Now what?

[BlazersBroncos]

Who wants Simon’s though? I have a hard time finding a team that would be interested.

I'd love to pull a FRP from the Spurs

I don’t see them having interest after signing Paul and having Devin as the long term SG.

[Butter]

Who wants Simon’s though? I have a hard time finding a team that would be interested.

I'd love to pull a FRP from the Spurs

I don’t see them having interest after signing Paul and having Devin as the long term SG.

You're probably right. I've always thought Ant would be best as a super 6th man.

[JRoy]

Scoot going to Klutch?

[Walton1one]

Wish Klutch would do Cronin a favor....

[GEE]

Scoot going to Klutch?

I find this news quite interesting. Grant and Scoot both now with Klutch...... makes me wonder a bit what the two together might fetch in a trade. We did just sign Devonte for some strange reason too.

Lebron (LeGM) returns in less than a week... so there's that as well.

[m0ng0]

Maybe we are going to tank for Olivier Rioux? I mean he is only 7'9 @ 18 years old.

[zzaj]

Maybe we are going to tank for Olivier Rioux? I mean he is only 7'9 @ 18 years old.

Okay, that one got a good laugh out of me...thank you

[JRoy]

I do like big centers.

[zzaj]

I do like big centers.

The size of his noggin makes Ming's look like a tennis ball.

[JRoy]

I do like big centers.

The size of his noggin makes Ming's look like a tennis ball.

It’s got it’s own weather system!

[Shem]

Looks like there's a possibility that Cooper Flagg may not being the #1 overall pick next draft because of how deep it is going to be. If fact, it's said that there will be 5 different guys in this draft that would have been #1 overall had they been in the 2024 draft.

We better be tanking this season.

Watch on YouTube

[Walton1one]

All the more reason, that POR needs to trade away Grant\Ant. For a team lacking a star player, and a draft that may have up to five of them, it is imperative that POR gets one of those picks

Tank organically, trade away a couple of the vets, let the young guys play, because another really important thing is finding out if Scoot\Sharpe are long-term answers as well, especially when 3 of the 5 Players in 2025 are guards

Either Cronin is dangerously\foolishly? Waiting in order to try and maximize their trade value, or he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing

[dckingsfan]

All the more reason, that POR needs to trade away Grant\Ant. For a team lacking a star player, and a draft that may have up to five of them, it is imperative that POR gets one of those picks

Tank organically, trade away a couple of the vets, let the young guys play, because another really important thing is finding out if Scoot\Sharpe are long-term answers as well, especially when 3 of the 5 Players in 2025 are guards

Either Cronin is dangerously\foolishly? Waiting in order to try and maximize their trade value, or he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing

I completely agree with this. But, the base might go crazy if he had to deal away Grant for say 1 FRP or a bunch of SRPs.

Maybe a bit of cognitive dissonance around needing to move those players but wanting more in return than they will fetch?

Or one other possibility. They haven't found a trading partner at all that wants those players?

[Walton1one]

Always a possibility, I do find it interesting that LAL, has been unable to make a trade, not just with POR, but with BRK\TOR\WAS. Are all those teams asking for two first round picks for their players? I doubt it, which leads me back to LAL, angling for lopsided deals in their favor, and other teams are not buying

[zzaj]

Looks like there's a possibility that Cooper Flagg may not being the #1 overall pick next draft because of how deep it is going to be. If fact, it's said that there will be 5 different guys in this draft that would have been #1 overall had they been in the 2024 draft.

We better be tanking this season.

Watch on YouTube

This shouldn’t really be catching anyone by surprise…at least not people who follow the draft.
IMHO, it’s actually MOST likely that Flagg doesn’t go first. Duke is stacked and there’s only one ball. The other tier1s are going to be putting up much better numbers.

Looking at the schedule, the Blazers have a very real chance of winning 1 or 2 games in their first 33 games (which are almost entirely against the good West) and that’s WITH all the vets healthy and the addition of Deni and Clingan.

They are in a very good position for next years draft. ANY of Flagg, Ace, Traore, Harper, or Edgecombe would be huge for this team.

Like it or not, one of those players may be drafted as Scoot or Sharpe’s replacement, long term…although I think the chances are higher that it’ll be Ant’s replacement.

Scoot has to make strides in his finishing and be closer to average on volume from 3.

Sharpe has to prove he can stay healthy—I think people forget how few game reps he has, since he never played a college basketball game. He’s on a slower track of development because of this, but if he can’t stay healthy then he’ll never come close to his ceiling. He’ll likely never be an above average defender, despite his athletic tools…so the Blazers are banking on him having enough 1st or 2nd option scoring gravity to make up for his lack of defense. It’s pretty dang rare to find a first or second option on a good team that has the non-intense, deferential play style of Sharpe.

