2024 NBA Draft (euro season, college season, scouting, prospects etc)

[Norm2953]

I prefer to focus on the guys that came in for a private workout (Clingan, Matas, Williams
and Knecht). One of those will likely be Portland's pick at 7 assuming Sarr, Risacher and Castle
who likely will not workout in Portland, will not be there at 7.

This of course could change if Portland brings one of the guys who came to workout in a
group setting, has a second workout. Those guys who agree to workout in a group setting
are trying to bump guys like Knecht and Williams into the next tier of guys and there is still
time for a guy like Dillingham who is going to workout in SA, Detroit, Utah and Chicago to
enter the top 6 perhaps to Detroit who really needs a scorer.

I think Portland will simply wait to see who is there in the upper tier of players and go BPA.

[BlazersBroncos]

Simons for 18 and lower of DEN / ORL 25 FRP
Grant in a 3 way where SAC sends 13 to HOU, we send 7 to HOU and we get 3
34 and 40 for 29

3 - Matas Buzelis F
14 - Zach Edey C
18 - Tyler Smith F
29 - Ajay Mitchell

Long term -

G - Scoot Henderson / Ajay Mitchell
G - Shadeon Sharpe / Ajay Mitchell
F - Matas Buzelis / Rayan Rupert
F - Tyler Smith / Toumari Camara
C - Zach Edey

[Norm2953]

A bit confusing :

Sac gets Grant
Houston gets 7,13
Port gets 3

I don't think Portland would trade up for Matas for that's a trade up for Clingan but I wonder if a
follow up trade of 3,14 for 1 would be in order for Atlanta seems to want Clingan and they can't get
Sarr to workout for them. Sarr wants to play PF and he gets what he wants, playing alongside of
Ayton.

[Norm2953]

Hopefully we'll get some word on how Portland is thinking going into the draft and towards
free agency.

Team has put in the time in working out seemingly everyone who is willing to come to town
but there have been no leaks on who has impressed them nor has anyone returned to town
for a second workout.

Board should be alive by Tuesday for historically, Portland fans have always loved the draft

[Walton1one]

One of the Blazer podcasts mentioned that POR board was, outside of Sarr\Risacher:

Clingan
Knecht
Salaun
Then: Buzelis\Williams\Holland all in a group together but that POR was not particularly impressed with any of them

Speculation also of where they have Sheppard, And if he dropped to #7 and Clingan\Knecht\Salaun were all gone (as well as Sarr\Risacher\Castle), would they take him?

[Norm2953]

One of the Blazer podcasts mentioned that POR board was, outside of Sarr\Risacher:

Clingan
Knecht
Salaun
Then: Buzelis\Williams\Holland all in a group together but that POR was not particularly impressed with any of them

Speculation also of where they have Sheppard, And if he dropped to #7 and Clingan\Knecht\Salaun were all gone (as well as Sarr\Risacher\Castle), would they take him?

If that's the case, the choice should be Salaun who is 6-8.75 217lbs with a 7-1 WS for I'm doubtful Clingan will be there
at 7.

Add one of the bigs (Missi,Ware or Edey) at 14 and BPA at 34, 40

[Pattycakes]

One of the Blazer podcasts mentioned that POR board was, outside of Sarr\Risacher:

Clingan
Knecht
Salaun
Then: Buzelis\Williams\Holland all in a group together but that POR was not particularly impressed with any of them

Speculation also of where they have Sheppard, And if he dropped to #7 and Clingan\Knecht\Salaun were all gone (as well as Sarr\Risacher\Castle), would they take him?

I’d be okay with any of these.

My board has been Ron Holland/Edey this whole time but any potential drop off in potential to Knecht/Clingan or Salaun is minimal at best.

Def a happy draft day if we snag two bpa/positional fits

[BlazersBroncos]

It scares me to death that Salaun blocked only 10 shots all YEAR at his height and wingspan. That is a illustration of poor functional athleticism which jives with his poor combine measurements. I am just not sure why he is being hyped in this way compared to, say, Diadet who is a better athlete, better shooter, similar rebounder, only an inch shorter and near the same weight.

