THE Portland Trail Blazers Draft Recap with Steve Dewald

THE Portland Trail Blazers Draft Recap with Steve Dewald

[Music] all right Rip City we are back at the Rip City Round Table podcast I’m at the round table I’m not by myself this time though I have a guest the Steve dewald he covers everything NBA draft for the Blazers he’s been writing profiles for the last few months he’s been guiding us to this day and now let’s see what he has to say and I rhymed there I didn’t mean to do that we’re so pumped for this episode I know you know Blazer fans the season was rough and uh we were just trying to get to this draft so now we’re at the draft let’s recap it uh honestly I think we did pretty well I think I think the Blazers come out of this smelling a little bit like roses there uh you know the draft class wasn’t you know highly touted there’s no Victor wiama here but for the moves that Portland had in front of them to make I think they did the best they could lemon out of lemonade from lemons I don’t know all the all the metaphors you want you can use here in a positive way but we’re just excited I’m glad it’s wrapped up we we’re recording this as the second round is finishing so Steve uh gives his insights on on what we did in the second round or maybe what we didn’t but it might have been a positive thing so we like that so anyway don’t go anywhere we’re going to take a very quick break and then we’ll be right back with Steve dewald on the Rip City Roundtable [Music] podcast all right we are back from break we’re here with the Steve dewald he said no to ESPN NBC CBS all his appearances requests but he’s here with the Rip City Round Table podcast Steve how are you doing man you made it through day one and day two of the draft no No Place I’d Rather Be than on this podcast so I’m happy we finally made it work um I do have a bone to pick with my actual 9o5 job of scheduling like a crazy work week and me having to make multiple flights all week and try to follow this but um I couldn’t be happier like I really uh not not to jump too far into this yet no get us in there man let’s talk through it I I really felt the likelihood and you could tell by my previous appearances the likelihood that I was going to be happy with anything that happened in this draft was pretty low I had extremely low expectations um sitting here today as the second round closes um I couldn’t be happier with what the Blazers did in the last two days I think they uh addressed a position of need they got a player that has proven skills that should translate um and Donovan kingan and they got maybe the best contract in the NBA in Denny Adia and so well let’s let’s excited let’s dive into the trade because that happened what like and correct me if I’m wrong it was like an hour before the draft started or something like that yeah it was an hour or two before the draft hour before the okay so then you see what did you see first did you see Blazers make a trade did you see Malcolm Brogden is traded did you see for like what what was the first part of that and then give me your initial thoughts on it so I have been a Denny ABIA guy since before he entered the NBA so I had friends messaging me about the trade that that was where I went I saw it was Denny first okay and then backtrack from there okay um always been an advocate for his game now granted he’s be he’s a little different player than I thought he was going to be coming into the league but he’s starting to show a lot of the things that I thought he was going to do okay um as a pick give us a little background on on on him because to be honest I was like I know the name you know not tracking much Wizards basketball but I I knew the name you know some Bill Simmons some of these other big um Outlets you know have talked about him in the season he had this year tell us as Blazers fans like give us some insight on him as a player what what maybe he was as a prospect and now what he’s turned into so coming into the league extremely young and just to kind of put this in context he’s been in the league for multiple years now he’s younger than Chris Murray who was the first round pick by the Blazers last last year so um just to put it in context of when he was coming into the league um was a super young player playing in a very competitive um the Israeli League um Quality play they play in Euro league um just look like a really competent two-way player um plays offense defense plays hard but also there there was a lot of potential his ceiling was really tied to his potential becoming a a facilitator at the next level almost like a almost the same billing as a watered down Luca um he hasn’t quite been that but last year we’re talking about um setting career best in assist rates um his usage goes up in those categories well as turnovers don’t jump way up so he’s he’s adjusted to that output um his three-point shooting was great last year comparatively to where he’s been I still want to see him do it another year to see make sure it’s not an outlier year so he went from around 30 % actually below 30% last year or two years ago um last year at 37% so it’d be nice if that sticks right in that 37 to 40 range but really the the thing here is he is still extremely young 23 years old um younger than a couple players that got drafted in the last two days um and just really there’s team-friendly contracts and then there’s like further down the Spectrum what this contract is