2025 Blazer Draft Prospects

[Walton1one]

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[Norm2953]

Absurd to think about competing for the playoffs with the OKC Thunder, Houston, LAL, Dallas (with Flagg), LAC
Denver, Lakers, Minnesota, GSW, Memphis, SAS (with Harper).

Imagine the upgrade Portland would have to get in order to be competitive with these teams but Portland likely
fits in with the rest.

[Walton1one]

Gotta zig when other teams are zagging and POR is young enough to do that still, instead they seem to be primed to “Olshey” their way into playoff irrelevancy, what do you expect though when the current GM is a stooge of the previous regime and still has to report (weekly lol) to Bert frickin Kolde?

I hope when the new owners come in, they clean freaking house, management, scouting, players, business, everything

[Dame Lizard]

Absurd to think about competing for the playoffs with the OKC Thunder, Houston, LAL, Dallas (with Flagg), LAC
Denver, Lakers, Minnesota, GSW, Memphis, SAS (with Harper).

Imagine the upgrade Portland would have to get in order to be competitive with these teams but Portland likely
fits in with the rest.

In addition to Deni continuing his 23/8/7 form, we'd need to add a genuine MVP calibre player along the lines of Giannis or Jokic to be a genuine competitor.

Trading the pick for a player is absolutely laughable. Outside of Deni, it's been a poor move for us. We overpaid for Larry Nance Jr, which is still haunting us, as we did for Robert Covington (which wasn't as bad but still not worth it). The Aaron Afflalo trade wasn't much better.

At least we had Dame during those days....

[Tim Lehrbach]

Here is my penultimate ranking. This is not a mock, but I'll get to that -- and a final update of this list -- before draft night. Asterisk means I have watched very little of a player and am going mostly on others' evals and hype -- you'll see a lot of 'em, which means you can take this whole list with a giant grain of salt, but I want to be honest about what is first-hand knowledge and what isn't.

I continue to think this draft is weak overall, but I'm coming around on its late first round depth. When I compare the players I have ranked after VJ and the players I have ranked 20-30, it's not a vast difference. Now, I think this is a lot more about the top ten being weak than the back end of the first round being amazing, but I do still like a lot of the names who have gotten late hype.

1. Cooper Flagg
2. Dylan Harper
3. VJ Edgecombe
4. Kon Knueppel
5. Noa Essengue
6. Tre Johnson*
7. Jeremiah Fears*
8. Cedric Coward*
9. Will Riley
10. Nolan Traore
11. Ace Bailey
12. Khaman Maluach
13. Carter Bryant
14. Kasparas Jakucionis
15. Nique Clifford*
16. Joan Beringer*
17. Drake Powell
18. Walter Clayton, Jr.*
19. Thomas Sorber*
20. Hugo Gonzalez
21. Liam McNeeley
22. Ben Saraf*
23. Adou Thiero*
24. Alex Toohey*
25. Collin Murray-Boyles
26. Derik Queen
27. Asa Newell
28. Danny Wolf*
29. Egor Demin
30. Jase Richardson

Gonna try to cram some late studying in before the draft, but I doubt this list changes much.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Lol I said it probably won't change, but looking at the results, I already think Maluach and Bryant must be too high. I don't like them more than the next five guys. I dunno. This is hard, which is why everybody gets it very wrong every year.

[tester551]

Lol I said it probably won't change, but looking at the results, I already think Maluach and Bryant must be too high. I don't like them more than the next five guys. I dunno. This is hard, which is why everybody gets it very wrong every year.

IMO, you have Richardson & Thiero WAY too low

[Tim Lehrbach]

Lol I said it probably won't change, but looking at the results, I already think Maluach and Bryant must be too high. I don't like them more than the next five guys. I dunno. This is hard, which is why everybody gets it very wrong every year.

IMO, you have Richardson & Thiero WAY too low

Appreciate that. I haven't seen Richardson in forever. Will watch both again. Tbh both seem like players I'd like so I could see bumping them up.

[dckingsfan]

Lol I said it probably won't change, but looking at the results, I already think Maluach and Bryant must be too high. I don't like them more than the next five guys. I dunno. This is hard, which is why everybody gets it very wrong every year.

