Posted 04/03/2012 7:05 PM

I still like Drummond with the Nets pick, but with our pick I think we should take Damian Lillard. Like I said on another page, the guy has Russell Westbrook like athleticism. Maybe not the vertical jump, but he is a better three point shooter

Posted 04/03/2012 7:14 PM

Also I dont like either of the Zeller brothers with any of our picks. I saw Cody play during March Madness and I wasn't impressed. Would rather draft Brittney Griner...

Posted 04/04/2012 11:11 PM

would it be better to trade the nj pick? like mathews and our 2 picks for a player such as iggy and there pick? if there is a chance to snatch williams iggy would be a perfect fit- williams batum iggy hickson LA? even if it is nash, brooks, dradgic? would it not make sense to "reload" with a more veteran player to make a quicker run than taking a risk on drafting a roll player? More I look at this draft, the more I just see high quality roll players outside anothony davis

Posted 04/05/2012 8:38 PM

I agree Fred....coach has got our team excited & playing together. Is that not where you start to make the playoffs?
I know it will be tough but why would they count us out...these guys are professionals!

Posted 04/05/2012 8:42 PM

Beal is good but we have the position he plays just about covered...we need Zeller. If he does not work he would be good trade material: young, talented & 7ft.  MB

Posted 04/05/2012 8:43 PM

What is the biggest need we have for our first 6 spots?

Posted 04/05/2012 8:54 PM

that's because we aren't, its sad but true, 7 of the remaining 11 are on the road, and 5 are against playoff teams, no way we end with a winning record and (in the West) that means no playoffs

Posted 04/06/2012 1:42 AM

I was totally ready to take Beal with the NJ pick, but it seems like NJ is moving further away from the top 3 picks and Beal's stock is skyrocketing. Now NJ is projected to pick around 6~7th.... So Cody Zeller and Kendall Marshall....? This is really difficult..

Posted 04/06/2012 11:48 AM

Posted By texmex33 on 04/05/2012 8:43 PM
What is the biggest need we have for our first 6 spots?

Never draft for need in the lottery. I like Martell, but we passed on CP3 and Deron Williams in the 05 draft because we thought we needed a shooting guard and had point guard covered in Telfair. You take the best player available and then make it work later.

Posted 04/06/2012 12:08 PM

Most mock drafts I have seen are pretty set on the Blazers taking Drummond with our first New Jersey pick, which I have no complaints. I think his potential is so great that he could possibly someday out-play Anthony Davis. With our lottery pick, I have seen a lot of both Damian Lillard and Jeremy Lamb. Again I would be happy with either. Im also a fan of drafting two players from the same team because the chemistry is already there. I take Drummond and Lillard/Lamb depending on if they are still available

Posted 04/06/2012 12:25 PM

NBADraft.Net updated their mock draft today (April 5th) and they have us taking a North Carolina duo: Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller.

Harrison Barnes Scouting Report
NBA Comparison: Glen Rice

Strengths

 Athletic wing with long arms (7-foot wingspan), good muscle tone and excellent body balance ... Kid with a great attitude, work ethic and willingness to improve … Has a disciplined approach. Shows a good understanding of the game making positive decisions with the ball ... Doesn’t show many bad habits, good body language … Has excellent form on his shot, and developing range … Can pull up off the dribble and hit shots … Does a good job of attacking the basket and creating contact and free throw shooting opportunities … Good foot speed, both side to side and first step off the dribble

Weaknesses

Needs to work on improving his left hand and become equally adept at driving using either hand … Should look to improve his mid-range game and become a more consistent shooter from the perimeter … Makes good decisions with the ball but appears more comfortable in the half court than finding teammates on the break 

Highlights


Tyler Zeller Scouting Report
NBA Comparison: PJ Brown

Strengths

 A true 7 footer with a long build, Zeller has solid height for an NBA C prospect … Added in with his size, Zeller is also a fluid athlete, and is certainly mobile showing some leaping skills, particularly with a head of steam … Runs the floor as well as any C prospect out there, and has a high level of speed for a guy his size … Offensively, Zeller demonstrates the ability to play well down low and already has a right-hand jump hook in his arsenal that he utilizes as a go-to move … Although he only sporadically shows it in UNC’s system, he also has a potentially strong jump shot with 18 foot range when facing the basket 

Weaknesses

 Even though Zeller has good height for the C spot, he certainly doesn’t have very good strength …When he faces strong big men down low, they can easily seal and establish position on him for pretty easy shots … He’s also not the toughest guy down low, and struggles with defensive rebounding and physical play inside on both ends … Has a high center of gravity, and can be pushed out of the post by defenders with leverage 

Highlights

Posted 04/10/2012 2:41 PM

Draft Express just updated their mock draft today (April 10) and has the Trail Blazers taking Harrison Barnes at No. 7 and Terrence Jones No. 9.