for Denny and and really a descending contract where in in the final year you’re at 11 12 million and this cap is going to go up and up and up you’re talking about someone who is going into his Prime at that point and is going to be on a very cap friendly deal now that might complicate things if you know he wants to stay in Portland beyond that sure because that you get into that weird situation with his bird rights but if they don’t if they decide to move off him and he’s playing well he’s going to be a very valuable trade piece and by then hopefully know you know what type of players you want to Target hopefully you know what what scoot is what Shaden is and then hopefully you know we get we get something really awesome in the 2025 draft no kidding man that’s great I mean it’s like how how often like you said you got a guy that’s been in the NBA like four three or four seasons right but he’s younger than some of these draft picks we had this year like there were rookies like that’s unheard of and then the descending contract I I know you probably don’t know off the top of your head but it’s like how many of those are in the NBA it’s like they always go up why this one’s going down that’s crazy yeah you I mean you think back to what type of flexibility and I granted the end of his tenure in Portland um kind of soured his overall standing but aluk aminu was on a similar deal too where it was flat Andor descending yeah and and that really afforded the Blazers to make make some moves granted they they might not have spent money in the in the best ways but we don’t need to go back to that summer but um it does it does it does afford the Blazers a lot of flexibility here and yes I know there is push back on some sticker shock of what the Blazers gave up but I was never fully convinced that malcol Brogden was this really valuable trade piece um yeah I thought the Blazers were gonna have to hold on to him until the deadline and then you run a whole risk of of injury and what could happen there but I just don’t think there were teams lining up to give a first round pick out saying hey we’re a Malcolm Brogden away from contention in the summer he’s more someone you add later on to augment your roster so yeah I I’m totally fine with with the trade package and really it’s two things they don’t commit any more money than they have to to lottery picks in this draft um you know how I feel about this draft class yes um and then also getting one of the best contracts in the NBA and still getting a 20 2 3y old player in the process that finished Sixth and most improved uh Player of the Year voting last year um really has uh has come into his own and I think he is someone who’s on the Ascension and really the Blazers have size and multiple positions now this is a polar opposite roster construction of what we were looking at four years ago sure I if we had to get and I know you know I think you and I are both on the as many people are like the let’s just tank one more year let’s do that but I have to like ask you if if what is your ideal starting lineup here with uh ADV like do you you know you you have your guards you have this guy now that that is like what a stretch four is is he the starting power forward on the Blazers what what would it look like so he so Denny’s mainly played small forward in his career he he did last year his closest split of 5050 between small forward and power forward it’s about 6040 but um I think he is a small forward at the next level I really do think the Blazers probably have one or two more veterans they’ll probably trade this summer it just feels that way um I I would say my ideal starting lineup would be one that has Denny in it mainly because you want to see what he does next to the people you’re building around also I think he covers up a lot of defensive deficiencies then also I think he takes pressure off of scoot Henderson as a facilitator you’re talking about a player who averaged around four assists last year um that can make everybody’s life easier when he’s on the floor yeah um but if if this team I have reservations about them trying to win this season but if they were really trying to win a game yeah I would say having Jeremy Grant and Denny Advia in the starting lineup is really interesting like that’s that looks like a competitive team if you have the right star around it because those are guys that can switch onto multiple positions and they can do they can get their own shot on offense or create a shot for someone else yeah so um really interesting pairing there yeah um we’ll see if Jeremy Grant is around long enough for it to make sense sure I know I was like uh you know I’m like seeing this starting lineup and it’s like now you have the scoot Shaden um sharp however you want to move the pieces then you have Advia you have Grant Aon and then you have this bench of like tumani and Walker maybe if Robert’s healthy you got klling in and then you have one of those three guards now coming off the I mean I’m I’m not getting excited we need to tank one more year but oh Steve it kind of it looks good it looks no you can you could talk yourself into this team if it getting he like getting healthy staying healthy not shutting anyone down and being a team that could compete ahead of schedule and when I say compete ahead of schedule this could be a team that could be buying for a playin spot there their learning curve for scoot Henderson is still pretty