Episode 17: Can the Blazers Copy the Celtics? Mock Trades and a Look Back at Past Drafts
[Music] coming up on this week’s episode of the Rip City Roundtable podcast you are here with your shoot first point guard Corey Dickman it’s just me today on the podcast so sorry everybody you got to put up with me but I want to talk about the Celtics getting their championship and I want to uh let’s say a good news uh leading into the draft uh but in order to kind of see what we’re going to do in the 2024 draft we got to look back at what Joe cronin’s done in his history as a general manager so we’re going to do that and then you know I was bored today so I went into the trade machine and I got four trades for us to lead into the next year’s draft 2025 with four teams that I think have potential to think they’re going to make a playoff run give us their 20 25 draft pick and then something bad happens and they potentially get into the lottery and we snag that pick so I hope you enjoyed the episode like I said just me today uh shout out to Mike Richmond I know you’re the past first point guard but I had to say the shoot first so anyway we’re g take a quick break we’ll be right back with my Boston [Music] stuff all right welcome back back and we are going to lead off with the 2024 NBA champs the Boston Celtics they got it done last night they took down the Dallas Mavericks we’re recording this Wednesday so this happened earlier this week and it you know probably was inevitable I guess is one way to say it you know the Celtics um had the best record in the NBA arguably probably the best St unit plus one you know probably best six man unit and in the playoffs really it takes like seven players if you have a tight seven man rotation uh you probably going to have a pretty good chance to win an NBA title the downfall and like everyone is going to bring this up but it’s true is that they pretty much were gifted the a finals run right they didn’t really have to go through much in the Eastern Conference side they did they had tons of rest and they get to the finals against a Mavericks team that probably uh you know overperformed you know they’re a fifth seed uh of course they have Luca so you you know when you have one of the best players in the world you shouldn’t be surprised but honestly that’s not the team that Boston probably is scared of right there were other teams in the west that could have made it to the finals that would have given Boston a much better series and probably would have won and you probably take the Thunder are in that category for sure the nuggets are in that category I haven’t think a healthy clipper team probably beats the Celtics too and so you know they got the Mavericks who were on a big stage and maybe a few years too early so the Celtics get that done but of course getting through the East they had all the injuries that’s all been documented we don’t need to go through it but they had the Cakewalk and so it’s like it’s hard to judge this team right they got a title they won it it’s great maybe a little lucky and that’s okay I mean I I don’t you know people in Boston and fans of the Celtics probably don’t want to hear that that’s that’s probably what happened I I I like to compare this to the and this is a season uh that the that Blazers fans that we will remember because not for a good thing uh but it was the 2015 2014 2015 season right this was the year that the Golden State Warriors win their first title um but as we all remember the Blazers had a team right you had Batum Aldridge you had a Lillard a Damen Lillard you know going he’s he’s improving he’s getting better he’s getting better uh you know Robin Lopez right and then Wesley Matthews who was this like shutdown uh guard Defender could hit the three I mean we all love Wesley Matthews was like the heart and soul of that team right and we all remember awful injury he tears his Achilles he’s out we had made the trade for Aaron alalo that year right we we we kind of went all in on him to have a another shooting guard coming off the bench he now has to start so the season just spirals we play a Memphis team in that in that playoffs 2015 and and Mike Conley gets hurt right if you remember that in that series Mike Conley gets hurt we still lose to Memphis wasn’t even close it was like 4-1 well the Warriors mean meanwhile on their side of the bracket right they hit the the the Pelicans who have a young Drew holiday you know as their point guard Drew holiday misses a game in that that Series right so he’s not 100% and Golden State kind of gets a nice Cakewalk first round uh team in in in New Orleans so then they move on they end up playing Memphis without Mike Conley again no point guard to really pressure Curry they get through there they then play the Rockets who you know think what you want about Patrick Beverly but but but Patrick Beverly is going to play some defense right he at least would interrupt what Curry wanted to do Beverly misses that whole series against the Rockets so now you have the the Warriors who have made it to a finals really not getting tested at the point guard position and and tiring Curry and and putting him through screens and making him work I don’t think the Warriors make it through that Western Conference playoffs but they get to the finals they play LeBron what happens in Game one Kyrie Irving gets hurt and so there you go they don’t have to play up point guard the whole way through the Warriors get the title that year in 2015 probably lucky you know they do come back The Following season they set the regular season record they don’t win the title that year right they they set the record for wins they don’t win the title they get Durant the rest of history as we know but it it it really mirrors I think what Boston went through this season is they had this playoff run that was pretty fortunate uh for them and let’s see now what happens next season are they going to come back just as strong do they want to prove something uh what does that all end up looking like so I thought that was really interesting because that 2015 season uh I I I understand this is the Rip City Round table podcast and we’re pretty biased towards the Blazers but we probably win that title I’m just going to say it we probably win that title that year if Wesley doesn’t get hurt but so kudos to Boston they get the title probably a little bit of an asteris there on this one uh but they were a great team like I said the