Any chance that the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers might make a swap of their high picks

I think on a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM you need a playmaker(point guard), effective Big Man(interior offense) and wings who have length, dribble and can shoot. Brandon Miller is a elite shooter in college but Jabari was as well. Brandon can dribble, little play making, and Pick N Roll. I would love Amen Thompson but I’m hearing the Blazers like Brandon and Amen equally.

Having Jabari(6’10), Tari(6’8) and Brandon(6’9) as our WING PLAYERS would be nice, all three have length, can shoot and defend.

I watched every game Brandon played in the SEC and he dominated most of the teams. I noticed, if the game was tight and his 3 point shooting was off, he would take the ball to the basket everytime…watch the games of South Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas A and M. He stop shooting outside shot and drove the ball to the basket or dish the ball under the basket. He is a good player but he does not have a elite 1st step or the size to get pass opponents.

Wemby is elite(length, feel for the game, handles and shooting)
Scoot s elite(elite 1st step, dog mentality and great size)
Amen is elite(elite 1st step, elite athleticism, vision and feel for the game)
Brandon? His shooting is elite but Jabari was elite in college as well.

I want Amen or Scoot but Brandon will due, shooting is a premium in the NBA.

 

Excellent post. I am not an expert but just about everything you said seems on point. It’s gonna be a crazy offseason.

 

Need moar threads

Y

 

Nice take

But my question was a joke - you had posted the exact same thing twice in a row and I was basically asking you to post it again!!

 

If San Antonio were picking anywhere but #1, they might muck things up a bit, but I think the order will stay like this.

 

Come clean @Yetti!! Do you use phrases like "Fourscore and seven years ago..."??


Go Rockets!!!
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Unless the blazers trade Lillard we have nothing to give a team trying to contended.

 

It's not a swap.
The deal is: Clyde + POR pick for Ralph. We draft Akeem and MJ.
That's the deal.

 

After listening to a Portland Trailblazers podcast, and getting a better sense of what their fans and what their front office wants to do I believe Portland really likes Amen Thompson. From what I gathered from listening to the podcast, Portland does not view this as a three man draft but rather a four man draft (you guessed it Wemby, Thompson, Miller, Henderson in no particular order). There is the Oakland angle as well with Dame and the Thompson twins being from Oakland, and Dame was in attendance when Amen Thompson worked out for Portland.

Why does any of this matter, why should we care about what Portland is doing you might ask? Because what they do will affect what we do since Houston also views this as a four man draft as well. There is a chance that Dame stays put in Portland and from what the Portland podcasters mentioned, the Trailblazers really like Lively a lot as well and they feel as if they need to bring in another center besides Nurkic. Now teams are reportedly very disappointed that Brandon Miller is coming to every workout with a letter from his attorney stating that he can not talk about what happened with his legal incident. Sounds fair enough right? But teams are upset that they are having to do a further background investigation on the issue and from what I hear as well his private workouts have not been all that great either. Out of the "four", Thompson's stock is rising and Miller's stock is falling. Now this all could be a non factor if Charlotte takes Miller at number two.

But let's say Miller does go number two, here's where things really get interesting. Portland's front office is secretly thrilled that they have the number three pick, and they are at a crossroads with Dame. On one hand they love him and want to keep him but on the other hand they believe that the third pick in this year's draft has more value than trading it for someone like Siakam. The only way the podcasters believe that Portland would trade the number three pick would be for someone like Jaylen Brown (who I'm sure half the league wants). But why would Boston break up their core when they were literally one win away from returning back to the NBA Finals? So a Jaylen Brown trade scenario does not seem very likely for Portland. If Miller goes number two there is a very good chance that Portland will look to trade their number three pick and why trading with Houston would make perfect sense and why we would be the perfect trade partner.

As I mentioned before Portland loves Amen Thompson. They could trade the number three pick to us for our number four pick (as well as our number twenty pick, and possibly we throw in another guy like Tari Eason), which would give us the ability to draft Scoot Henderson. All of this is contingent IF Miller goes number two and the Dame situation. If this exact scenario plays out I think it would be a no brainer to execute that type of trade with Portland so we can have our backcourt solidified for at least the next decade with Green and Henderson. Personally I would be happy with either Henderson (since he's projected to be a generational talent) or Amen Thompson (since he's projected to have generational upside because of his elite athleticism, I'm talking 99 percentile of the entire NBA the moment he gets drafted). Out of the three players that we could possibly take in this year's draft, Miller to me is the least intriguing. Thoughts?

 

It's hard to imagine 33-year-old Dame being happy with them drafting Amen Thompson, who is likely at LEAST a year away from making any kind of major contribution.

I don't envy the Blazers, who are in a no-win situation. Dame is due a ****-ton of money over the next four years ($210M, including $63M when he's 36) and needs a win-now team, but they don't have much wiggle room to provide him with win-now teammates.

 

I agree, Portland is in a terrible situation ideally. The smart thing for them to do would be to just simply trade Dame, get a shyt ton of assets for him and just rebuild their franchise back to relevancy in the next four to five years. But I do not have any kind of emotional attachment to Damien Lillard either. Also we have to keep in mind that they are a small market franchise, so the likelihood of Portland signing top quality free agents is low and they have to build their roster through trades or via the draft. But as you mentioned they do not have much wiggle room to really improve their roster long-term. To me trading with Houston and selecting just one spot lower and getting a couple of assets back and trading Dame makes the most sense. Will Portland do that or see it like that? Who knows...

 

Yep. And the only way they can do that without pissing off the fan base is if Dame makes a trade request (or at least agrees to frame the trade as something he is in favor of). If they trade him against his will, peopled will be pissed. I go to 3 or 4 games a year at the Moda Center, and those fans love Dame.

 

Some mock drafts have Miller at 2 and Portland likes Amen at 3.

Scoot could fall to us. Stand pat and keep a poker face.

 

If true, it would make total sense for Portland to trade the 3rd pick to us for the 4th and a “chunky asset” (to quote Kendall from Succession). This may give them a chance to appease Dame and pick up a prospect they like.