"With the third pick in the 2023 NBA draft, the Portland Trail Blazers select Scoot Henderson from Marietta Georgia and the NBA G-League team Ignite."
NBA director Adam Silver took the stage and read out the Blazers' choice in the 2023 draft, in this draft, the Blazers can be said to be lucky or unlucky, fortunately, they were not in the league's four worst teams, with the league's fifth winning rate to break into the top three, got the opportunity to contact the top talent of this draft, but unfortunately, they "only" got the prospect, that is, in addition to the undoubted champion Victor Venbanyama, The other two different positions, Brandon Miller and Scout Henderson, will have to see what the Hornets think before picking one of the two that the Hornets didn't choose.
As far as the lineup is concerned, some people talk about the Hornets picking winger Brandon Miller or guard Scout Henderson is reasonable, but the Blazers with two guards Lillard and Anfini Simmons are clearly only lacking wings, and ideally, the Blazers certainly hope to pick Brandon Miller, who has risen rapidly in the NCAA this year and has become the top talent in this year's draft wing group, but in the end, the Hornets ruthlessly took Brandon Miller away with the second pick.
Reality is once again testing the Blazers — a team that has been deplored several times in the past for being selected with high picks in the draft.
The unforgettable Trailblazer Lotto tragedy and finally the BPA of choice
The Blazers joined the league in the 1970 NBA expansion, including this year, a total of 8 top three picks in team history, their high picks were quite rewarding in the 70s, and the two top picks in 1974 and 1978 were Bill Walton and Michael Thompson, respectively, which brought the team a wonderful partnership, Bill Walton was the FMVP that won the only championship in the history of the Blazers in 1977, and Sidney Bush, who was selected by the Blazers in 1971. Wicks is also worth the money, playing four consecutive Star Games since his rookie year, but in 1972 the Blazers used the top pick to pick LaRue Martin, who played only four years in his career, averaging only 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds, especially if the next pick Buffalo Warriors (the predecessor of the Los Angeles Clippers) picked Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo.
After entering the 80s, the Blazers have improved and become one of the Western powers, and there are not many opportunities to get a high draft draft, but since then, the Blazers have been getting high picks several times is an unforgettable event in the history of the NBA draft, in 1984, because the team already had the swingman Clyde Drexler selected the previous year, the Blazers used the draft list to select Kentucky center Sam Bowie, but more than a decade later everyone knows that the Blazers skipped the greatest star in history, Jordan. In 2005, the Blazers got the third pick, and with point guard Sebastian Telfer on the team, the Blazers chose to trade for Martel Webster, and this time they gave up the NCAA's three star point guards, among which Deron Williams and Chris Paul successfully became the NBA's contemporary two generations of ace controllers. In 2007, the Blazers selected Greg Oden, who was undoubtedly regarded as the next center of heaven, but in the midst of Greg Auden's injuries again and again, the Blazers were constantly reminded that what they lost was Durant, the league's most terrible offensive weapon in the past decade.
The 2007 selection may not be to blame for the Blazers, only to say that they were unlucky in never getting a healthy Greg Oden, for the Blazers who did lack a center at that time, Greg Auden, who had already locked the top pick that year, was the Blazers should be selected anyway, but the other two times, it can be said that the Blazers lost better talent in the selection of positions and talents because they wanted to fill the roster vacancy, and in 1984 their reason was Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler. But in 2005, the Blazers let go of two future star point guards only because of the mediocre Sebastian Telfer who had only had a mediocre career, which always felt a little helpless.
In any case, with the top three picks again this year, the Blazers once again encountered the problem of overlapping their current talent and existing personnel, but this time they finally made a different decision and brought the only Tier 1 high talent left in this year's draft into the roster and put Scout Henderson on the Blazers jersey.
