Mike Schmitz - Draft Guru

[Blazers20]

Do Blazer fans trust Schmitz ability to accurately draft BPA?

Clingan?
Scoot?
Murray?
Walker?

[Blazers20]

I’m not sold on Schmitz.

[Wizenheimer]

no "draft guru" has a perfect record, even the best of them

I think Murray was a miss. And just about every team with the 3rd pick would have taken Scoot; besides that I think Cronin was trying to force Dame into asking out and drafting a PG was the back-breaking straw

by the way, I believe Schmitz was there when the Blazers took Sharpe

[JRoy]

I hated the Scoot pick and still do.

I like Sharpe and Clingan, though I wanted Eason and Edey.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Walker was a late second round pick. He has certainly outperformed his draft position.

[HoopsFanAZ]

1. Sharpe -- outstanding. The chatter was they were trying to trade with Toronto, but the Raptors asked for beyond top dollar.
2. Scoot -- strong. The chatter was practically everyone would have done the same. I hoped they would trade up for 2 or trade the pick to keep Dame. Nope. It was the right move to trade Dame and rebuild -- just gotta finish it up right. I liked the Thompson brothers (still do). The Blazers did not get lucky enough (though did get lucky to draft Scoot in the first place).
3. Walker -- outstanding. Far outperformed his draft position. He's a quality 2nd rounder in the 30s.
4. Rupert -- getting him was a strong move. Draft evaluations matter.
5. Camara -- insisting on him in the Ayton trade was a strong move. Draft evaluations matter and even Summer League.
6. Murray -- good and an incomplete, so far. It was a pick I liked at that position. Murray trailed his twin in development by at least a year in college and definitely in the pros. I liked him better than the other options with guys like Lively gone.
7. Clingan -- too early to say. I preferred Salaun for his upside at PF and Cody Williams for the same at SF. Since they rated Clingan higher on their board and the pick order had him slip to 7, I'm not going to argue.

For both the picks and trades over the last 3 draft cycles, Schmitz earns "Draft Guru" status ... IMHO.

[ebott]

Fur reelz, the only picks that matter are Shaedon, Scoot and Klingon. Looking back at those drafts I don't see a needle mover that was picked behind those guys. As such, I have a hard time Blaming Schmidt for our troubles.

[PDXKnight]

Fur reelz, the only picks that matter are Shaedon, Scoot and Klingon. Looking back at those drafts I don't see a needle mover that was picked behind those guys. As such, I have a hard time Blaming Schmidt for our troubles.

Yeah I think he's done OK as well. The verdict is still out if he's great but I don't think he made any super erroneous moves yet

[BlazersBroncos]

The only clear but was Kris who didnt make sense at the time either. A 23 year old rookie projected as a plug and play 3/D guy who had a low ceiling only made sense if we planned to keep Dame.

That pick should have been Leonard Miller or GG if we had already 100% moved on from Dame.

[Walton1one]

I mean the jury is out still, right?

2022) Sharpe - Shows a lot of promise, but when (will?) he put it all together? Outside of Jalen Williams @ #12, who did POR miss out on that is significantly better at this point? Sharpe is also 2 years younger

2022) Walker at #57 was a nice pick, he clearly has shown himself to to be an NBA level player, more of a situational bench player than a rotational (top 7/8) player IMO and one that is exchangeable with many other similar players of his type, but at 2nd to last pick of the draft, that is better than a majority of 2nd rounders picked in ANY draft

2023)Scoot - Too early to tell, but I seriously doubt that most other teams, had they been picking at #3, would have passed on him. We will find out where he rates amongst his draft classmates in the next 2-3 years. Overall that class has some intriguing players (Coulibaly, Podziemski, Lively, Jaquez Jr, Whitmore) who have already shown some glimpses. NBA draft these days are not sprints (instant results) moreso marathons (where they are in 3-4 years).

2023) Murray - We will see what he does this year, but this is the only pick that I question, given Murray's older age (24). This year IMO will say a lot about whether or not he can be a rotational\utility bench player. He has good size, effort, IQ, plays within a team concept, but unless the shooting comes around, he won't stay in the NBA for long. POR drafted (Rupert) and traded for (Camara) two other players in this draft, that IMO have both shown more, If either Camara\Rupert were drafted @ #23 and Murray part of a throw in to the Ayton trade, then this pick would probably viewed differently. But generally, (4) players from this draft and only (1) so far that looks a little suspect IMO.

2023) Rupert - He was always a longer term prospect, super young, just turned 20, oozing with athletic ability just needs to refine his skills. Still growing too, draft profile listed him at 6'6 and in SL they commented how he was 6'8\6'9. He still needs a few (2? 3?) more seasons to hone his skills (Shooting\passing\dribbling) but all have markedly looked better than LY. I would rather continue to bet on\invest in him than Murray who is 4 years older. For 2nd round picks, these are the types of flyers worth taking, often they don't work out, but make a GM look smart when they do.