steep um Donovan kingan I think is yes he’s got stuff that’s going to translate to the NBA but the learning curve is there for those Bigs like they they are big guys like that are typically foul magnets yes um when they come into the league so I I don’t have huge expectations for production of him but if everybody like the center rotation for the Blazers I said in my article last night I think you could put their Center rotation up against any Center rotation in the league and I think they probably have the deepest with with d breath with with Time Lord with uh kinging now and then starting yeah it’s versatile it’s like that you got any piece you want whatever style of basketball you want to play you have a center that can go out there and hang with them so let’s let’s move into that that’s a great transition point there Steve it’s like you’re you know professional podcaster or something uh uh we so kingan just keeps dropping right first pick second pick third pick what what is your mindset at like the let’s say the fourth pick what was it re no it was a castle and then you get the fifth when did you start thinking oh man we might get cling in here at the seventh pick when it got to six is when I was like no matter what they’re going to get kingan or Cody Williams yeah two players I was very okay with the Blazers getting um I really thought just the buzz coming into the draft that I thought the Grizzlies were going to get ahead of the Blazers in the process to go get kingan yeah um and there was a little bit of a scare when when the Hornets got there and it sound like they were Fielding phone calls but I think when when it got past Houston that was the one I was wondering if would would Houston trade out or would Houston just take Donovan Kayan I think when it got past Houston that’s when I was like there’s a real possibility that the Blazers can just stand pad at number seven and get a player that I think it became pretty clear that they were gonna take a center I think that’s uh you know we heard a lot about Zack Edy we heard a lot about Donovan kingan and I think it was very clear they’re gonna take a big man there and it was awesome that they didn’t have to give up anything else to to move up to take him yeah no I think that that was big I know Memphis lurking there and then ends up getting like Zach Edy who you know I know we were looking at and I think some people think oh is that a reach or not but you know that’s what they were looking for I still like I’m still hoping I don’t know what pieces we would even get and I know a healthy Rob Williams I’ll take it but I just have to assume he’s not going to be healthy and I was like well Memphis would be a decent trade partner there you know but um but anyway I was glad we got Donovan I think that that’s a guy again in a draft that’s kind of all over the place who knows where these players are going to land you know in the next two or three years or what their progress will be but I mean that’s a guy that’s a winner he’s he’s huge it seems like he has good touch and he can he can anchor the defense so it’s like I don’t know man I feel like we did well and and just even responses too I know reading Twitter and other outlets I mean I feel like it’s overall pretty positive a lot of you know not that it matters Steve but it’s like that is kind of nice it’s validation somewhat yeah I I I mean I will always say there there’s always a segment of the Blazer fan base that loves to be miserable so like there’s always going to be those people yeah where the sky falling but I think overall I think both moves the Blazers made yesterday were or on the day one of the draft were were received positively and rightfully so I mean for cling in like I’ve mentioned earlier is he has skills that absolutely translate to the NBA rebounding trans Ates shot blocking in the way that he does it translates now yes there’s questions about his game I’m still curious if he can Thrive outside of drop coverage in the NBA I don’t know if he’s a guy who can step out there’s some pundits who think he can um I haven’t seen that film enough um from my research but um there’s a lot to like there and I think in a draft class where there’s a lot of players that I couldn’t point to one skill yet that said hey this person’s going to be able to do this in the NBA you know really a lot of The Upside for a lot of these players even early in this draft was purely theoretical like there’s nothing theoretical about Donovan kingan’s size his rebounding or his shot blocking I mean it’s there for sure yeah wingspan is is not theoretical we can measure that so yeah I think if he can survive in space in a in a pick and roll defense I think that he he’s golden like you know he’s he can playmake a little little bit too and those things but that will be the test if if he is just getting abused in pick and rolls over and over again and as a rookie it’s going to happen but um but yeah he’s gonna get tested but also too I think understated here is uh I’ve mentioned it a couple times but he is a point guard’s best friend I mean he is a big time roll guy um great hands I I still quite haven’t figured out how his soft hands don’t translate to better shooting but yeah but we’ll cross that bridge get there but you know like you said he’s good passer uh can control the ball in traffic like he is going to be a huge asset for Scoot and pick and roll situations like both those guys