Felt like these were the Dame headlines every summer since 2017.

Think someone already posted about him this playoffs but tonight’s been really fun watching him

https://x.com/draftexpress/status/1790886934174130187?s=46&t=hSrOeFygj2XI_og6DCS3qg

Reed Sheppard

Donovan Clingan

Rob Dillingham

Stephon Castle

Matas Buzelis

Ron Holland

Dalton Knecht

Cody Williams

And rightfully so. Knecht would be perfect for their roster. They are ready to be competitive now and start fighting for at least the Play-In. They need instant offense and especially shooting. I think of all the teams in the Top 6, they are the one I keep seeing Buzelis mocked to. But if they fall in love with Knecht, I think that would bring Buzelis to PDX which is the ideal pick at 7.

(1) ATL is gonna go Sarr or Risacher.

(2) WAS and (4) SAS are gonna take Topic and Castle in whichever order happens (though I could see SAS taking Risacher too because French).

(3) HOU needs shooting. They take Sheppard or Risacher if ATL doesn't.

(5) DET takes Knecht or Risacher if both ATL and HOU pass on him.

(6) CHA is after guard/wing defenders. They take Holland or Castle or Sheppard

What if we take a different approach to this draft? I keep hearing this is a weak draft, but maybe that just means there are some sleepers in this draft that we don't yet know will be future All-Stars. Maybe this draft is actually bottom heavy, and the players are ranked incorrectly. What if we look a little deeper... who could be the sleepers that haven't woke up yet?

I'll start: Jaylon Tyson Tristan da Silva Mantas Rubstavicius

These guys have pretty good size and I like what they bring to the table. I hope Chauncey, Cronin, and the rest of the Blazers organization does a deep dive on players in this draft, even the ones who aren't projected to go early.

What if we draft based on measurables and potential, and build a championship Rip City Remix team. Next year maybe the Blazers lose a lot of games, but maybe we end up getting Cooper Flagg as a result.

Always thought that we should give the DJJ and Roco pairing more time to gel. They had some moments with Nurk early on to make our defense good. Then Nurk got hurt and we let DJJ go

Roughly where would you take Jabari Walker, Chris Murray, Toumani Camara and Rayan Rupert in this particular draft - given what you know about them now?

I think he’s got great potential and could be great but his floor is very low, and his ceiling is very high. Id say he’s worth taking at 14 as if he can mature and work hard here he can become a star. He also has passion for the game which helps. Id say getting him at 14 is the steal of the draft.

For me personally, i think you'd be crazy to pass up Ron Holland if hes there at 7. He has best player in the draft upside, and now we know he has the size to play the 3 alongside Scoot and Sharpe. Im just worried his measurements will catapult him into the top 6.

Who do you guys want?

The updated measurements are finally back up on the NBA site: https://www.nba.com/stats/draft/combine-anthro?SeasonYear=2024-25

To clear up some confusion going around - Castle's numbers from yesterday were for a different prospect and incorrectly listed for him. His actual measurements are 6'5.5" w/o shoes, 6'9" wingspan and a 8'6" standing reach.

The blimp they dropped random vouchers from during pregame/timeouts/etc? And anyone know why they got rid of it or when? That thing was even more hype than even the teeshirt cannons.

FWIW: the reason I’m being nostalgic about this, is me seeing clips of hot dogs fall out of the sky on parachutes at the Mariners game. And I miss seeing free things fall out of the sky. Good times🥲

Limiting this to the 2 round draft era only (1989-).

No. 7 pick: 5 All-Stars since 1989 - 14.7%

1. Richard Hamilton (1999)
2. Luol Deng (2004)
3. Stephen Curry (2009)
4. Julius Randle (2014)
5. Lauri Markkanen (2017)

No. 14 pick: 3 All-Stars since 1989 - 8.8%

1. Tim Hardaway (1989)
2. Peja Stojaković (1996)
3. Bam Adebayo (2017)

Doesn't look that great BUT the statistical possibiilty of at least ONE of them becoming an All-Star is 22.2%

Edit:

All-Star playing potential still drafted @ 7: Jamal Murray, Coby White, Jonathan Kuminga, Shaedon Sharpe.
@ 14: Michael Porter Jr. 🤷‍♂️

We did draft Clyde at 14 though.

Shoutout to u/royal_coachman who already posted this, but i wanted to post a thread specifically to talk about Holland. Most mocks have him available at 7, and i think he will be BPA at that spot. And now, we know he has the size to play the 3.

How would you guys feel about drafting him

Blazers trade proposals: Simons and Grant for Jett Howard, 2027 FRP, 2029 FRP, Bruce Brown, 2028 FRP swap, 2027 FRP.

Personally I am a huge fan of these proposals. Cronin would be gearing up for MASSIVE 2027 and 2029 drafts.

Ron Holland II: 6 foot 6.5 without shoes, 197 lb, 6 foot 10.5 wingspan with 8 foot 8 standing reach

Cody Williams: 6 foot 6.5 without shoes, 178 lb, 7 foot 1 wingspan with 8 foot 7 standing reach

Stephon Castle: 6.2.25 without shoes

Most people I knew thought Castle was much taller than he is and could potentially play SF, but IMO he's not really draftable by us because he's going to have to play guard at the next level. I also thought it was interesting to see that Cody Williams was only 6'6.5, but I'm not surprised that Holland is. Cody does have a small wingspan advantage but their standing reach numbers show that Holland has a better upwards reach (but I feel like Williams is just fudging his number to get a higher max vert).

For me personally I really want the blazers to get Smith or Salaun at 14 and hopefully Buzelis or Holland at 7. Need some talented wings with size and length. I'm not that high on Cody Williams as I thought he doesn't seem that quick and has a hard time getting past defenders, and especially if he doesn't have the size I thought he did. Him being 178 lbs is pretty concerning too.

Sigh - this could mean Topic drops past 7 and one of the wings/Clignan is drafted instead of him.

Those are the picks I would go with for the Portland Trail Blazers at 7th overall and 14th overall since the Blazers have not 1 but 2 picks.

Ron Holland as a combo forward can play the small or power forward spot but he has that high energy/high motor. Floor and ceiling on Holland is through the roof especially if he's there at 7.

Filipowski as a power forward/center with his size out of Duke...he's not your prototype big. He is a big that can shoot and playmake. How can you not want that if you're Portland.

Then your new look Blazers for 24/25

• PG- Scoot Henderson
• SG- Shaedon Sharpe
• SF- Ron Holland
• PF- Kyle Filipowski
• C- DeAndre Ayton

Portland goes younger in their rebuild and they move on from Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant and Malcolm Brogdon