I dont see much wiggle in Salaun athletically either. He seems very stiff and 'straight line' to me.

Again, to continue to beat the Tyler Smith drum. What type of player are we expecting Salun to become? Because Tyler Smith is a far better shooter, rebounder, rim runner and PNR finisher, way better athlete, stronger, etc.

I would get the Salaun hype if he had some sort of advanced feel or a decent bag of offensive moves or something. But he is all projection and to me guys like Diadet and Tyler are the same but one is mocked Top-8 and the other 2 are slipping to R2 in some mocks.

Can anyone outline a difference? Is it all the + wingspan?

[Norm2953]

Interesting ESPN has Portland picking guards at 14, 34, 40

[Walton1one]

Oh, it’s totally on right now. Report comes out that San Antonio may consider Clingan @ #4 And then a couple hours later report comes out the Portland may consider Edey at #7, lol

Also, who did ESPN have Portland taking?

[BlazersBroncos]

I think if we want Edey we will have to take him 7. I think MEM takes him 9 if he is there and Clingan is off the board.

SAS taking Donovan at 4 would be wild. Really interesting and a gamble I would take. One of the few teams that I like Clingan for more than Edey. Wemby and Clingan would be absurd on defense. And its not like your taking Wemby and making him a full time PF - you can get Donovan 28 minutes at C, Wemby 20 at C and another 10-12 at PF.

I dont think you ever want to play Victor more than 30-32mpg - a guy that size you just need to be cautious even if its hard to keep him off the floor. I dont believe any 7'4 guy can survive those heavy 35-38mpg type minutes.

[JRoy]

I hope we do pick Edey at 7.

He should be a productive player for a long time.

[Walton1one]

I don’t think Edey and Wembanyama fit well together, Wembanyama prefers to play center.

What would be scary is if San Antonio trades up and takes Sarr. Atlanta wants their picks back, but I don’t think San Antonio is going to give them up, but maybe for Sarr they might.

[Norm2953]

Oh, it’s totally on right now. Report comes out that San Antonio may consider Clingan @ #4 And then a couple hours later report comes out the Portland may consider Edey at #7, lol

Also, who did ESPN have Portland taking?

Walter SG
Christie SG
Larrson SG

Lots of misinformation out there but I've never bought Clingan getting to 7.

[Norm2953]

I think if we want Edey we will have to take him 7. I think MEM takes him 9 if he is there and Clingan is off the board.

SAS taking Donovan at 4 would be wild. Really interesting and a gamble I would take. One of the few teams that I like Clingan for more than Edey. Wemby and Clingan would be absurd on defense. And its not like your taking Wemby and making him a full time PF - you can get Donovan 28 minutes at C, Wemby 20 at C and another 10-12 at PF.

I dont think you ever want to play Victor more than 30-32mpg - a guy that size you just need to be cautious even if its hard to keep him off the floor. I dont believe any 7'4 guy can survive those heavy 35-38mpg type minutes.

It's interesting but remember SA also has a pick at 8 and could easily draft Topic there, which would allow them
to go BPA at 4. The problem is though is how Victor would like another season of tanking .

I have them taking Castle at 4 and Topic at 8. I think Clingan will go 5, for he's either going to be traded to
either Portland (7,14) or Memphis or kept by the Pistons

[zzaj]

It scares me to death that Salaun blocked only 10 shots all YEAR at his height and wingspan. That is a illustration of poor functional athleticism which jives with his poor combine measurements. I am just not sure why he is being hyped in this way compared to, say, Diadet who is a better athlete, better shooter, similar rebounder, only an inch shorter and near the same weight.

I dont see much wiggle in Salaun athletically either. He seems very stiff and 'straight line' to me.