getting downhill that’s a lot of athleticism a lot of BigTime finishing Above the Rim for both of those players like it should be fun to watch 100 perc yeah it will it will be fun to watch uh were were you okay with us trading you know part of the deal with Brogden was trading the 14th pick I I know you know as we’re leading up to the draft and it’s always like okayy who we take at seven and who we take at 14 and seven and 14 14 were you okay with us not I I I know I know you like we got to dump the salaries but you genuinely were okay with that no I mean I mean jumping the salary and the veterans thing I knew that was going to get worked out whether it was this summer or if it’s going to be at the deadline and I still think there’s moves to make there my big concern was I did not want to live in a world I did did not want them to take both those players I I did not want them to commit cap to this class I think it was uh I think they executed it perfectly I mean as the second round comes to an end they didn’t use any of the second round picks they picked up three first rounders and some cash which I don’t care about cash but you know three additional first rounders later years from the Knicks um only took one player from this class which I think is perfect I I wanted as little exposure to this draft class as possible um and the Blazers executed it perfectly um and the player they did come away with again beating the drum proven skills proven winner um a safe bet at a position of need for them yeah um you know as we’re recording like you said they’re wrapping up the second round now uh were you bummed we didn’t draft bronny James are you are you bum Steve I’m so happy it’s just going to be over like it’s uh it’s it’s awkward and like I get it like he is LeBron James son and there was there was a time where he had a bit little bit more of a prospect profile yeah but like I’m just ready for it to kind of disappear from the conversation so I I I am happy it’s over I was interested to see if there was going to be a team that would draft him and kind of hold him hostage but it just didn’t happen I was I was rooting for it I I just was hoping come on just one team let’s do it you know because I’m sure Rob pinka was just giving calls every round being like if you do this you or else kind of thing Rich Paul was well I mean I think the the the fellas at clutch did not want to make this awkward no and they were prepared to make other teams lives awkward if they did take him no kidding do you think uh and I don’t want to spend too much time on it but like let’s say you know they’ll they’ll of course they’ll play bronny in game one and it’ll be nationally televised and they’ll make a big think of stink of it do you think eventually just like he’ll just be on the g-league affiliate for the Lakers that’s kind of where Brony will live for probably a year or so I I don’t know I mean I think that probably depends on on where LeBron thinks about what he thinks about the situation you know he wanted to play with his son I don’t know if his idea of playing with the son just means they’re on the team together and he’s at the in you know South Bay Lakers the whole time yeah um but I think there is a huge opportunity for bronny to develop in the G league and I also think there is a revenue stream there for the entire G league if he’s there so I would expect him to see some time there but I think he’s I I think LeBron’s gonna probably exercise some of his power here and make sure he’s uh on the roster with him I’m I I fully agree I think that’s gonna happen yeah but I mean hand fruit Nation when when the South Bay Lakers come to rip city re remix man it’s it’s gonna be wild in there so yeah oh okay Steve so you you have to give a grade right now and you have to tell me why you gave that grade so but you have to include not just like okay we we drafted clinging at seven that’s great but you got to in include the trade you got to include getting out of the second round picks all of it put together what’s the grade Steve and why so last night after day one was a a B+ for me and I just felt like you can’t give an a to anybody in this draft class so they did everything right yeah I think by not taking any more players in the second round I think it’s enough for me to like push it to an A minus oh we got an A minus so I think I think getting Donovan kingan I think is is a a palatable Prospect uh for me in this class um I think acquiring Denny at his contract uh is a master class like I don’t think people really understand how valuable that’s going to be whether it’s him being valuable as a player for the Blazers or being extremely valuable as a trade piece later um so just excellent move there and then not backing yourself into a second round pick when you’re already facing a roster crunch I would imagine they’ll probably be active with two-way contracts and inviting people to the G league and to their summer league team um so I think the next hour or two is probably going to be pretty busy okay but um I I was really impressed with with with what they did in the last couple days and again I don’t know if it’s because my expectations were so low but I did not expect to come away from this process happy with how things went so I I am I am happy a a minus yeah well I think Joe has shown Joe Cronin the general manager kind of this this attribute of patience has been interesting by him in a good way because