Realistic Wish List???

[dckingsfan]

The overall point. Add young players for your two-ways (yes, we have Sidy Cissoko & Rayan Rupert), we should also have a big at that age. Kris Murray to me should be the next to go along with Reath. We have the opportunity to add two more young players (which, IMO, should have already happened).

I would say no to Livingston since that is where we have depth for the foreseeable future

I assume Williams will not be resigned, don't know about Thybulle.

The point is that this part of the roster is key for sustainability and this FO hasn't shown the creativity necessary to get it done (opinion of course).

[Walton1one]

While a lot of people are handing out kudos to Cronin, they conveniently ignore the disaster that is the bench/2-way contracts he has put together. A complete collection of non NBA talent players. I see they just resigned Javonte Cooke to a 2-way at age 26, wow, I mean after that preseason who wouldn't want that guy?

Love\Cissoko\Cooke these are not NBA level players, and they are older players, and then you have a bunch of marginal (which is being generous) guys clogging up the end of their big league roster: Rupert, Wesley, Reath, Murray

and I can hear people say, who cares they are 2-ways and deep bench players? Except they are important when you have guys like Lillard (out for the year), Williams\Thybulle (Destined to miss a fair amount of games) & Scoot out until December most likely. There are 4 guys on your 15-man out, now you are sitting 1-2 injuries away from having to RELY on those subpar players, and you have a roster with Holiday\Grant on it? Hoping that DC avoids injury & stays out of foul trouble b\c then you have to rely on Yang\Reath? Seriously?

and heaven forbid if Avdija/Camara or Sharpe go down for any extended period of time.

It is called roster building and Joe Cronin sucks at it.

Reath\Wesley\Murray...Rupert\Love\Cissoko\Cooke none of these guys are helping you win meaningful games, that is SEVEN players, 40% of POR 18-man roster that are literally just wasting a roster spot. If the goal is to lose games then by all means keep them, but don't try and sell people on "winning" and then treat 40% of your roster as if it doesn't matter if those players are competent NBA players.

There are some vets that are clear upgrades that are out there: Achiuwa, Matthews, K Edwards. Each one of them would be an upgrade

There are younger\better gambles that are out there: Baldwin Jr, T.Newton, C.Livingston, Bufkin, D.Jones, T.Smith (likely)

This team is never going to be a serious team filling 40% of their roster with retreads\never will be type players

[dckingsfan]

Looks like most will be available for game 1

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/rumors/2025/10/20/sean-highkin-toumani-camara-deni-avdija-matisse/86807058007/

[Walton1one]

Read on Twitter

Both of these guys should be on a two-way contract with POR right now, they’re both better prospects than Cooke, Cissoko & Love, give me a break, one of the worst group of two ways in the entire NBA

[Walton1one]

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[dckingsfan]

Yeah, George is playing amazing bball. They probably wish they hadn't made the Deni trade at this point.

And there is the good and the bad about playing the youngsters (to the exclusion of better players on the roster) and going full on tank.

But they are rebuilding in a traditional, well thought out pattern (adding as many youngsters as they can). But they also made some mistakes with regards to contract signings. Kispert and Kuzma jump off the page.

[Walton1one]

They are a tale of two front offices, with the newest front office leaning in on the youth, and the contracts you pointed out being from the old front office

Deni was traded by the new front office so there is that, and I haven’t heard a lot of Bub Carrington who is struggling, but they also received the second best 29’ as part of the deal

I would also note that by trading Deni, they cleared the deck for their youth, being bad a couple years, playing the young guys heavy minutes, letting them learn from experience, you know the exact opposite things that POR has done

[dckingsfan]

No. They signed both.

And no, there would have been plenty of PT for the other kids on the team only alongside a player that gives effort on both sides of the ball.

I like that the Wiz front office went into full rebuild and that there coach was fully onboard. But... they also have had their issues.