best six you know man unit that you could put out there uh you know Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown you know great great players all around had a great Supporting Cast uh was a really really well-built team and that’s what got them to win and so when you look at how this team got formed you know you have the Drew holiday and Derek white porzingis Al Horford these guys added uh through trades free agency yada yada uh but the two big draft picks right were Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum and so you look at how the Blazers have to build this it’s through the draft right it’s through the draft it’s always been that it’s always been through the draft Portland can’t get free ancients blah blah blah well as we get to this 2024 draft what’s it going to look like and so the best way to determine I mean you know people we’re talking at nauseum about this player that player who should we draft at seven who do we draft at 14 all these things well let’s go back right so so Joe Cronin you know the Portland General Manager he’s been with Portland for 17 years it’s it’s been a long time going on 18 Seasons you know started as an intern and worked his way up and so you could say well let’s go back to the beginning of his tenure as an intern that’s probably not fair but what we’re going to do is start at the 2020 draft he comes on in the interim in 21 takes over uh fully in 22 but I think 20 is interesting to 2020 because in 2019 that was you know our run to the Western Conference Finals of course we get sweep by Golden State but that was kind of like okay we can we win with Dame can we win with CJ if nurkic had been healthy what this or that do we get rid of aminu and harkless or what do we do here and so 20 is an interesting draft and we had tried the Blazers tried to go again kind of Allin and I don’t know if you remember but we trade for Robert Covington uh from the Rockets we gave him two first round picks which is just wild to me uh but one of them was the 2020 pick but ended up being Isaiah Stewart who is a great big man for Detroit uh you know has his little bit of trouble here and there but he’s a good player that would have been our draft pick at 16 in 2020 uh there really wasn’t tons of players after that maybe Tyrese Maxi and some in that other range but that would have been the 2020 pick so we Cronin didn’t even really get a shot at at making a draft because Neil decides let’s go Allin on Covington which at the time Robert Covington was somewhat of a great or good role player we’ll say but uh but two first rounders that’s brutal so then we go to 21 and this is when things kind of start to pick up here if you remember this is the draft with like Kade Cunningham comes out of this draft and so the Blazers go into this this was the season so we had traded this pick so not only did we trade our 2020 pick we traded our 2021 pick for that cut for Robert Covington so there’s no draft there we have no pick and that’s like it’s brutal like again Lillard’s probably just like at this point was just fuming right no help coming uh so we moved to 2022 and that’s where again we we have a draft pick here uh this is where things get real good for us right and this was the seventh pick in the draft we take the youngster out of Kentucky Shaden sharp didn’t get to play kind of unknown but Shaden has proven to be a hit here and I know we’re still waiting to see if Shaden can kind of take that next level but he was a hit this draft was kind of crazy as was a side note you know it went uh Pao number one Chad Jabari Keegan Murray Jaden Ivy Maan for the Pacers then sharp at seven you know so you know soan was ninth like this this so far this draft Jaylen Williams 12 to the Thunder has been pretty good so far we time will tell but so far kind of the top 12 picks have all pretty much been hits for the most part but we get started there uh with Shaden which was great that was a good pick for Cronin and then the steel right the steal of this one for the Blazers was at 57 in round two Jabari Walker and man if you’ve been watching the Blazers I know the season was rough but Jabari is emerging as that hustle guy grabbed the rebounds show his shown promise on on offense knocking down big free throws so Cronin huge huge uh check there in the 2022 draft proves that him and his staff can evaluate talent and really get two big hits there on Sharp and Jabari then okay we run into the 23 draft as we all know this was the season right we get the third pick what do we do with Dame right this this still should be very fresh in everybody’s mind as we all know we take scoot Henderson which you know the jury’s still out on scoot I know everyone wants to see more instantly but let’s give scoot some time so I’m still going to say this was a good draft for us I know we got to see what’s going to happen here um Chris Murray 23rd pick great great hit there I think Chris has a lot of potential and people were watching again this season as Chris was getting more confident more playing time that proves that I think that will be a hit too uh and then Ryan ruper in the second round at the 43rd pick uh again I think we’re all wanting to be pretty optimistic about this but ruper I think played very well too so you look at these past few drafts and I feel like you have to feel good where Joe Cronin and his staff are sitting right now right they’ve proven we’ve really had a bunch of hits here the 21 draft they didn’t have a shot right there were there were no there were no picks for us right and he was still an interim GM so if you have a small sample size which is what we have so I get it but I think we’re we feel good going into a draft with the seventh pick and the 14th pick in a draft where there is tons of variety everyone can go one to 19 it’s all over the place you got to have a staff uh and a general manager an organization that can feel confident with evaluating talent cuz the organization that can evaluate talent here when the pick isn’t obvious that’s going to be the team that comes out of this 2024 draft feeling really good about themselves but then of course that leads now to next year right I’m already jumping next year and I think it’s important because what the Blazers have to do to position themselves for a high draft pick next season which is part of this rebuild is we have to trade players most notably ones that are uh making a lot of money and get a lot of playing time and don’t