IMO, you have Richardson & Thiero WAY too low

Appreciate that. I haven't seen Richardson in forever. Will watch both again. Tbh both seem like players I'd like so I could see bumping them up.

This is such a hard draft in that it is sooo flat. That is where I have Richardson also - he is tiny and yet some mocks have him going as high as 10. Thiero's best rank (IMO) is 20... again...

It would make sense that three picking would have three different ranks for many of the players. I would much rather have 2 players to pick from in 10-20 than one higher one in this draft.

[BlazersBroncos]

Here is my penultimate ranking. This is not a mock, but I'll get to that -- and a final update of this list -- before draft night. Asterisk means I have watched very little of a player and am going mostly on others' evals and hype -- you'll see a lot of 'em, which means you can take this whole list with a giant grain of salt, but I want to be honest about what is first-hand knowledge and what isn't.

I continue to think this draft is weak overall, but I'm coming around on its late first round depth. When I compare the players I have ranked after VJ and the players I have ranked 20-30, it's not a vast difference. Now, I think this is a lot more about the top ten being weak than the back end of the first round being amazing, but I do still like a lot of the names who have gotten late hype.

1. Cooper Flagg
2. Dylan Harper
3. VJ Edgecombe
4. Kon Knueppel
5. Noa Essengue
6. Tre Johnson*
7. Jeremiah Fears*
8. Cedric Coward*
9. Will Riley
10. Nolan Traore
11. Ace Bailey
12. Khaman Maluach
13. Carter Bryant
14. Kasparas Jakucionis
15. Nique Clifford*
16. Joan Beringer*
17. Drake Powell
18. Walter Clayton, Jr.*
19. Thomas Sorber*
20. Hugo Gonzalez
21. Liam McNeeley
22. Ben Saraf*
23. Adou Thiero*
24. Alex Toohey*
25. Collin Murray-Boyles
26. Derik Queen
27. Asa Newell
28. Danny Wolf*
29. Egor Demin
30. Jase Richardson

Gonna try to cram some late studying in before the draft, but I doubt this list changes much.

Agree with a lot here. Think Maluach is too high though. Like Sorber more. Also not sold on Clifford. The master of none 6’5-6’6 upper class man archetype scares me.

Like the balls it takes to put Riley above Ace. Have always seen them as similar archetypes. Riley doesn’t have the WS but is SO much better at moving the ball and not dribbling the air out of it.

Love putting CMB and Queen so low.

[brackdan70]

Sure I agree that Wolf's role will be different, but he was asked to perform in that role and he certainly passes the eye test. That stats are a concern but sometimes you have to look past that. You can argue numbers but you're ignoring what's right in front of your eyes.

He's 7ft tall and handling the ball like a PG, juking people with cross over step backs and drilling 3s. The kid is good at basketball and obviously has a good feel for the game.

Would you take him at 11, no. But if you got another pick, he would offer a nice contrast to Clingan offensively and adding a playmaker from the high post would be something we haven't had since Sabonis.

He would be a nice compliment to DC. Albeit I would prefer Fleming.

I think Fleming is much more likely to ‘hit’ as a 3/D bench big than Wolf is to ‘hit’ as a ball handling bench point-center. If Rasheer can add some weight and play around 250 he has Portis / Reid potential IMO.

I totally agree with you on Fleming and the more I look at this class the more I think sliding back with OKC is the sweet spot. That 10-to-20 band is stuffed with guys who can walk in as rotation pieces—and maybe even flirt with stardom. Any two of Walter Clayton Jr., Cedric Coward, Clifford, Wolf, Murray-Boyles, Kasparas or Rasheer Fleming would have me pumped.

I’m not crowning Wolf as “the guy,” just pointing out he’s one of six prospects who could actually move the needle. Pairings are what matter:

Clayton + Fleming: two of the deadliest shooters in the draft, and Clayton’s a cold-blooded closer.

Coward + Fleming: absurd length (7-2 and 7-6 wingspans) plus efficient spot-up scoring and switch defense.

Wolf + Clifford: plug-and-play glue guys who can handle secondary creation in almost any lineup.

Clifford + Coward: think Mikal Bridges/Josh Hart—positional flexibility, boards, defense, passing and shooting.