And lots of teams missed out on George. Just sayin'

[Butter]

These discussions about Dillon Jones and Tyler Smith brings up a very interesting question. What do the Blazers need with this roster now?

The starting 5 is pretty set. The second unit is shored up with Grant leading the scoring and Tice back in the rotation.

Really, they need a couple of things:

1) legit #1 go to scorer
2) dump Grant's contract
3) improve their deep bench projects or depth

Focusing on #3, one of the things the Thunder do very well is acquire additional draft picks to draft high end potential to develop on their bench. To the previous point about Jones and Smith, the Blazers have had some success with recycling other teams draft picks through the years.

Maybe the focus for the short term is to identify current players still on their rookie deals stuck at the end of the bench that fit the Blazers scheme. I'm all for getting a legit superstar, but that's not what Camera was when they acquired him.

[dckingsfan]

a

These discussions about Dillon Jones and Tyler Smith brings up a very interesting question. What do the Blazers need with this roster now?

The starting 5 is pretty set. The second unit is shored up with Grant leading the scoring and Tice back in the rotation.

Really, they need a couple of things:

1) legit #1 go to scorer
2) dump Grant's contract
3) improve their deep bench projects or depth

Focusing on #3, one of the things the Thunder do very well is acquire additional draft picks to draft high end potential to develop on their bench. To the previous point about Jones and Smith, the Blazers have had some success with recycling other teams draft picks through the years.

Maybe the focus for the short term is to identify current players still on their rookie deals stuck at the end of the bench that fit the Blazers scheme. I'm all for getting a legit superstar, but that's not what Camera was when they acquired him.

I can't argue with any of your top 3 - I really think you hit the nail on the head. For next season:

1) Lillard?

2) I don't see it (at least for this year and next without also having to give up assets) and if he is willing to come off the bench, well then. Thus far, he has been a star in his role as the 6th man.

3) And yes to identifying the rookie deals and teams that just won't match. Peyton Watson is a perfect example and there will be others on 2nd apron teams. I think that the Wizards (since we have been chatting about them) have too many youngsters and will either need to trade some of them or some will go to through RFA to UFA. This is where Cronin has been at his worst (sans the Grant contract). I think they need a new GM to get us there, I don't think he has it in him.

[Butter]

a

These discussions about Dillon Jones and Tyler Smith brings up a very interesting question. What do the Blazers need with this roster now?

The starting 5 is pretty set. The second unit is shored up with Grant leading the scoring and Tice back in the rotation.

Really, they need a couple of things:

1) legit #1 go to scorer
2) dump Grant's contract
3) improve their deep bench projects or depth

Focusing on #3, one of the things the Thunder do very well is acquire additional draft picks to draft high end potential to develop on their bench. To the previous point about Jones and Smith, the Blazers have had some success with recycling other teams draft picks through the years.

Maybe the focus for the short term is to identify current players still on their rookie deals stuck at the end of the bench that fit the Blazers scheme. I'm all for getting a legit superstar, but that's not what Camera was when they acquired him.

I can't argue with any of your top 3 - I really think you hit the nail on the head. For next season:

1) Lillard?

2) I don't see it (at least for this year and next without also having to give up assets) and if he is willing to come off the bench, well then. Thus far, he has been a star in his role as the 6th man.

3) And yes to identifying the rookie deals and teams that just won't match. Peyton Watson is a perfect example and there will be others on 2nd apron teams. I think that the Wizards (since we have been chatting about them) have too many youngsters and will either need to trade some of them or some will go to through RFA to UFA. This is where Cronin has been at his worst (sans the Grant contract). I think they need a new GM to get us there, I don't think he has it in him.

Man, I would LOVE it if Lillard came back as a true #1 threat on this team. It would be an amazing story. Unfortunately, that probably means Scoot is gone.

I'm still optimistic that Grant will find another home. Best case scenario, he keeps cooking and another contending team is desperate (probably because of an injury).

#3 I'm very excited about this concept. Kind of feels like playing with house money.