[https://www.espn.com/radio/play/\_/id/37858943](https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/37858943)
They start discussing Portland around the 22:00 mark. Some key points:
\- Scoot had a better workout than Miller for Charlotte. Charlotte still favors Miller over Scoot but it’s not nearly 100%, still up in the air. They ironically discuss how this might change if new ownership gets finalized, and we just got news today that Jordan is stepping down. Highkin reported that Jordan still plans to meet with Scoot and Miller, so it sounds like he’s still going to have some influence over decisions there but new ownership could change their draft outlook.
\- They don’t know for sure but assume that Portland will be happy to just draft the leftover of Scoot/Miller. Don’t foresee something crazy like taking Amen or Whitmore. They also say that if the draft were tonight Portland would be keeping that pick. Unless something crazy happens they don’t see a trade unfolding by draft night. Says they haven’t had anywhere near that level of conversation to get near value back for that pick.
\- Front office executives around the league are in a majority agreement that the #3 pick is more valuable this year than in other years.
\- Front offices value Sharpe over Simons but the Blazers are absolutely keeping Sharpe. He’s not untouchable untouchable, but it’s pretty damn close.
\- People tend to underrate Simons even if his value isn’t terribly high. Says he’s a really good player, easily one of the best shooters in the league and any team would like to have that kind of player on it. His contract isn’t some albatross, feels Simons is getting pretty fair value.
\- Teams that are ‘turning their nose up’ to the #3 + Simons package are probably posturing at this point, or other executives aren’t correctly valuing what Simons can bring.
\- Does not think it’s as binary as keep pick #3 and trade Dame or keep Dame and trade pick #3. Portland could be trying to thread the needle since the opportunity of getting a player as valuable as they get at #3 is incredibly rare. This idea is that the prospect is just too good to pass up but the Blazers also love having Lillard around.
\- Lillard is a true basketball junkie. He’s in the gym everyday, he studies prospects and knows about salary cap rules. Says he would understand that there isn’t necessarily a trade out there that makes sense from an organization standpoint. If Blazers keep the #3 pick then Lillard isn’t going to just all of the sudden demand a trade. Lillard is smarter than that. Says it’s been overblown at this point and Lillard wants to stay in Portland.
13 comments
Great recap!
At least for the last point, I don’t think Dame would straight up ask out in the case we keep the pick. But I do think there’s a decent chance of it happening if that’s all you do. If Cronin is planning on keeping the pick he better make a “Jeramiesque” follow up move
this does seem like a very fair assessment of the situation. The Blazers really are in a win-win situation if you stop and think about it.
I have zero clue in what the blazers are gonna do. They can go any way they want. Exciting times can’t wait for the draft
Just doesn’t make sense. There is no way there is no trade out there. #3 + Anfernee can absolutely get you a really really good player. The friction seems to be that the blazers have some quantitative valuation for the pick that needs to be met if they trade it, but how did they get there?
If it’s Ingram available, is he not worth a 3 pick + salary? What’s Brandon millers ceiling? Probably Brandon Ingram. What are the odds Miller is better than Siakam or brown? 10%?
Threading the needle won’t work. It will not produce a championship in either timeline, and if they draft Miller, I will bet my soul that one of him or Sharpe will not stick around long enough to grow into each others primes. It’s super rare for that to happen, Dame and Cj outlasted almost every duo in the NBA and that was purely incompetence/vanity on Olshey’s part.
We need to keep the pick because we need to defend the summer league chip. Scoot will lead us to back to back champions. LETS GOOOO
No one has said this that I have seen, but I feel like the Max/Super Max contract stuff makes it really hard for teams to build without going over the cap. It has hurt smaller market teams a lot.
This is consistent with everything that i’ve seen come out so far. Six days to the draft. Now it’s time for things to heat up.
Thank You!!
This sounds verrrryyyy similar to last year around this time. We started to hear that Portland is perfectly okay with keeping the pick. I have a very strong feeling we will be selecting next Thursday.
Fuck yes. Keep the pick and Dame is certainly the best option for everyone, I think.
You are a true hero.
If there are a bunch of teams that don’t value #3 plus Simons highly, then I don’t think it’s right to say Simons isn’t being valued correctly. His value is only what people would be willing to pay for him.
If you’re trying to sell your car and say you want $20,000 for it and people laugh at you and say $16,000 is the max offer, then the over/under valuing is coming from the seller who is overvaluing since the market shows that’s not the correct price.