CMB + KJ: pick-and-roll heaven; CMB has real Draymond vibes as a short-roll playmaker, kicking out to shooters.

Every one of these combos adds playmaking. As a pass-first guard who lived for no-look dimes, nutmegs and lobs, I’m sick of Portland ranking bottom-five in assists for a dozen straight seasons. Coward, in particular, gives you a bit of everything—he’s basically Jalen Williams 2.0 waiting to happen and Fleming layers on that 7-6 reach, corner threes and weak-side rim protection.

Give me Coward plus one of those jumbo shooters, let the cake bake, and in two-three years this team’s playing into the second round—no desperate “alpha” required if you’ve got five guys on the floor who can all pass, cut and hit a shot. Look at how long we could be.

Scoot Henderson – 6-9 WS (open/CP3 vet-min)
Shaedon Sharpe 6-11 WS Matisse Thybulle – 7-0 WS Rayan Rupert – 7-3 WS
Toumani Camara – 7-1 WS Cedric Coward – 7-2 WS
Deni Avdija – 6-10 WS Rasheer Fleming – 7-6 WS Jerami Grant – 7-2 WS
Deandre Ayton – 7-5 WS Donovan Clingan – 7-7 WS Robert Williams III – 7-6 WS

Length and defense only turn into easy points if someone can spear-head the break and deliver the hit-ahead pass.

Clayton Jr. — 22 AST% vs. 12 TOV%, loves the advance-pass and throws lasers to corners in transition.

Clifford — career 5.8 ast per-40, legitimate grab-and-go wing who can thread the bounce-pass to a streaking big.

Coward — 4.0 ast per-40 with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover mark; routinely fires outlets the moment he rebounds.

KJ and CMB both flashed short-roll playmaking—exactly what you want when the first pass is cut off.

Add any two of those guys and Scoot suddenly has multiple outlets who can also initiate. Now the steals and deflections Camara, Fleming and Thybulle generate don’t die in slow half-court sets—they become layups and corner threes before the defense even matches up.

If by some miracle we could add WCJ with a 3rd pick, i don't think we would need to worry about the draft for 2-3 years. Let those guys develop on the same timeline and get better organically the way OKC has.

I'm just daydreaming I'm sure and we'll probably just take Demin and resign Simons but that's my vision and that team would be really fun to watch.

You’re up on the T and T board draft. Your time is almost expired. Looks like maybe CMB at 11 would be your choice?

[Norm2953]

Unlikely Coward would be the Phoenix pick at 10 now that the Durant trade seems to have gone down

[DusterBuster]

Simons to Orlando still on the table…?

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[DaVoiceMaster]

Simons to Orlando still on the table…?

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Was that before or after the Bane trade.

[Walton1one]

I would imaging PHX @ #10 looks to draft a C/PF? Preferably a player who is more ready to contribute right away, so potentially good news for POR?

I imagine players they would look at would be:

Queen
Maluach - won’t be there
CMB
Newell
Beringer

Maybe Sorber or Wolf?

[PDXKnight]

Simons to Orlando still on the table…?

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Was that before or after the Bane trade.

Has to be before but perhaps ant will have a market of some sort? Or perhaps we blew a chance to dump him for a pick?

[oldfishermen]

This draft class reminds me of the 2020 class.

The 2020 class has produced 4 all-stars so far. Edwards, L. Ball, Haliburton pick #12, and Maxey pick #21.

There are a lot of players from that class still making a positvive impact. One that caught my eye is D. Bane pick#30.

Hope Cronin can trade for a second FRP.

[BlazersBroncos]

Does JI and 25 for Simons work?

Maybe ORL doubles down and thinks a year of Simons is worth burning a late FRP? (Say that bc they can’t afford him with Bane now).

[Norm2953]

I would imaging PHX @ #10 looks to draft a C/PF? Preferably a player who is more ready to contribute right away, so potentially good news for POR?

I imagine players they would look at would be:

Queen
Maluach - won’t be there
CMB
Newell
Beringer

Maybe Sorber or Wolf?

I would think CMB or Queen would be the pick at 10, especially since Phoenix has 5 SG and no big

[Norm2953]

I see CMB and KJ worked out this weekend in Portland. Real chance KJ will be the pick at 11