2023 NBA Draft (tonight's discussion on pg 58)

[Showtime:Part2]

Edit moving to other thread

[DaVoiceMaster]

Hello lakers fan coming in peace with questions. I know the fan base wants to rebuild but management seems to side w dame. How strongly do you believe this? 2) let’s assume 1)lebron retires 2)por management is dead set on winning now, would Portland entertain a 3, sharpe, nurkic (or any salary doesn’t have to be nurkic) for Anthony davis and Vanderbilt trade? Even if you don’t like it, do you think Portland management pulls the trigger if they go win now or can they find better?

This is being discussed in the other thread.

[Norm2953]

Hello lakers fan coming in peace with questions. I know the fan base wants to rebuild but management seems to side w dame. How strongly do you believe this? 2) let’s assume 1)lebron retires 2)por management is dead set on winning now, would Portland entertain a 3, sharpe, nurkic (or any salary doesn’t have to be nurkic) for Anthony davis and Vanderbilt trade? Even if you don’t like it, do you think Portland management pulls the trigger if they go win now or can they find better?

I would find it difficult to believe Lebron is retiring, since his son is one year away from being drafted into
the NBA.

[DusterBuster]

Hello lakers fan coming in peace with questions. I know the fan base wants to rebuild but management seems to side w dame. How strongly do you believe this? 2) let’s assume 1)lebron retires 2)por management is dead set on winning now, would Portland entertain a 3, sharpe, nurkic (or any salary doesn’t have to be nurkic) for Anthony davis and Vanderbilt trade? Even if you don’t like it, do you think Portland management pulls the trigger if they go win now or can they find better?

I would find it difficult to believe Lebron is retiring, since his son is one year away from being drafted into
the NBA.

Yeah, smart money is he's either going to just take a year off... so maybe retire and un-retire for one last year sort of thing. Or he's just going to take an extended absence and join the Lakers in January, skipping out on the early part of the season and training camp for rest.

[soobias]

lebron aint retiring , he's a attention hog and want's to make everything about him unless it's losing then he blames teammates lol

[wco81]

Except there are numbers showing that the league has favored the Lakers throughout history and given short shrift to the Warriors and other smaller market clubs.

Which makes sense, for a long time the league's status as a going concern was in doubt at different times and the big market clubs had so much greater revenues and fan base than other teams in the league.

NBA unfortunately can't quit manipulating results. It's worked for them to boost the league's popularity, especially in the '80s, '90s, the Kobe Lakers teams.

[zzaj]

As we get further into draft speculation, the further I believe the smartest more would be to keep #3. All roads (players available in the draft, players realistically available via trade, financial future of the franchise) seem to make that route the safest bet.

Trading the #3 in any kind of package is going to hamstring the franchise for the next few years at least. Rookies that are putting up numbers have long been the most valuable contracts in the league...that will be even more so in the not too distant future.

[Norm2953]

I think I would trade the third pick for specific players on their rookie deals.

Lets say Orlando offered up Wagner for the draft rights to Scoot. Portland would have to take that
deal.

[zzaj]

I think I would trade the third pick for specific players on their rookie deals.

Lets say Orlando offered up Wagner for the draft rights to Scoot. Portland would have to take that
deal.

The list is short for me. The only one I'd take would be Haliburton, off the top of my head. I'm not that big a fan of Mo Wagner.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I think I would trade the third pick for specific players on their rookie deals.

Lets say Orlando offered up Wagner for the draft rights to Scoot. Portland would have to take that
deal.

The list is short for me. The only one I'd take would be Haliburton, off the top of my head. I'm not that big a fan of Mo Wagner.

I'm assuming it's for the better of the 2 brothers Franz but I wouldn't hate a package deal

[zzaj]

I think I would trade the third pick for specific players on their rookie deals.

Lets say Orlando offered up Wagner for the draft rights to Scoot. Portland would have to take that
deal.

The list is short for me. The only one I'd take would be Haliburton, off the top of my head. I'm not that big a fan of Mo Wagner.

I'm assuming it's for the better of the 2 brothers Franz but I wouldn't hate a package deal

Lol, I would HOPE it's not for Mo...I was trying to make a dumb joke.

[Norm2953]

Franz Wagner is a 6-9 225 lb SF who averages 18.6 PPG

Solid player who the Magic board says is completely untouchable. I'm hoping Scoot just
blows up in the workouts, creating real demand for his services if he gets to 3. No matter
what the Magic board thinks, they could really use Scoot

Some version of Simons + 3 for Wagner + 11. Would Orlando trade both the Wagners for
Simons + 3?

[DusterBuster]

Franz Wagner is a 6-9 225 lb SF who averages 18.6 PPG

Solid player who the Magic board says is completely untouchable. I'm hoping Scoot just
blows up in the workouts, creating real demand for his services if he gets to 3. No matter
what the Magic board thinks, they could really use Scoot

Some version of Simons + 3 for Wagner + 11. Would Orlando trade both the Wagners for
Simons + 3?