This "BPA (Best Player Available)" draft principle has always been a big question in the draft, of course, if compared to this year's Hornets case, it is absolutely reasonable to choose a person who seems to be more suitable for the lineup among the two talents, but it is an important topic for the Blazers, and the Blazers can be expected to encounter such a situation before the draft, so there are many Blazers who will seek a trade, and because of the Blazers' situation, it can be expected that the team is bound to face a trade. That's why there were rumors of a Lillard trade from the draft (or not less in recent years), but the Blazers announced before the draft that they would stop all trade discussions about Lillard, and there were no prospect-related trades that day, so the Blazers' selection of Scout Henderson was a foregone conclusion.
In the past, the Blazers have always missed the talent and became the laughing stock of the draft twice, this time finally made the "BPA" choice, although the Blazers let themselves face the process of rectifying the roster, but we must admit that judging from various scouting reports, although there are many flanking candidates this year, Scout Henderson is better than other players in terms of physical fitness, confrontation, organizational ability, dribbling ability, full court vision, leadership ability and wisdom on the field. The only problem is really that he is now in the Blazers who already have two main guards, but it is also conceivable that the Blazers are absolutely strong in the backcourt now.
From the perspective of the Blazers getting the blessing of luck to break into the top three picks, Scout Henderson is indeed a talent they should not miss, and in the evaluation of various scouting reports, Scout Henderson's various comparisons are Derrick Ross, Westbrook, Daron Fox, Jia Morant and others, and you know that this is definitely a future star that the team will want to hold in their hands.
Assets in hand, pioneers are attracting attention
The new version of the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) comes quickly and urgently, from the recent trade moves of the Warriors and Hawks, and the latest news that the Clippers are peddling and are forced to make Eric Gordon a free agent, saving expenses is absolutely necessary for the team's operation, and according to the new CBA regulations that teams that do not meet the minimum salary limit are not allowed to receive luxury tax dividends, there will be fewer teams that deliberately reduce salary space and reduce player turnover, and the increase in the new version of the CBA to extend the extension of the parent team's contract extension from 20% to 40% , and encourage Big Fish to renew the contract with the team first rather than enter the free market, so that the free market may be more deserted.
From all angles, it can be seen that the next NBA will be looking forward to the team to "retain assets" and "seek trades", not encouraging the team to deliberately pose as a free market dead fish, or when large buyers try to spend a lot of money in the market, and in the case of the Blazers, the behavior before and after the draft is also in line with such a trading angle, even if it is not such a favorable draft pick, they are still not in a hurry to trade, of course, we now see that the Blazers have a large backcourt, which is bound to need to be rectified, but from another angle, The Blazers' backcourt is stocked with chips for different needs, waiting for teams in need to come to the door.
For teams that want to look to the future, you can ask the Blazers Scout Henderson with the spot in the roster, for teams that want to temporarily piece together the blueprint, the Blazers have Anfini Simmons, who is running a reasonable core and has averaged 20 points last season, and for teams that want to recruit stars, the Blazers also have Lillard, who is already a veteran. From the perspective of pioneers, they can also decide their own direction depending on the conditions proposed by the other party.
One example that can be discussed is the Heat, the Heat after several considerations, decided not to cut Kyle Lowry's nearly 30 million contract to choose to share, hoping to still be used as a bargaining chip to balance salary, but in terms of the chips that the Heat recently proposed during negotiations, only Taylor Hiro can be regarded as a positive asset, Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson, although they have a combined salary of about 47 million, it is absolutely difficult to convince any team to send their own high-paid stars by these two. And the Heat's chips are also mostly backcourt, even if Lillard has said that the Heat is the next home he is willing to accept if he has a choice, but in terms of the Heat's assets, it is still very difficult to get the Blazers to nod.
On the contrary, it is foreseeable that the owner Fred VanVleet will become a free agent to leave, and may also enter the restructured Raptors, because of the strong frontcourt resources in hand, will be the Blazers can explore the trade object, the Raptors have the immediate power of OG Anunoby, the star-level Pascal Siakam, and there is only Gary Trent Jr. in the backcourt, and then the immature Malachi Flynn, there is indeed a demand for the backcourt in terms of roster reorganization.
