With the NBA trade deadline
just a few days away,
we have to check in with Danny Meringue.
He's been on the Blazers beat
all season and is plugged in.
So, Danny, do you think the Blazers
make a move by Thursday at noon?
Yeah, uh, dusty and I are gonna
hop on air right at noon,
and I'm have a reeling suspicion we'll have
more than a couple things to talk about.
If we had a, if we had a,
you know, an over undergoing,
I would probably say.
1 1/2 is the easy line to beat.
I think at least two guys get moved,
probably 3 depending on how
the money would work out.
But just from what I've heard it,
it does sound like what is
definitely going to be active in
the trade market and rightfully so.
That's pretty big. If that does happen,
all things considered with this team,
but I want to take a big picture
look at things and what do you
think this team needs? They need
to get bigger if if anything is you've
noticed over the last couple of weeks with
use of Narcan and out of the lineup and just.
Things that have kind of led to one thing
or another with them even downsizing,
they need to get more length on the floor.
That's really athletic.
They've gone beyond what they were a
couple of years ago playing slower.
They want to be more athletic,
they want to be more uptempo,
they want to be more aggressive defensively.
Yusuf norkis just really
doesn't fit that profile.
As much as Josh Hart does
kind of fit that profile,
they're playing him out of position.
Jeremy Grant is definitely one of
those guys who can take a look
at who they drafted this year
and shading sharp and Jabari.
Walker, both guys who were tall, long,
athletic and leaning towards that
side of the of the sliding scale,
if you will.
They've done a relatively well for
the most part when they haven't
had an arch on the floor.
There's definitely a stylistic change.
So I think for them they it's,
it's the tangible things of
size and athleticism.
But they also need an edge.
They really don't have an emotional leader.
There's no Wes Matthews on this team.
There's no real dog.
Per say,
outside of Josh Hart,
who kind of wears his emotions on his sleeve,
but I think they need that in
a little bit more size.
As you've seen from some of the
more physical teams in the NBA,
they've been able to kind of dictate
to Portland some of their terms and
they need to be able to to counteract
that with their own level of
physicality and their own level size.
All right, Danny, let's dive in,
let's talk targets. What do you
think this team is looking for?
Ohh Shams terrania.
Uh mentioned it last week.
I believe it was midweek that Portland was
in pursuit of Jared Vanderbilt in Utah.
6 foot, 86 foot nine,
£225 preternaturally gifted
playmaking defender for the Utah Jazz,
formerly for the Minnesota
Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.
I got to cover him when he was
coming out of high school at the
2018 Hoop Summit and he displayed
stuff that you do was going to
have him in the NBA right away.
Funny enough he was also in the
same group with Gary Trent Junior,
another guy that stood out that hoop summit.
But Vando is a kind of guy who I think
that really makes a lot of sense.
Allows Portland,
even though he's not A7 footer.
He allows them to play that more
aggressive athletic style attacking,
defensive, Chauncey.
Phillips seems to favor or his
leaned on at times through banks
or when they've gone to justice
Winslow or even Trenton Watford
lately at the center position.
And I think he allows them
to be more switchable,
more aggressive with their with their
coverage schemes defensively and just
kind of get out in the open court.
I think that's a guy you
could really lean on.
There's names in the center market.
Obama from Orlando.
Nerlens Noel from Detroit.
Anybody who you see is kind of a backup
big that's been kind of on the market.
Portland's been linked to
one way or the other another.
Another name I should say to watch.
The Phoenix Suns were active in trying
to pursue for Kyrie Irving before he
was just traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
They were willing to include
both Chris Paul and Jay Crowder.
Jay Crowder is a guy I think that
Portland will probably be probably
be looking at 66. Real tough.
Hard nosed goes by Boss Man 99.
That's his nickname.
Plays with a real edge.
A championship caliber wing defender
could be bring a level of toughness.
I think those are kind of the
names that you're,
you're looking at.
It's very much the same archetype
type of players across the board,
just at various positions.
Should Trail Blazers fans be
excited about this, Danny?
Does this move the needle enough?
How do we gauge the excitement
on those type of names and how
do they make this team better?
Yeah, I don't think
it's one of those things necessarily
moving around the deck chairs.
I think general manager Joe Cronin
wanted to see how certain guys played
alongside Damian alert and make
the evaluation process from there.
After last season,
when they won't say it publicly,
they tanked to get a draft pick that
turned out to be shaded and sharp.
They moved on from CJ McCullum.