Again, to continue to beat the Tyler Smith drum. What type of player are we expecting Salun to become? Because Tyler Smith is a far better shooter, rebounder, rim runner and PNR finisher, way better athlete, stronger, etc.

I would get the Salaun hype if he had some sort of advanced feel or a decent bag of offensive moves or something. But he is all projection and to me guys like Diadet and Tyler are the same but one is mocked Top-8 and the other 2 are slipping to R2 in some mocks.

Can anyone outline a difference? Is it all the + wingspan?

RE: the comp of Salaun and Smith...on paper Smith is the better prospect in a lot of ways. Watching Salaun (at least for me) I see the "straight line"-i-ness that you're noting as more of a "feel" issue. Salaun's frame will look natural with 20 more lbs on it. He's only shot well this season, but that's no surprise at the age...Salaun is 100% projection. If he reaches any kind of ceiling he's a good shooter, functional passer, can put the ball on the ground, and be an at least neutral on-ball defender. His floor is very, very low though. If he doesn't improve in a lot of areas, then he's basically an "energy" guy that is mostly unplayable in the NBA.

Smith is an INCREDIBLY poor defender. That was the first thing I noticed in watching him, was just how lost he looked. 2 steps slow at all times. He also, can't shoot off the dribble at all. So that relegates him to a C&S player only because he's among the worst players at his size in this draft at the rim.

Dadiet's game is very different then either of those two. He's more of an on-ball guy. I really like Dadiet. I think the upside with him is that he continues to get better from 3, and he improves on his playmaking/passing. From what I've watched of him he will be a turnover machine in the NBA. But he's what, like 18? He's got plenty of years to improve his playmaking feel. He actually reminds me of Banton quite a bit.

Lastly, at a certain point this close to the draft when players are rising or falling in concensus mocks, you have to assume there is something there--poor workouts, poor interviews, whatever...

Everyone is buzzing about Devin Carter and Salaun just destroying workouts. That's probably why they've been rising.

[Goldbum]

I'm not getting much info currently, because we are so close to Draft Day. The last conversation I had with one of my buddies he told me "Portland is as active as anyone, and they are getting a lot of traction as possible partners, specifically in 3+ team deals."
So that's something I guess... we went to the recent Braves/Rays game and he asked me "How would you feel about a Clingan, Williams draft?" I sorta shrugged my shoulders and got the old "exactly."

[zzaj]

At this stage there are only two players that I DON'T want the Blazers to select:

Ron Holland
Matas Buzelis

Holland doesn't have an NBA skill (his defense is overblown), and unless he's putting up a 458769 USG rate on a bad team, he likely doesn't deserve playing time.

Buzelis, is fine if you think the Shooting will come around. He only had one good shooting year in the last 4, and it wasn't last year. The rest that he brings to the table as a prospect is pretty "meh".

That being said, I gotta trust Schmitz.

[Norm2953]

That would require Portland to add a second mid lottery pick.

Detroit would be the target but would they take 14 + Grant for 5? That might explain all this
talk of Grant suddenly being an asset in a trade

[Case2012]

I want nothing to do with Clingan, he screams bust if he's taken that high. Same with Salaun.

My ideal draft would be Castle, Edey, and Jones/Smith/Dunn. I just don't think Castle will get past SA and Edey will get past Memphis or OKC. I think Castle is the next Jimmy Butler, everything about the way he plays, his size, Athleticism, winning attitude etc reminds me of him and having scoot, shae and castle as 1,2,3 with Edey at the 5 would be something to finally get me excited about the blazers post Dame, so of course I expect Cronin to blow it somehow.

I would be OK with either Knecht, Holland, Williams or Buzelis at 14, but I think the real value is around 20-25 with Jones, Smith, and Dunn. All have weaknesses, but are really good at at least one thing that should translate well, with Jones being more of a do it all glue guy, Smith being a stretch 4, and Dunn being the best defender in the draft. We should absolutely trade our seconds plus another to get one of the NYK picks.