I don’t see the point here for Portland. Is Dame going to think Wagner is a franchise altering player?

I would sooner use 3 and trade Dame than trade down to get a lower pick and a prospect from a bad team.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

The list is short for me. The only one I'd take would be Haliburton, off the top of my head. I'm not that big a fan of Mo Wagner.

I'm assuming it's for the better of the 2 brothers Franz but I wouldn't hate a package deal

Lol, I would HOPE it's not for Mo...I was trying to make a dumb joke.

Whoosh lol

[GEE]

I think I would trade the third pick for specific players on their rookie deals.

Lets say Orlando offered up Wagner for the draft rights to Scoot. Portland would have to take that
deal.

I agree with most that this draft is being hyped as a Top-3 draft, and we have the 3, yay... but I'm not nearly as stoked with the options in Scoot and the Bama kid. In short, The fit with Scoot to our current roster with or without Dame being here is a poor fit, and I think the Hornets will take him anyway. That leaves the Bama kid that I think Cronin will easily pass on due to the gun thing, that may or may not be over with (don't honestly know).

So that is why I''ve been thinking the same strategy: Using the #3 pick with a good, but expendable player like Little (just an example), to add a true PF or Center for the future. Mark Williams just happens to be MY personal favorite, and I see that Wagner is your's, but I very much want Cronin to add a young, non-rookie PF or Center with that pick. That would be a start for me, as I'd like to add at least two more upgrades to Eubanks over the summer, while also resigning him. I want a rebuilt PF/C rotation before summers' end.

Overall, just like the strategy and I hope that Cronin adopts a similar one to what you suggest. Worth noting is that depending on what we do with Dame, BKN has a couple FRPs this year and we still have the NYK pick to use if we want to, if our Super-Scout has a target on lock.

[BlazersBroncos]

I would 100% take Franz for #3 - I dont think ORL would have any interest at all.

As for Mark Williams for #3. When pigs fly.

If Scoot falls to #3, I would see if HOU is interested in #4 and Eason or Jabari for #3. Think both those guys are worth it. Probably could get #20 as well.

[wco81]

It's often the case that after a few years, people re-draft individual draft classes because inevitably, players drafted outside the top 5 or the top 10 or even out of the lottery end up being better than most players except maybe a couple of the highest ranked pre-draft prospects.

Of course nobody can foretell the future so you go with measurables and hope they develop as envisioned.

So we will see if this is really just a 3-player draft or not, whether only 3 become all-NBA level players.

[PDXKnight]

I would 100% take Franz for #3 - I dont think ORL would have any interest at all.

As for Mark Williams for #3. When pigs fly.

If Scoot falls to #3, I would see if HOU is interested in #4 and Eason or Jabari for #3. Think both those guys are worth it. Probably could get #20 as well.

I dont know mych about eason but meh to walker. He couldn't break the rotation on the worst team looks like a bust unless I'm missing something?

If Scoot is as good as I'm hearing he could be our best piece moving forward. Miller would be ideal & if he falls to us and we trade that pick it'd be cringe worthy

[DeBlazerRiddem]

It's often the case that after a few years, people re-draft individual draft classes because inevitably, players drafted outside the top 5 or the top 10 or even out of the lottery end up being better than most players except maybe a couple of the highest ranked pre-draft prospects.

Of course nobody can foretell the future so you go with measurables and hope they develop as envisioned.

So we will see if this is really just a 3-player draft or not, whether only 3 become all-NBA level players.

Absolutely but it's a game of percentages. I think both Scoot and Miller are very unlikely to completely bust (health permitting of course) while also having very high ceilings.

Someone like Amen, Ausar or Walker might have a higher ceiling than Miller but is also more likely to bust.

Hendricks, Black and Wallace look pretty safe to me but the likelihood of them becoming all NBA players is lower than Scoot/Miller

So in terms of risk/reward they look like the best combo of high floor/high ceiling but how things play out some later prospects will outplay their draft position and some high prospects will not, but at this point it is entirely unknowable so you have to decide on your risk vs reward and I think they stand out above others.

[Norm2953]

Let's just wait and see how these guys do in the individual workouts.

Durant supposed had the greatest workout the Blazers (at that time) had ever seen.
Portland like they've had a number of times in their history, got fixated on a specific player.

2012, Dame had a tremendous workout in front of Paul Allen which cemented his spot as
a Blazer.

2013 Portland wanted CJ to tank for picked him over Steven Adams and Giannis

2017, Portland was determined to pick Zach Collins when Bam, Donavan Mitchell worked
out in Portland

2022 Portland took Sharpe

Portland when they've been in the lottery seems to have picked well. NO had the reputation
as an astute talent evaluator but his problem was that he kept trading the FRP in a desperate
try to build around Dame.

I'm looking forward to seeing Scoot and Miller along with the Thompson twins, Walker, and
the others in the Blazer practice facility. We need one or more of these guys to really blow it
up.