How would you rank the importance of the following players to Portland - next season, and for the long term?
Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija, Deandre Ayton, Donovan Clingan, Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle, Robert Williams
Rank the importance hierarchy in Portland
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Rank the importance hierarchy in Portland
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durantbird
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Re: Rank the importance hierarchy in Portland
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Owly
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Re: Rank the importance hierarchy in Portland
I think the question would be importance to what. That's semi-addressed in next year versus long term. But is anything they do next year going to be "important" in and of itself (rather than future consequences coming from it) next year? I'd suggest that's very unlikely.
This was a -8.29 SRS team. Little if anything of the present team is likely to be around if/when they next become serious contenders (for me that's the goal, mileage can differ on how much lower level stuff matters).
I'd guess the route to them getting to such a level is probably more through getting good players in the draft and acquiring long term assets (mileage may differ on present players potential, I haven't watched them especially closely).
The most important pieces to that would be those that are probably those that facilitate the above i.e. trade assets and tank commanders.
Of course players aren't static, we only know what they are like very recently in the one context, you don't have to be amazing to have value to a contender.
Scoot could be helpful in 3 ways most of which are mutually negating though there's a narrow window to thread some of them together.
The (think) he's bad routes
- Tank commander
- "star potential", high pick, high priors trade chip
The (think) he's good routes
- he becomes really good
The more tank commanding he does the less value to the trade chip (although GSW still got something useful for a mostly injured or bad Wiseman).
The more tank commanding he does the less likely it is he's good (the optimistic view would be a flourishing at some point a la year 2 Durant, with the hope that bad high usage might mature into good high usage).
Even if one isn't sold on the upside he's probably most important as the (seemingly) highest leverage piece. Right now I would guess he has value (he's still very young, he was a locked in 2 in the draft, getting some shared top billing at points in that class) so the difference between getting something for it versus finding out he's say ... Dennis Smith Jr or not figuring that out and paying him without him getting much better ... seems like a significant, important difference (though as I say there's some value in having a tank commander).
{edit: I don't know much about this years draft, I know I looked up Clingan this time last year ... maybe he's amazing ... I don't know enough to say)
This was a -8.29 SRS team. Little if anything of the present team is likely to be around if/when they next become serious contenders (for me that's the goal, mileage can differ on how much lower level stuff matters).
I'd guess the route to them getting to such a level is probably more through getting good players in the draft and acquiring long term assets (mileage may differ on present players potential, I haven't watched them especially closely).
The most important pieces to that would be those that are probably those that facilitate the above i.e. trade assets and tank commanders.
Of course players aren't static, we only know what they are like very recently in the one context, you don't have to be amazing to have value to a contender.
Scoot could be helpful in 3 ways most of which are mutually negating though there's a narrow window to thread some of them together.
The (think) he's bad routes
- Tank commander
- "star potential", high pick, high priors trade chip
The (think) he's good routes
- he becomes really good
The more tank commanding he does the less value to the trade chip (although GSW still got something useful for a mostly injured or bad Wiseman).
The more tank commanding he does the less likely it is he's good (the optimistic view would be a flourishing at some point a la year 2 Durant, with the hope that bad high usage might mature into good high usage).
Even if one isn't sold on the upside he's probably most important as the (seemingly) highest leverage piece. Right now I would guess he has value (he's still very young, he was a locked in 2 in the draft, getting some shared top billing at points in that class) so the difference between getting something for it versus finding out he's say ... Dennis Smith Jr or not figuring that out and paying him without him getting much better ... seems like a significant, important difference (though as I say there's some value in having a tank commander).
{edit: I don't know much about this years draft, I know I looked up Clingan this time last year ... maybe he's amazing ... I don't know enough to say)
Re: Rank the importance hierarchy in Portland
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jalengreen
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Re: Rank the importance hierarchy in Portland
Sharpe and Deni at the top as good young players with promising futures
Then Simons, Grant, and Ayton are all pieces that I don’t think will be in the team’s future. Simons an interesting trade piece I think, Ayton and Grant maybe not as much. Ayton’s age helps
Williams and Thybulle at the bottom
So something like
1. Sharpe
2. Deni
3. Simons
4. Ayton
5. Grant
6. Thybulle
7. Williams
Roughly. Could argue that Simons is the most important because of what a trade with him could yield and how important that would be, idk
No idea how to fit Scoot and Clingan in compared to the other guys. Both very important fwiw, Scoot looked kinda trash to me but hard to evaluate rookie guards; he’s expected to be the PG of the future which automatically makes him significant, especially if Simons is traded.
And Clingan was arguably drafted with the hopes of him becoming the center of the future. Hard to say, it’s not like they have particularly old centers on the team (Ayton is 25, Timelord is 26, if you wanna include Reath he’s 28) but I don’t think anyone is super high on any of them. Was a rough year for Ayton; tbf his team was absolutely garbage so not giving up on him yet, but yeah didn’t look amazing. And Williams will probably never be healthy so dunno if he’s even healthy. Wasn’t super tapped into draft stuff but seemed like Clingan’s primarily a defensive guy; if he could turn out to be Lively esque for Portland, that would obviously be critical.
Then Simons, Grant, and Ayton are all pieces that I don’t think will be in the team’s future. Simons an interesting trade piece I think, Ayton and Grant maybe not as much. Ayton’s age helps
Williams and Thybulle at the bottom
So something like
1. Sharpe
2. Deni
3. Simons
4. Ayton
5. Grant
6. Thybulle
7. Williams
Roughly. Could argue that Simons is the most important because of what a trade with him could yield and how important that would be, idk
No idea how to fit Scoot and Clingan in compared to the other guys. Both very important fwiw, Scoot looked kinda trash to me but hard to evaluate rookie guards; he’s expected to be the PG of the future which automatically makes him significant, especially if Simons is traded.
And Clingan was arguably drafted with the hopes of him becoming the center of the future. Hard to say, it’s not like they have particularly old centers on the team (Ayton is 25, Timelord is 26, if you wanna include Reath he’s 28) but I don’t think anyone is super high on any of them. Was a rough year for Ayton; tbf his team was absolutely garbage so not giving up on him yet, but yeah didn’t look amazing. And Williams will probably never be healthy so dunno if he’s even healthy. Wasn’t super tapped into draft stuff but seemed like Clingan’s primarily a defensive guy; if he could turn out to be Lively esque for Portland, that would obviously be critical.