From the fact that the Blazers did not complete the deal in the draft, the first message revealed is that the Blazers did not want to focus on the wings to be selected and still need to be cultivated, so it is conceivable that if the Blazers want to trade, they should also be buyers, so players with NBA that is, combat power will be more important than the so-called future, so at least so far, the Blazers are more likely to keep Lillard and move towards the "now".
That being the case, it is conceivable that as rumors may be consistent, Jeramie Grant will be retained, only the contract length is 4 or 5 years, and the average annual salary is about 30 million, and on the rookie's QO (Qualifying Offer), it is said that the Blazers are willing to open a QO to Matisse Cyble, making him an RFA (restricted free agent) that can be followed by the team, rather than QO to Cam Reddish. Cybre is obviously more suitable for fighting for combat power considerations because of his solid defensive foundation, and Cam Reddish, who is obviously an unfinished product and still has room to hone, can be discarded, which is indeed more in line with the aforementioned Blazers.
If the Blazers want to fight now, then their Anfini Simmons and Scout Henderson are absolutely valuable chips in the market, and even we can expect that the best direction for the Blazers is to retain Lillard and Scout Henderson, who seemed to have the most timeline differences, Scout Henderson said after the draft that he thought that he and Lillard would be a very ornamental and exciting backcourt. Henderson can not only make up for the lack of ball handlers in the Blazers except Lillard, Scout Henderson is currently technically lacking in the outside, the rest of the offense has a basic level, and Lillard happens to be an excellent outside sniper, the two can complement each other in the attacking space, but also because of this, like Jerami Grant, or other frontcourts with ball-carrying ability, it is indeed the Blazers need to free up the two-guard attack.
Under the difficulty battlefield, the pioneers must face the change
Although the Blazers try their best to keep their assets, have enough bargaining chips in the trade, and are healthy with their current salary structure, they will not be in a hurry to sell like the Warriors and Hawks, but they have two major difficulties in front of them, the first is that their resources are obviously uneven, and the situation of too many assets in the backcourt is bound to be solved, which is a hole card that cannot be hidden no matter how calm they are, and the second is that they are a team that only ranked 13th in the West last season. Even if you deduct the deliberate training angle at the end of the season, there may not be anyone who will now rank the Blazers firmly in the Western Conference quarterfinals, and even the play-off spots need to be contested, and if there is no obvious favorable trade, in the context that the Blazers may not be favored by free agents, just adding a Scout Henderson may at most make them a serious contender for the play-offs.
From the fact that the Blazers have been actively putting Anfini Simmons and Yusuf Nurkic on the trade shelf, it can be seen that they do want to change, and the Kings can directly rush to the third place in the West without major changes in the main body last season, which is a sample that can be used as an incentive model for the Blazers, but may not be perfectly replicated, coupled with the poor coaching evaluation of Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups in the past two seasons, whether they can really lead the Blazers to have a significant breakthrough is not optimistic, so the Blazers do need to have obvious changes. Help them move forward. Failing to seize this opportunity may not be an option to turn to the road of reconstruction.
In short, the Blazers accumulated assets after the selection of the draft "BPA", but also put themselves in the situation where it is obvious that there must be a follow-up transaction, from their actions, it seems that they want to continue to move forward with Lillard, but it is also because of the accumulation of assets, representing that the Blazers have the possibility to send away Lillard's future lifeline because of Scout Henderson's joining, on the bright side, Scout Henderson can be said to have both present and future choices, so that the Blazers have the option to fight and go, It's just that it is precisely because of Scout Henderson, who is enough to serve as the future master, that Lillard, who has always regarded himself as "loyal", may have a little more possibility of leaving.
Of course, I personally expect that the story of the Blazers and Lillard, a rare contemporary one-man-one-city story, can continue, and Lillard, who has become the Blazers' all-time scoring champion, can continue to advance his record, but in this era of drastic changes, it seems that any sign may increase the possibility of change, in the past, even if the Blazers have trade rumors, there are still angles that cannot abandon Lillard because of the formation, and then it will be up to Skut Henderson, who can be called the future dominant talent, to join what kind of changes the Blazers will face.