Posted 04/10/2012 7:10 PM

I don't think Draft Express  puts into consideration of team needs. Why would they take two small forwards? Seems like almost the same player to me. One or the other would be nice though. I take one of those and try to get Drummond with the first pick. Then grab Goran Dragic in Free agency.

Posted 04/10/2012 8:25 PM

Jones is definitely in more of a capable PF frame than a SF. I can see him playing in somewhat of Kevin Love's style, but less basketball IQ and more explosiveness. Barnes on the other hand looks pretty much like Batum to me. Maybe a smaller wing span and more of an attacker than a defensive player. I'm actually not a big fan of Barnes. 

BTW, ESPN lottery machine has us taking Damian Lillard at 7th and Perry Jones 3rd for our 11th ish pick. Both look like a huge reach to me.

Posted 04/11/2012 2:22 PM

ESPN's Chad Ford released the third version of his 2012 NBA Mock Draft. If the draft were to be held today, the Trail Blazers would have the No. 7 overall pick (Via New Jersey [Gerald Wallace Trade]) and the No. 11 pick in the first round. Ford's content is ESPN Insider so to see the other 28 picks, click here. Here's who he has the Trail Blazers taking and a write-up of what they bring to the table:

Posted 04/11/2012 3:51 PM

I would like us to give away all of our draft picks for free agents and trades.  Please, no more bench players.

Posted 04/11/2012 8:56 PM

Posted By Mieke Appel on 04/11/2012 3:51 PM
I would like us to give away all of our draft picks for free agents and trades.  Please, no more bench players.

that is such an ignorant statement. 

Posted 04/12/2012 1:01 PM

Reading Chad Ford makes me sick. Lillard is a me first point guard who plays a lot like Mo Williams having someone like him as your starting point guard will not get you very far. Jones is a fine player but effort has been an issue for this Portland team why on earth would we want someone else who does not always play hard.

Posted 04/12/2012 2:28 PM

think u r partially right cheese- but lillard has better driving ability than mo and better D

Posted 04/12/2012 2:28 PM

think u r partially right cheese- but lillard has better driving ability than mo and better D

Posted 04/12/2012 4:36 PM

NBADraft.Net updated their mock draft today (April 12th) and they have us taking Bradley Beal and Tyler Zeller.

Posted 04/12/2012 4:39 PM

Zeller is way too soft he would be a terrible fit for us.

Posted 04/15/2012 1:18 AM

I think i might like the idea of drafting Barnes and being able to move Batum.. Hear me out, Say we draft Barnes with our first pick, and are able to get Lamb or P. Jones III.. We then figure out a sign and trade that involves Batum and Matthews for Rondo (or figure out a way to get Williams or Wall cuz we REALLY need an elite PG to run this team). Our starting line up+bench could be defensive and very capable on offense:

PG Rondo....N. Smith
SG Lamb.... EW... (maybe retain crawford)
SF Barnes.... Babbit
PF Hickson (will have cap space to resign him)
C LA....Thomas

**You can add in other players we currently have on the roster if we resign them like Crawford, Flynn, Thabeet, Pryz, and C smith.

**If we pick up P. Jones III then swing him into the C position and have Hickson off the bench + retain Crawford for starting or back up SG spot

    These senarios do have quite a few variables, but could still be very possible considering the Blazer management is looking at going big when it comes to a PG. The shooting of Lamb, Barnes, Crawford, Babbit, EW and LA will IMO make up for Rondo's inability to shoot from outside. This might be our best chance to be contenders even though we might have to run with a slightly smaller C. 
    Also before you start to think this lineup might not be good enough.. Really look at these rookies and tell me why they wouldn't fill holes in our team.

