Blazers regret drafting Ware?

[Blazers20]

Drafting Clingan reminds me when they drafted Zach over Bam and now Cronin like his mentor may have grabbed the wrong big.

Could Ware eventually learn to play the 4 and provide twin towers for Portland along with Ayton?

Blazers could have potentially looked like this: Scoot 6’3-Sharpe 6’6-Bezulis 6’9-Ware 7’1-Ayton 7’0

[Norm2953]

Blazers if they had not made the Deni trade, could have drafted Ware at 14

The guy however was a big bust at Oregon, when he was supposed to have been a 1 and
done .

[m0ng0]

Well I suppose you could be right or you could be wrong, but instead it's irrelevant because it didn't happen

[Butter]

Blazers if they had not made the Deni trade, could have drafted Ware at 14

The guy however was a big bust at Oregon, when he was supposed to have been a 1 and
done .

I wonder if some of these players need the sunshine. Ware might have continued to struggle in the overcast Northwest.

SAD is a real thing

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651

[Pattycakes]

Drafting Clingan reminds me when they drafted Zach over Bam and now Cronin like his mentor may have grabbed the wrong big.

Could Ware eventually learn to play the 4 and provide twin towers for Portland along with Ayton?

Blazers could have potentially looked like this: Scoot 6’3-Sharpe 6’6-Bezulis 6’9-Ware 7’1-Ayton 7’0

Cry me a universe, I want the Zach Collins comp deleted immediately or there will be casualties

[PDXKnight]

Are we seriously declaring Donovan the wrong pick after a great sl? Because I'd say he has the potential to be a top 3 player from his draft class

[red_power]

Zach is a decent player whose career was derailed due to durability issues. If Clingan turns out to be a Collins-level player who can stay healthy he will be a fine selection there.

Sure, some players selected later might break out big time but it's not an easy thing to predict on the draft night.

[yellowknifer]

Blazers if they had not made the Deni trade, could have drafted Ware at 14

The guy however was a big bust at Oregon, when he was supposed to have been a 1 and
done .

I wonder if some of these players need the sunshine. Ware might have continued to struggle in the overcast Northwest.

SAD is a real thing

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651

Hadn’t thought about this before but you are definitely not wrong. I do so much better with the sun. I know I’m not the only one. And I am Scottish by blood where the sun prefers not to shine.

[BlazersBroncos]

Clingan has defensive potential that is outside Ware's highest end outcome IMO.

Ware did look very good. His offense flashed from basically every situation and he looked pretty good on D.

But Clingan was setting records in rebounding and blocks - I think he has been sold far short regarding just how good he looked in SL. If that 3PT can keep developing, and IMO it looked far better than I expected, he could be a unicorn type that we really have not seen in the modern NBA (Like a Gobert lite' with 3PT spacing). The closest we have in the NBA to a guy like that is Myles Turner but Clingan is a far better rebounder and much tougher interior defender IMO - with Turner being more switchy.

[ebott]

When it comes to feeling bad about not drafting a guy i feel like it's kinda silly to look at the guy that was drafted 8 picks after yours.

What I'm thinking, kinda along the lines of what Norm was saying, with the benefit of hindsight is that either Cody Williams or Matas might be better than Deni and if Ware ends up being better than Klingon, we might be looking back at this draft very sadly.

[Wizenheimer]

Are we seriously declaring Donovan the wrong pick after a great sl? Because I'd say he has the potential to be a top 3 player from his draft class

well, at this point about 20 players have the potential to be top-3

in SL, Clingan did some things really well like rebounding, rim protection, defending the paint. Those were his scouted strengths during draft evaluations and what he showed was encouraging. But he also displayed his major weakness: shooting. He shot 36% on FG's; 23% on three's; and 50% on FT's. He'll need to significantly improve his shooting to be consistently effective. Can he? FG% for sure; three's and FT's, maybe not

after watching him I have a hard time imagining he can be more than a drop-coverage C. He's got decent straight line speed, but his lateral mobility appears quite slow. My view is that drop-coverage C's have limited utility unless they are totally dominant defensively...and they play on a team with excellent perimeter defenders. If they don't have that dominant talent they are kind of an anachronism that opposing teams can scheme off the floor

also have to keep in mind the competition in summer league: he was facing the Duop Reath's of the world. We need to see how he does against Jokic, Sabonis, Gobert & KAT, AD, Enbiid, Adebayo, etc

all that said, I'm hopeful about his upside. I'm still unsure he was the best choice at #7 because I want Portland to swing for the fences until they have at least one elite talent. I just can't see how the Blazers are going to carry 4 C's into the season. Between Ayton and Robert Williams, Clingan may have trouble finding minutes, especially if he has the normal struggles of a rookie big man

[Walton1one]

Yeah well, Ware was facing the Duop Reath's of the world as well. Also , playing on a team that was way better constructed than POR, who paired their big men with chuckers at the PG spot (ugh).

We will see how Ware's offensive skills look against real NBA players. Summer league is full of guys who light it up offensively and then flame out\never make it in the NBA. Defense translates better than offense.

Clingan is raw offensively, but at 20 years old I don't find that surprising, but he should be able to make an impact on the court because of his defense, IF the offense comes around, he will be a good player.

[Blazers20]

I think there could be quite a few surprises from this draft class and could be better than expected. Some have shown good games in SL and curious if they can build on that. I brought this up as Miami jumped all over Ware like they did when they had the chance at Bam and Miami does a pretty good job of drafting.

[Blazers20]

Plus not sure if I believe the Mike Schmitz draft guru hype.

[Blazers20]

If Blazers drafted Bezulis at 7 would Memphis have grabbed Clingan at 9? Could Edey been available at 14?

[Walton1one]

I think POR had their sights set on Avdija. So no matter who they took at #7 they were never taking someone at #14.

Also, Schmitz apparently had his sights set on Clingan since he was in HS.

[cdubbz]

If Blazers drafted Bezulis at 7 would Memphis have grabbed Clingan at 9? Could Edey been available at 14?

No. There is no way the other teams would have passed on Edey. Thunder would have loved Edey so would the kings.

[Wizenheimer]

Yeah well, Ware was facing the Duop Reath's of the world as well. Also , playing on a team that was way better constructed than POR, who paired their big men with chuckers at the PG spot (ugh).

We will see how Ware's offensive skills look against real NBA players. Summer league is full of guys who light it up offensively and then flame out\never make it in the NBA. Defense translates better than offense.

Clingan is raw offensively, but at 20 years old I don't find that surprising, but he should be able to make an impact on the court because of his defense, IF the offense comes around, he will be a good player.

I didn't mention Ware in that post. It was strictly about Clingan

[Walton1one]

I know, and that wasn't a response directly to you as much as the title thread. Ware looked good in SL, so did Clingan, both for different reasons. To your point, they were both playing against some fringe\non NBA players, so can't take too much from either players' performance.

It will be interesting to watch the development of Clingan, Ware & Edey over the next few years' to see which (if any?) of them stand out from the others. I tend to believe that Climgan's defensive instincts\presence will translate better than Ware or Edey, but we will find out.

[zzaj]

If Ware becomes a superstar, then there will be 14 other teams that would likely regret not taking him.

Personally, I don't care for 'me-first' players that quit on their teams, as Ware did at Oregon. I much prefer players that are able to succeed in the most difficult offense in the NCAA and are 'team-first'.