[Wizenheimer]

Either Cronin is dangerously\foolishly? Waiting in order to try and maximize their trade value, or he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing

I think it's some of both although I'm leaning door number 2

I also think you have to at least consider that Cronin has fallen into the trap that fails a lot of GM's, and that overvaluing 'his guys' to the point of blindness. Jason Quick reported that it was Cronin who convinced Neil Olshey to look at Simons in the 2018 draft. It was Cronin who made the big play for Grant and then re-signed him to a big contract that was pretty questionable after the Dame trade demand. It was apparently Cronin who spent a couple of years coveting Ayton before essentially making him the centerpiece of the Dame trade. It was Cronin who landed Thybulle in exchange for Hart and then foolishly matched the crazy offer sheet from Dallas

and it's all those vets, Cronin's purgatory vets, along with Timelord, that may very well monkey wrench what should be an organic tank job heading into the best draft in years (right after blatantly tanking into one of the worst drafts in years)

this does not look like quality management; unless 'poor' is the adjective in front of quality. Add all that to the fairly obvious ownership ambivalence about the quality of on-floor product and it seems a recipe for dumb & boring

[Pattycakes]

The answer to now what?

Trust the process, let it cook, chill and shill.

We are in such a fantastic rebuild considering we’re literally one season removed from Dame. I hope people really see how blessed this core is quickly becoming on court and off court (chemistry wise).

We’re catching Camaras and Bantons off the wire, Reath even- we DO NOT make smart decisions like this guys. Like it’s very anti blazer to actually be this resourceful and future focused.

And these are just the “filler players” tier…

Ok I’ve said too much.

Back to tank/reset again mentality/no statistical acknowledgement that the odds of getting Flagg are low and we DONT need more guards. No scoot and Shae are not regressing. Jesus am I sick of people making any excuse for us to ambitiously chase being trash. Ew brotha

[Walton1one]

Either Cronin is dangerously\foolishly? Waiting in order to try and maximize their trade value, or he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing

I think it's some of both although I'm leaning door number 2

I also think you have to at least consider that Cronin has fallen into the trap that fails a lot of GM's, and that overvaluing 'his guys' to the point of blindness. Jason Quick reported that it was Cronin who convinced Neil Olshey to look at Simons in the 2018 draft. It was Cronin who made the big play for Grant and then re-signed him to a big contract that was pretty questionable after the Dame trade demand. It was apparently Cronin who spent a couple of years coveting Ayton before essentially making him the centerpiece of the Dame trade. It was Cronin who landed Thybulle in exchange for Hart and then foolishly matched the crazy offer sheet from Dallas

and it's all those vets, Cronin's purgatory vets, along with Timelord, that may very well monkey wrench what should be an organic tank job heading into the best draft in years (right after blatantly tanking into one of the worst drafts in years)

this does not look like quality management; unless 'poor' is the adjective in front of quality. Add all that to the fairly obvious ownership ambivalence about the quality of on-floor product and it seems a recipe for dumb & boring

Sobering thoughts, let's hope that is not true.

[HoopsFanAZ]

Mike Richman on Locked on Blazers, asked the right question, IMHO. It got at what may be a false -- or at least misleading -- choice -- Scoot vs. Ant. Scoot's bad play as a rookie followed by better play to end the season did not settle the question. And Ant as a PG is a work in progress ...

Ant and Sharpe can play together to a degree. On defense? Ack!!! Ant can play with DA. Ant has strengths on O and obvious weaknesses on D and is a particular kind of PG ... Dame-Lite ... which I don't want as PG ... Ant can kind-of guard PGs. He's a PG.

Is there enough data on Ant to say whether or not he is an answer at PG for the Blazers when they get good? As useful and talented as he is on O, IMHO it's an easy, "NOPE." So Trade Him.

If Ant isn't the once and future point guard -- and at an increased salary in 2 years -- then trade him. Whether Scoot is or is not the future at PG is irrelevant. Richman asked that question -- do you trade Ant if he's not it, regardless of Scoot? And if Scoot is not it, it's embarrassing for the front office -- but go get someone who is that PG -- like Traore. If Scoot is the dude, awesome!

It's not as bad as years ago -- when Portland HAD its PG in Telfair. The phenom out of high school. And the Trail Blazers passed on a couple GOOD PG's in the draft and took the SG/SF with the beautiful stroke plus athleticism -- Martell Webster. So painful. So wrong.

Is Ant the PG for a good Blazers team? That answer should already be known even if they want iron to sharpen iron.
The decision on Scoot is a year away.

EDIT: For anyone on the board who has talked about trading Ant regardless of how Scoot works out, then you definitely got there faster than I did.

[Walton1one]

Yeah but you logically lay it out.

Here is another factor, by the time he becomes a FA, he will be 27 years old, and been with Portland for eight years, and we know that he expressed the desire to win at the end of last season, which I’m sure we all can agree is not going to happen this year or possibly the year after that.

So what is Cronin waiting for? He clearly should be dealt, sooner rather than later, and as you put it regardless if Scoot is the PG of the future or not, particularly since the 2025 draft has 3 legit guards at the top of the lottery: Harper, Traore & Edgecome