Posted 04/15/2012 9:39 AM

What if we draft Andre Drummond with the Nets pick. Then draft down and pick Tony Wroten. Then re-sign JJ Hickson, Nicolas Batum, and Joel Pryzbilla and sign Deron Williams to a big contract.

Our Starters would be:

PG: Deron Williams
SG: Wesly Mattews
SF: Nicolas Batum
PF: Lamarcus Aldridge
C: Andre Drummond

Our bench would be:

PG: Tony Wroten
SG: Elliot Williams/Tony Wroten
SF: Luke Babbit
PF: JJ Hickson
C: Joel Prizbilla

Posted 04/16/2012 11:35 AM

1700 views and 73 replies those numbers are terrible and are more depressing then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc btw can someone tell me how to embed videos 

Posted 04/16/2012 1:21 PM

Posted By cmeese47 on 04/12/2012 1:01 PM
Reading Chad Ford makes me sick. Lillard is a me first point guard who plays a lot like Mo Williams having someone like him as your starting point guard will not get you very far. Jones is a fine player but effort has been an issue for this Portland team why on earth would we want someone else who does not always play hard.

To be fair, Lillard played for Weber State, a Big Sky school, which probably has no NBA talent in the league outside of Lillard. How else is he supposed to play? If I was his coach, I'd tell to go out and carry us to victory and that's what he did, nearly taking WBU to the NCAA Tournament.

Posted 04/16/2012 2:17 PM

You make a fair point but the question then becomes can he make that transition for me first to a team player

Posted 04/20/2012 11:41 AM

who is the next Terry Porter in this draft?  If we can see him draft him.  I don't think Terry was a point guard coming out of college. 

Posted 04/20/2012 12:33 PM

I think Terry played every position for his NAIA school, Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Kersey came from litlte known Longwood College out  of Virginia and we dealt for Duckworth during his rookie year nad Duck was from Illinois State. Scottie Pippen went to Central Arkansas. John Stockton went to Gonzaga before anyone knew where or what a Gonzaga was, so the size of the school shouldn't make or break a propsect.

Posted 04/23/2012 11:34 AM

I agree I like Tony Mitchell out of North Texas but I do think that the quality of the university can go a long ways to helping players become more NBA ready.

Posted 04/30/2012 12:58 PM

Posted 04/30/2012 1:51 PM

Jeremy Lamb.

Posted 04/30/2012 4:53 PM

Players Portland should target:
Jae Crowder SF/PF Marquette The dude plays hard has a nice shooting range and is a quality defender. Without a true position in the NBA he might be a Travis Outlaw type player but I see better things than that in his future. He will also be a 2nd round pick so there is little risk in selecting him.
Scott Machado PG Iona He led the NCAA in assists with 9.9 a game last year and shot near 50% from the field while grabbing 5 rebounds a game. His man defense has a long ways to improve but he represents incredible value for a second round pick. 
Bradley Beal SG Florida The kid has great shooting form and a good IQ I would have liked to see higher FG% coming out of college but most scout do not feel he will have any trouble transitioning to the NBA. Likely target if we keep #6 pick and he is available.
Jeffery Taylor SF Vanderbilt He has limited range for a 3 but his excellent defense and athleticism plus his willingness to draw contact and get to the line will prove valuable at the next level. He will be available at the bottom of the first round. 
Tony Wroten PG/SG Washington he maybe a combo guard but he is a solid passer and would represent an immediate upgrade over Nolan Smith.
Harrison Barnes SF North Carolina He is a clutch scorer with good range, he is an active rebounder and a good defender. He would be another good choice for #6 if available.

There are more but hustle players and great defenders should be our focus

Posted 05/21/2012 11:29 AM

Crowder should be a no-brainer in the second round. We passed on Faried last year and we can't miss our hustle/energy guy this time around.

Posted 05/21/2012 3:29 PM

I feel like we need to take Barnes with the first pick. With the uncertainty of Batum now, we need to take barnes so we can have someone to fill in if he decides to bail. Second we take Tyler Zeller for our center position. Free agency, if we lose batum, which i hope does not happen, it could save us a huge amount of cap space. I agree DHawes that Roy Hibbert is "the dream" but could be very hard to pry from the pacers, although he did say he would be open to testing free agency. Obviously Goran Dragic is a great candidate for our PG position.