you know you you wait out the the Lillard The Saga of last summer and then you get into this having the seventh pick you kind of probably could have gotten a little gun shy or jumpy maybe and then you know oh someone’s going to jump ahead of us what do we do and then just really like standing Pat and then the player you probably were targeting the whole time Falls to you anyway so I think you know do you think Joe Cronin like have these been just kind of uh I don’t want to say lucky swings but I mean do you do you think this guy really has the chops like is is he does he have a blueprint for this or should Portland fans Rip City fans be like thrilled that he’s the general manager we’ll see I’m I’m open-ended on this so I think he’s doing the right things but I want to see one what what the coaching staff looks like going forward and then two for me beating that drum again is the most important thing this team can do for its rebuild is to get one of the three to six players in the 2025 draft get one of those guys that can absolutely has the upside to change the face of your franchise yeah and I would I’m hoping he if he’s playing the patient game and has foresight here hopefully that is the plan for the organization but yeah my my nightmare is that they try to Cobble together something to make an e seed this year and then they don’t get you know a top five pick this next year but yeah I think Joe Cronin has done a good job of cing like you mention just kind of shutting out that noise and continuing make the moves he believes in yeah and we’ll we’ll see what that looks like the rest of the summer but I think overall I think the organization itself has some big like some changes it needs to make whether it’s the coaching staff whether it’s ownership and what that will look like but I think Joe cronin’s made a a decent case that he can handle captaining the ship in Stormy Waters okay um I’ll leave you with that I want your take uh odds what do you think the odds are that the Blazers win the Summer League Championship Steve and and I okay we got scoot kingan Chris Murray’s on the team probably Ryan ruper probably tumani I I doubt Jabar maybe Jabari I don’t like that’s a squad Steve for a summer league title which is you know Portland we’ve done this before so what do you think you think good odds or bad odds I would be shocked if scoop plays a lot in summer league league and really it’s it’s about guards in summer league it’s about having that primary score there because it’s a lot of line drives to the basket and some ugly basketball in summer league I love it but it’s ugly um I think they I mean obviously I think they have a chance just because they’ve selected so high in the drafts yeah uh recently so th those teams usually are are fairly competitive but um there’s going to be some teams here that are going to make some noise too I I think the Timberwolves uh by getting uh uh Dillingham I think they’re going to be tough I think Reed Shepard’s gonna have a great summer league um there’s going to be some teams that are going to be really tough and and with those guards that can kind of do it all themselves those guys typically are are the ones who really make noise in summer league okay all right you heard it here yeah and I think yeah if scoot’s not playing then I take it back we probably so I’m with you they probably hold he played what one Summer League game last time or two yeah well he got he got hurt like four 14 15 minutes into the first game so yeah so so probably shutting them down okay well Steve so again our listeners we can catch you you’re riding on Blazer’s Edge you you you great great profiles leading up to the draft that that was amazing so you want to go know what Steve thought about kinging go back and look he did a profile on him and then we get to check out your coverage do you have anything like wrapping up the second round you got coming out I’ll probably see just who they bring in um and who they signed to kind of these contracts in summer league invites and see what that looks like see if it if it warrants something like that I I would like to um I’m I’m traveling to go watch Team USA play the final game in the Copa America so that’s going to cut into kind of my timing on what what I want to write here yeah but um would like to just introduce the the 2025 draft class uh through Blazer’s Edge um usually that’s you know after the dust settles there’s those way too early mock drafts that come out and that’s always kind of one of my favorite things and I think this year is going to be off the charts interest in the draft oh huge man I can’t wait for that to drop when you drop that we’ll definitely promote it I want to know I want to know what you thought perfect that that’s my goal that’s kind of the one that’s really I’ve been thinking about for a month and a half of that’s kind of the direction I want to go yeah cool well Steve we appreciate the time go rout on Team USA let’s get it done and uh we appreciate all the draft coverage and we get excited we’ll get excited for 2025 here we go thanks Cy no problem Steve see [Music] you we our Rogue Media Sports

In Episode 18, Portland Trail Blazers draft guru Steve Dewald stops by the show to breakdown the big trade, Donovan Clingan falling into the Blazers lap at the #7 pick, and what trading away the #14 pick and both second round selections actually meant for the team. You will not want to miss this episode!