Scoot busting ruined Portland's rebuild

[Hoopz Afrik]

I don't think Scoot is a bust yet but he has definitely underwhelmed. Part of that is that the masses were sold a bill of goods that didn't match the actual play on the court. If you watched his G-League run outside of the showcase games, the signs were there that it might take a bit for him to get acclimated. The athleticism wasn't nearly as dynamic as the pundits led folks to believe but it was oversold because of the physique and a few breakaway dunks. The finishing was always an issue and that is still bearing out to now.

I will say, development isn't always linear and he can figure things out but the "generational" prospect framing doesn't do these kids any favors and if they don't deliver on said promise early on then the masses start to turn on them. It's an unenviable position for a 20 year older still trying to find his professional footing.

Once they clear some runway by moving Anfernee Simons along and open up some runway or him I'd expect to see some legitimate improvements but as it stands we have to recalibrate expectations regarding his upside (which is okay to do).

[UcanUwill]

You’re right. That is semantics.

It’s also wrong. The Blazers traded away Dame and made a clear signal they were starting over. They reversed course and changed directions. They’re rebuilding.

Whether or not what they built before was all that great or impressive to you is irrelevant.

Ok, true, but I wasn't specifically talking about the Blazers. Blazers definitely had something that they destroyed to rebuild again. But how often we hear how crappy team A, has to blow it up and rebuild... Like people say Hornets need to trade Ball and ''rebuild (just an example). Rebuild what? If I say I am rebuilding a mansion, that indicates mansion existed.

They'd be rebuilding a team. The team definitely existed.

If you build a house and it's got a shakey foundation and collapses, you're still rebuilding if you try again.

Yeah, I get your point. Maybe it is my bad English, but I was looking at that word differently. Rebuilding to me implied that you are trying to recapture something you had before, not necessarily just rebuild anything. But yeah, I guess you are right, if I built lego tower very badly and it collapsed, if I building it again, I am rebuilding, while not necessarily trying to recapture some previously had success.

[ForeverTFC]

Couple things the Blazers have not done well.
1.) When you are rebuilding, you need to be the worst team in the league to guarantee yourself top 5 picks. Picking 7th in multiple drafts is not good.
2.) Fully commit to the rebuild. Why in the world are Simons, Timelord and Grant on that roster? They need to have the books completely clean and using their cap space to build up the asset pool.
3.) You need a clean cap sheet. Use your cap space to sign vets to front loaded deals, sit them, flip them immediately to contending teams to pick up more picks.
4.)You have to take as many swings as you can. So Scoot doesn't work out, so what, keep swinging for the homeruns. Use the picks from #3 to consolidate and move up.

Because this only works if you're the only team doing it. If all the teams that are rebuilding followed this strategy, the league would be a mess. Cap space would become extremely cheap and have its value diminished. All those "bargain front loaded vets" you signed would be worth little because there would be a ton of them available every year. Good role players who deserve roster spots would not be signed because they bring "unnecessary" wins.

Hinkie tricked everyone into thinking he was a genius, but he was in fact a charlatan. And the NBA pretty much made Presti's watered down approach much harder to follow by making teams get up to 90% of the cap in the off-season and limiting trades for contenders.

[LarsV8]

Because this only works if you're the only team doing it. If all the teams that are rebuilding followed this strategy, the league would be a mess. Cap space would become extremely cheap and have its value diminished. All those "bargain front loaded vets" you signed would be worth little because there would be a ton of them available every year. Good role players who deserve roster spots would not be signed because they bring "unnecessary" wins.

Hinkie tricked everyone into thinking he was a genius, but he was in fact a charlatan. And the NBA pretty much made Presti's watered down approach much harder to follow by making teams get up to 90% of the cap in the off-season and limiting trades for contenders.

No, that's not accurate. Cap space will always be useful, especially if you use it right. Yes, if three teams are blatantly tanking, it will hurt your chances at a top pick, but the odds should always be in your favor.

Hinkie's approach was the right approach.

His efforts got Simmons, Embiid and Butler together when they were all stars / super stars.

It put Philly in the position to win a title, which is the goal.

Does it guarantee a title? Nope, but it gives you the best baseline odds.

[bkkrh]

Couple things the Blazers have not done well.
1.) When you are rebuilding, you need to be the worst team in the league to guarantee yourself top 5 picks. Picking 7th in multiple drafts is not good.
2.) Fully commit to the rebuild. Why in the world are Simons, Timelord and Grant on that roster? They need to have the books completely clean and using their cap space to build up the asset pool.
3.) You need a clean cap sheet. Use your cap space to sign vets to front loaded deals, sit them, flip them immediately to contending teams to pick up more picks.
4.)You have to take as many swings as you can. So Scoot doesn't work out, so what, keep swinging for the homeruns. Use the picks from #3 to consolidate and move up.

That is a possible approach for a rebuild, but not the only one and a lot of times, not the best solution. Pretty much the majority of successful teams didn't rebuild like that.

- Boston had one season in 13-14 where they weren't a playoff team and that season was majorly impacted by Rondo only playing 30 games.
- Milwaukee had one tank season in 13-14 that got them Jabari Parker. They made the Playoffs each season afterward besides 15-16, where they got Thon Maker as their 10th pick. They won a title with Giannis and Donte DiVincenzo being the only rotation players they drafted themselves, both being mid-first-rounders.
- The last time Miami had a losing record was in 14-15 and that was still a 37-win record with Dwade, Bosh, and Luol Deng on the roster. Before that, the last time they had a losing record was 07-08 and they went in that season with Dwade and Shaq to then figure out that Shaq's prime had ended.
- The last time Denver won less than 30 games was 02-03. Since then they were at worst a mediocre team that didn't make it to playoffs. Since 03-04, they had 2 top 10 picks, both times the 7th pick. With one they picked Emmanuel Mudiay, and with the other one Jamal Murray.
- Dallas had exactly 1 season where they were bad in 17-18. This was not on purpose, it was more a thing of players not working out and Dirk declining. They drafted Luca that year. The last time that Dallas had a bad team was in 98-99.
- While Golden State had a few bad seasons, it still needs to be pointed out that not a single player that was a core part of any of their championships and drafted from their side was a higher pick than 7th (Steph and Harrison Barnes).

Simply put, what you described as a rebuild is a myth that somehow got popular in the last few years. I can't think of a single NBA champion since the 80s that was built like that. The closest might be the 07-08 Celtics and that is already a big stretch since they were also just bad for 1 year and it was more related to Pierce, Szczerbiak, and Tony Allen being injured for big parts of the season.

[DusterBuster]

Once they clear some runway by moving Anfernee Simons along and open up some runway or him I'd expect to see some legitimate improvements but as it stands we have to recalibrate expectations regarding his upside (which is okay to do).

I wholeheartedly agree with this. It's a pretty consistent area of frustration with Blazer fans how this team has handled him. Scoot has been wildly underwhelming, but the Blazers coaching staff and FO has done him zero favors by putting him in the situation he is. He should have been a Day 1 starter and let to play through mistakes. Billups has had a short leash with him and Cronin seems uninterested in moving Simons to force the issue, so they're stuck in purgatory in terms of his development.

[magee]

I'm not sure moving Simons is as easy as it seems. Putting him at the point is showing his glaring weakness to really be able to create for other in this offense. Scoot definitely needs the pt and it may be worth sending him down for a game or two here and there to the G-League so he can get reps as a PG and, more importantly, put the nuances he should be learning as a POA defender to use.

Because if he can't do that in the G-League, then the Blazers will have more questions to try and answer when his restricted free agency comes up after next season.