Lineup (Batum-less):



PG- Dragic, Smith

SG- Matthews, E Will

SF- Barnes, Babbitt

PF- Aldridge, Hickson

C- Hibbert, Zeller



Looks solid to me even with the loss of Batum

Posted 05/23/2012 12:42 PM

I do not think you are going to get Hibbert so this trade will never happen.  The only possibility would be to package Batum with a number11 for hibbert and even then I do not think Indiana would do it.  Even if the #11 would give Zeller it still will not happen.    

Posted 05/23/2012 1:34 PM

REAL simple (1st round):  our 1st pick= Kid-Gilchrist (if he's picked b4 our 1st pick, then we do what we need to within reason to get him; the ONLY way we don't pick him w/ this pick is IF the near impossible happens & we get the #1; then we pick Davis period) & our next pick= Kendall Marshall (by all accounts, SHOULD b there @ our pick).

Posted 05/23/2012 1:34 PM

REAL simple (1st round):  our 1st pick= Kid-Gilchrist (if he's picked b4 our 1st pick, then we do what we need to within reason to get him; the ONLY way we don't pick him w/ this pick is IF the near impossible happens & we get the #1; then we pick Davis period) & our next pick= Kendall Marshall (by all accounts, SHOULD b there @ our pick).

Posted 05/23/2012 1:46 PM

Sorry again for the 2x's posts, my computer cont. to freak out :(  U can remove the 2nd post.

Posted 06/06/2012 10:09 AM

Chad Ford Has Portland Addressing It's Need In Latest Mock Draft

At No. 6 Ford has Portland picking Connecticut center Andre Drummond.

Analysis: This could be a scary pick for Portland. At some point Drummond's rewards start to outweigh his risks. The Trail Blazers need size and Drummond has potential to be a dominant big man if he ever improves his motor. If not Drummond, I think the Trail Blazers have to start looking at players such as Damian Lillard or Dion Waiters. Maybe they can packages Nos. 6 & 11 and move up to get a player such as Brad Beal.

Posted 06/06/2012 12:00 PM

there are some issues of drafting the "best player available."

first, the term is, in and of itself, extremely subjective. for example, let's say Dustin and i are co-gm's of the same team. Dustin feels player X is the best player available. i feel player Y is the best player available. which one is chosen? take that one step further with a guy like Drummond. let's say he's available at #6. do we take him because he's the long-term potential is so high, or do we avoid him because there is too much uncertainty. again, best player available is too subjective.

second, no one can say with any certainty which players will and will not pan out at the nba level. though Davis is everyone's #1 pick this draft, and everyone expects him to be a force in the league, there's no saying for sure that will happen (the odds are better than worse that he'll be a star, but i think you see what i mean). you've got to evaluate nba potential vs. readiness, vs. skillset vs. intangibles vs. character vs ... etc. in truth, there may be no absolutely accurate way to determine a best player available.

third, you can take who you feel is the best player available and try to fix the other needs/positional logjams later, but what if you can't? what if you take a guy who winds up spending pretty much the duration of his rookie contract on the bench or in the d-league? that type of thing has happened before and it's certainly possible it could happen again. in that event, you've done yourself no favors in this draft while failing to address a couple of major needs.

fourth (and this is perhap the most speculative, yet perhaps the most accurate), no matter how much a team, it's gm or draft staff claim they're going after the best player available, that is virtually never the only tool they use. think of it this way: each team goes into the draft with a list of players, college and international stars, ranked from one to 50 (or 60, or 75, or so forth). this list is the team's master draft list. let's say the blazers have such a list. barring trade negotiations, at #6 the blazers simply scroll down to pick their best player available from that list, fill in the name and hand it tothe commissioner. instead of lasting up to three hours, the first round goes 45 minutes. the point is, right up to the deadline to choose their pick, those in each team's war room are still debating the selection. i guarantee you, they're talking about much more than just best player available.

as with many aspects of analyzing the players, best player available is just one tool which should be used. i don't disagree with it in theory, it's just not something on which teams can rely in pracrtice.

~ KMM

Posted 06/06/2012 12:02 PM

http://youtu.be/MHBDW6tNcvo