They moved on from Robert
Covington and Norman Powell.
They wanted to reshape the roster,
but they didn't know how anybody would look.
Playing alongside Damian Lillard.
Now, a couple of months under their belt,
they kind of know what they are
and what they need to address.
They knew kind of coming into the season
they need to get bigger and now that it's.
Ever. Most ever more so evident.
And that's really the thing I think
they're going to prioritize is that.
They get more.
I don't know, uh,
fungible size on the floor at any given time,
and I think that's kind of the
way that they're going to go.
And while it may not be this thing
that everybody's super excited about,
there's been so many games this year where
this team has blown 10 plus point leads.
They lead the NBA with 1110 points,
10 plus point leads blown,
including that awful 25 point lead
they that they blew to the Los
Angeles Lakers just a few weeks ago.
You flip four or five games on its head.
This is a team that's probably third
or fourth in the NBA right now,
actually.
Western Conference,
and that's no small feat considering
how wide open the West is right now.
And I think it's something
that Portland should be.
Portland fans should be excited about
in the sense of that probably gets them
back where they thought they would be,
which is in that five through
75 through eight level.
Maybe not a title contender,
but it's one step closer.
Joe Cronin has always said that
he wanted 18 months on the job to
kind of cycle through and get all
their available exceptions and
make the moves necessary and if
they make some necessary moves,
that balance.
Let the roster get them longer,
fit more what they're trying to
accomplish alongside Damian Lillard,
who's literally on the
best plane of his ever,
his existence in the NBA
for the last 45 days,
you can start to see things kind of
change and head towards the direction
that they're hoping that that will
turn into the next iteration of
Trail Blazers playoff basketball.
All right, Danny,
So what are some of those hurdles?
To get to that point,
what type of assets do the
Blazers have to work with?
And that's The thing is what they come
away with, what this trade deadline,
how, how impactful do they,
if they move on from Josh Hart,
do they get a first round pick and return?
Because one of the things that's
inhibiting them right now is that a
previous trade that acquired Larry *****
junior from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Prohibits the Portland Trail Blazers?
Well, I should say Gotler and his junior,
but a first round pick was
sent to the Chicago Bulls.
That that pick has some
rather deep protections on it,
and for those that don't go to in the weeds,
it essentially means that if
the Blazers make the playoffs,
they will convey the pick.
If they don't, it's protected
out into perpetuity until 2028.
So the Blazers, in essence,
can't trade any of their future
draft picks until that pick conveys.
And so they have got to kind of figure
out which way they're going to go
with that which making the playoffs.
Would kind of solve that situation
for them and whether or not they
they are gonna make a move,
a big type swing with a young Anthony
Simons or shade and sharp combinations
of both or potentially some guys that
they have on the roster right now like
Naseer Little or Gary Payton the second,
plus one of the other younger guys
for another type of big swing.
There's way too many directions
they can go and this deadline is
kind of gathering those assets up
and understanding who's where and
what as they head into the summer
because that's typically where the
big time transactions take place.
Even though we just saw Kyrie
Irving traded just a few hours ago,
right? So there's a lot of overarching
themes that that could take place,
not just between now and Thursday,
but heading into the offseason
when Joe Cronin really has an
idea of what he has to work with.
Because as you mentioned,
having that first round draft
pick locked up like that,
that really prohibits what you can do.
Yeah, it really does. That's the thing.
If you even look at the Kyrie Irving trade,
even though the Dallas Mavericks
didn't have a ton of capital,
they did trade a 2029 unprotected first,
that is. You don't see that very often.
I believe, if I'm remembering correctly,
the pick that turned into Damian
Lillard when the Blazers traded
Gerald Wallace to the Brooklyn Nets.
I believe that was top three protected.
But because the pick landed
outside of the top three,
the Blazers were able to get that
pick and it turned into a number
six overall pick and Damian Lord.
So you have to be very careful
when trading unprotected picks,
and you have to be very certain that
things are going to go your way.
Otherwise you hand A-Team an opportunity,
which, hilariously enough, they pick.
That became Kyrie Irving.
Was traded by Neil Olshey,
the former Blazers general manager,
when he was with the Clippers that became
the number one overall pick in Kyrie Irving.
It all ties together.
He is Danny meringue.
You can catch him on the radio 1080 the
fan 1/2 of the Danny and Dusty show.
And of course as Danny mentioned,
he's part of the Jack Ramsey's podcast.
Make sure to check him out.
Appreciate you rocking with us Danny.
Anytime brother. Take care.