2023) Camara - Whether POR identified him as a prospect, but took Murray\Rupert instead, or if they insisted on his inclusion as reported in the trade involving Dame, either way he might be the best of all (3) players. Curious to see what sort of growth he has next year, but surely looks to be a solid bench\rotational player

2024) Clingan - Looked good in SL and in areas that should translate well to the NBA. A lot of the things he does are not really captured in the box score IMO. Way too early to tell anything at this point, but it will be curious to see how he measures up after 3-4 years against some of the other bigs taken in this draft, namely:
Sarr (who is 1yr younger, he looked awful vs Clingan)
Edey (2yrs older than Clingan, he looked good, but less mobile, more offensive than defensive IMO)
Ware (same age, looked good in SL but curious to see how his offensive abilities translate at NBA level. I wonder how a match up with Clingan would have went, since Ware can't really play bully ball like Edey can against him)

2024) 2nd rounders - Oh that's right they traded them for cash

[cdubbz]

I liked Scmitz when he worked for ESPN or whichever company it was where he did his pre-draft scouting with the prospects.

I think going for Scoot & Clingan was safe picks and for lottery picks.

[Wizenheimer]

I think going for Scoot & Clingan was safe picks and for lottery picks.

yeah...I don't think any Blazer GM or scout should get a lot of credit for those two picks. Scoot was a no-brainer and the only other prospect on the board at his "level" was Amen Thompson. Clingan was not as much a no-brainer as Scoot, but by most accounts, Clingan still being available at #7 made him the BPA by quite a bit. Meaning both would have very likely been picked 3rd and 7th by whoever was drafting in those slots

I'm not sure I agree with Clingan at #7 considering his 'apparent' limitations. Maybe an alternative path would have been to trade the 7th pick for Avdija, keep that 2029 1st, and use #14 on Ware. I think Ware may end up being plug-n-play in more types of lineups than Clingan

[Blazers20]

I don’t agree Scoot was a no brainer at the 3rd pick or Clingan at 7th. We will see how many players after Scoot and Clingan have better careers short term and long term.

[JasonStern]

We're ~3 seasons out from being able to accurately grade Schmitz. The team is young, so it could have multiple all-stars on the roster - or a ton of busts and wasted seasons.

Good career to get into. Something where you can say "just trust me" for multiple years while getting well compensated.

[SweaterBae]

1. Sharpe -- outstanding. The chatter was they were trying to trade with Toronto, but the Raptors asked for beyond top dollar.
2. Scoot -- strong. The chatter was practically everyone would have done the same. I hoped they would trade up for 2 or trade the pick to keep Dame. Nope. It was the right move to trade Dame and rebuild -- just gotta finish it up right. I liked the Thompson brothers (still do). The Blazers did not get lucky enough (though did get lucky to draft Scoot in the first place).
3. Walker -- outstanding. Far outperformed his draft position. He's a quality 2nd rounder in the 30s.
4. Rupert -- getting him was a strong move. Draft evaluations matter.
5. Camara -- insisting on him in the Ayton trade was a strong move. Draft evaluations matter and even Summer League.
6. Murray -- good and an incomplete, so far. It was a pick I liked at that position. Murray trailed his twin in development by at least a year in college and definitely in the pros. I liked him better than the other options with guys like Lively gone.
7. Clingan -- too early to say. I preferred Salaun for his upside at PF and Cody Williams for the same at SF. Since they rated Clingan higher on their board and the pick order had him slip to 7, I'm not going to argue.

For both the picks and trades over the last 3 draft cycles, Schmitz earns "Draft Guru" status ... IMHO.

[Pattycakes]

I hated the Scoot pick and still do.

I like Sharpe and Clingan, though I wanted Eason and Edey.

Hate is a strong word for someone who could and likely will be really special.

Hm

[JRoy]

I hated the Scoot pick and still do.

I like Sharpe and Clingan, though I wanted Eason and Edey.

Hate is a strong word for someone who could and likely will be really special.

Hm

I don’t hate him but I do hate drafting him.

[zzaj]

I don’t agree Scoot was a no brainer at the 3rd pick or Clingan at 7th. We will see how many players after Scoot and Clingan have better careers short term and long term.

You may not agree with the picks, but that doesn’t change the fact they were “no-brainer” picks at 3 and 7.

Scoot would have likely been taken #2 by many teams, and was the concensus #3 by a long-shot. There was less concensus in this draft, but pretty much everydraft “guru” type agrees that it was a great pick by the Blazers.

If you believe they were already moving away from Lillard (I do), in Scoot’s case they filled a position of need and took BPA = no-brainer.

If you believe Ayton is behind the scenes seen as a good stop-gap (I do), then Clingan also was BPA and filled a position of need = no-brainer.

Now, in NO WAY does that indicate any kind of outcome from those players…but they absolutely were safe, no-brainer picks…

[Walton1one]

I don’t think Clingan was a no brainer pick at #7 for POR. I think for Schmitz and co he was, and IMO it was the right pick, but there were other players taken afterwards, that many here, and many pundits had Portland taking instead:
Cody Williams
Matas Buzelis
Dalton Knecht
Zach Edey & Nikola Topic were even mentioned by some

[Myth]

For those not fans of the Scoot pick, management kind of have to pick a player like that or risk their jobs. Nearly everybody was saying he is #2 or #3 in the draft. You pick him and he busts, everybody shrugs and said that is unfortunate but understand why he was picked, so very little blame is put in the decision makers there. But if you pass on him against what everybody viewed as an obvious pick, then you risk your job if you select an inferior player to Scoot.