hoping Bogut's knees will hold and the roster will be better balanced. And while his numbers aren't as good, he played an important part in the early part of the GS dynasty.

Would either of these teams have been better by keeping the vets?

mighty_duck wrote:Would either of these teams have been better by keeping the vets?

Are you completely sure Scoot is going to be a better player than Ant in 5 years? At this point, I would still prefer to give Simons some benefit of the doubt

red_power wrote:

mighty_duck wrote:Would either of these teams have been better by keeping the vets?

Are you completely sure Scoot is going to be a better player than Ant in 5 years? At this point, I would still prefer to give Simons some benefit of the doubt

Thank you!!!!! My God people are hellbent on getting rid of Ant, it's mind boggling.

You don't mess with the Sochan.

red_power wrote:

mighty_duck wrote:Would either of these teams have been better by keeping the vets?

Are you completely sure Scoot is going to be a better player than Ant in 5 years? At this point, I would still prefer to give Simons some benefit of the doubt

If Scoot doesn't pan out better than Ant then we're still going to be in the lottery. If we keep Ant and don't let Scoot try to run the team we'll still be in the lottery. Ant has all the same warts as Lillard and wont ever be as good on the offensive end as him.

Doesn't even matter if Scoot is as good as him, we can't win with a 1 way player leading the way.

Neither Ant nor CJ could sniff a court much in their first years and it didn't prevent them from turning into good players.

In fact, the best thing we could do for Scoot right now is lock him down in the gym and let him work with trainers on his fundamentals and athleticism all day long. He's simply not good enough to warrant big playing time and a serious role on the court right now.

red_power wrote:Neither Ant nor CJ could sniff a court much in their first years and it didn't prevent them from turning into good players.

In fact, the best thing we could do for Scoot right now is lock him down in the gym and let him work with trainers on his fundamentals and athleticism all day long. He's simply not good enough to warrant big playing time and a serious role on the court right now.

One of the main criticisms of Scoot is that he is too slow at reading the game, resulting in stupid turnovers and botched defensive rotations. It's typical of most rookies. We've seen steady improvement on that side as the season has progressed, and it is why I think he should continue getting heavy minutes.

That said - you aren't wrong. The kid needs A LOT of time in the gym and watching tape. His inability to produce separation on drives is sometimes painful to watch. Ant was similar at his age.

red_power wrote:Neither Ant nor CJ could sniff a court much in their first years and it didn't prevent them from turning into good players.

In fact, the best thing we could do for Scoot right now is lock him down in the gym and let him work with trainers on his fundamentals and athleticism all day long. He's simply not good enough to warrant big playing time and a serious role on the court right now.

We were a playoff team.

We are a trash team now.

JRoy wrote:

red_power wrote:Neither Ant nor CJ could sniff a court much in their first years and it didn't prevent them from turning into good players.

In fact, the best thing we could do for Scoot right now is lock him down in the gym and let him work with trainers on his fundamentals and athleticism all day long. He's simply not good enough to warrant big playing time and a serious role on the court right now.

We were a playoff team.

We are a trash team now.

Barely a playoff team. did anyone think we were going to the playoffs this year? This is year one of a reload and we are not even half way thru year one...sweet jesus maybe take a year off

The point that I was making is that Mathews was ahead of CJ in the rotation and should have been as we were in the business of competing, not developing youth.

JRoy wrote:The point that I was making is that Mathews was ahead of CJ in the rotation and should have been as we were in the business of competing, not developing youth.

pardon me but what exactly do you think we are doing here? We are developing talent, this is not a newsflash, so you have expectations that we are all in on the playoffs? I don't understand what are your expectations? The whole world knew we would suck, are you late to the party or have incredibly unrealistic expectations?

m0ng0 wrote:

JRoy wrote:The point that I was making is that Mathews was ahead of CJ in the rotation and should have been as we were in the business of competing, not developing youth.

pardon me but what exactly do you think we are doing here? We are developing talent, this is not a newsflash, so you have expectations that we are all in on the playoffs? I don't understand what are your expectations? The whole world knew we would suck, are you late to the party or have incredibly unrealistic expectations?

No kidding.

The fact that we WERE a playoff team meant that there weren’t as many minutes for young guys like CJ and later Simons.

It also means that we ARE a terrible team now and young guys ought to get time on the court to develop that would otherwise be unavailable on a good team.

Wesley had a heel problem two years before he had the Achilles. That team in the final year with LMA had really good players who were great at their roles.

CJ got his runway in the rebuild and got better quickly. He was traded (at least) one year too late (like LMA as a UFA bailing, instead). Timing is hard to get right. Simons is really good as a 3-level shooter, but … Is his style (similar to Lillard) the kind of PG you prefer? Scoring sniper point guard?

With a 6’5 PG who is a floor general, defending stud, who dishes dimes, makes the right pass and hits standstill 3’s … YEAH, keep Simons as a secondary initiating SG. BUT Sharpe isn’t good to go defending SFs on a contending team — SG all the way. Thus, eventually trade Simons, but not a year too late. No NEED (IMHO) to trade Simons right now … but next year?

I think Scoot will be an aggressive PG who runs an offense where guys get their looks … and plays D, too. A Chauncey PG.