need to be on our team quite honestly they they could be affecting other teams and so I’m going to give you four trades okay I hopped in the trade machine shout out to uh Adrien he loves to hop in the trade machine so I hopped in the trade machine too and I got I got four trades for us okay these are four different teams with the whole premise of this being let’s find a high draft pick in 2025 so as we’re going through this don’t think oh man we’re not getting anybody for what’s what are we doing here Cory you know what you’re doing the premise let’s get as many swings at 25 as possible okay so this first one this is a goodie New Jersey Nets New Jersey Nets what year is this the Brooklyn Nets where am I we’re trading with the Brooklyn Nets and let’s take on Ben Simmons baby let’s take Ben his big salary we’ll take Jaylen Wilson as well he’s an rookie playing he played well he potential let’s say and the 2025 first rounder and a 2027 first rounder for Jeremy Grant and Ashton Hagins come on they got it the Nets take that Ben Simmons isn’t doing nothing they had Grant who knows I mean you got Mel Bridges you got Grant you got cam Johnson maybe the maybe the Nets feel like they can make a run I don’t know but that maybe that team uh uh feels like we add another piece they’re in the playoffs but it’s also like Mel Bridges gets hurt man that team could end up in the lottery again and guess what now Portland has their pick maybe it ends up number one there we go so that’s the point of the exercise okay it has to be the perfect team that feels like with a trade for a Jeremy Grant that they can make a playoff push but if something were to go bad for them right back in the lottery and we got their first round pick okay and then Ben Simmons who knows man change of scenery maybe he likes Portland I don’t know you know we know there’s Talent there but even if not we we want that 2025 first round pick all right moving on the New Orleans Pelicans that’s our next Target here my proposal okay is trading the Pelicans Malcolm Brogden and I know this one’s going to hurt because we all love him but dap wath to the Pelicans for Larry Nance Jr let’s bring Larry back in the fold and then of course their 2025 first round pick and then 2027 first round pick from Milwaukee maybe that’s a bad maybe Milwaukee’s bad in that year so let’s get two first rounders I think Malcolm Brogden can get two first rounders you put Malcolm on the on the Pelicans now you got CJ you got Zion you got valent chunes you got Ingram I think that’s a team right there that could easily make a run for a top four seed in the west get Brogden but then it’s like well you got Zion he probably could get hurt you got Ingram he already got hurt this year CJ he’s starting to break down a little bit so that pick and then they end up in the lottery that could be number one that could be number one so you know I don’t know that that’s another team the Pelicans second or I’m sorry third team uh this one has been talked about so I’m kind of piggybacking off of this and I don’t know if we could get all this but it’s with Memphis we’re trading him Robert Williams now we probably got to wait till the season starts because we got to prove that Robert’s healthy but Robert Williams we trade for Z Williams and then the 2025 first round pick for Memphis Memphis is probably due for a bounceback season so this probably wouldn’t net us any chance to get in the lottery but with jaw who knows I mean you don’t know like Jaw could be fine one day not fine the other day so you know we’re taking swings right so let’s take a swing and if jaw goes a little off thewall and then maybe jiren Jackson Jr gets hurt boom Memphis is back in the lottery again if they get the number one pick we get that pick so that was my third one and then fourth one this is a goodie because this would be just awesome if this ended up happening is the LA Lakers surprisingly have held on to their 2025 first round pick as as surprising as that sounds they have it so so we trade a Malcolm Brogden you put Brogden with LeBron Anthony Davis that team could make a run that team could be top four in the west easy easy easy easy so we’re getting back ruie haimura you know ru’s up and down they could replace ruie and then torian Prince some length there at the at the small forward position they could replace that they get a buy out that’s the Lakers they figure it out and then the 2025 first round pick because the Lakers I mean again if they had Brogden they they might be a favorite in the west or they’re one injury away or two injuries away for boom instantly back in the lottery again so these are teams that I believe feel like they’re one player away from maybe not contention but from being home getting home court advantage and you saw Dallas fifth seed makes the finals so I think we put the bait out there for some of our players but if it doesn’t pan out well then they’re back in the lottery and guess who has their pick Portland does so and you know what you know I know Brogden and Jeremy Grant and Robert Williams like these were three different trades we could we could swing at this three times just just do this with a couple different teams you know I didn’t even put Simons in there so you know take swings at 25 this is rebuild rebuild one more rebuild we can do it Rip City we can do it one more rebuild season let’s start trading these guys away and see if we can get some picks in 2025 I’m all about how many swings at the plate can we get so that’s my trade machine that’s our feeling good about our draft history that’s my take on Boston these are all things that uh I I I we have to cling on we have to hold on to these to the positives as we go through this offseason as we get ready for the draft so I hope you enjoyed it if you thought I was crazy hit me up hit me in the comments let us know if you thought I was spot on let us know too so anyway I hope yall enjoyed this episode I’m sorry you had to put up with just me today uh but I thought maybe this is some good nuggets for you so enjoy the rest of your week and remember it is a great day to be a blazer [Music]
In Episode 17, I am flying solo on the podcast! Did the Celtics get lucky on their run to the 2024 NBA Championship? Can the Trail Blazers copy the Boston blueprint? I also take a look back at past drafts to see how Joe Cronin has done as well as give you 4 trades that will help the Blazers in the 2025 NBA draft. Enjoy the episode!
