Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups is thrilled about the team’s acquisition of Deandre Ayton and believes the former No. 1 overall pick will benefit from a change of scenery, he said on Monday, per Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Twitter link).
“I always have a unique perspective because of my playing career,” said Billups, who played for four teams in his first five NBA seasons before finding a long-term home in Detroit. “Sometimes it’s just time for a change. I think that was probably what happened with him (in Phoenix). For me, I’m really excited about DA. He’s already a top-five center in the league and there are so many levels he can get to. We’ve got to help him reach his potential. That’s my responsibility as a coach.”
As Vincent Goodwill writes for Yahoo Sports, the Trail Blazers believe Ayton still has a ton of potential and view him as a talented offensive player capable of playing winning basketball.
The 25-year-old appears to be just as excited about his new home as Portland is to acquire him, according to Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. As Fentress writes, in a social media video of Ayton’s first visit to the Blazers’ facility after the trade, the big man said he was “so glad to be here,” adding that he feels like he “just got drafted.”
“I’m at an organization that wants me and wants me to succeed,” Ayton said on media day on Monday, per Fentress (Twitter link). “So, there’s a lot more passion when you feel that mentally and you know you’ve seen that physically as well. So, there’ll be a lot more grit and a lot more domination.”
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- A report in the wake of the Damian Lillard trade suggested that the star guard – realizing he likely wouldn’t end up in Miami – asked general manager Joe Cronin last month if he could withdraw his trade request and return to Portland, and Cronin told him no. Asked today about that claim, Cronin offered his version of events: “I told him I personally thought it was a bad idea. The trade request had not been rescinded” (Twitter link via Highkin).
- After trading away Lillard and Jrue Holiday, the Blazers don’t sound like they’re rushing back to the market to move Malcolm Brogdon. “We want to have Malcolm come here and be a part of this,” Cronin said on Monday, per Highkin (Twitter link). “He can bring some good on-court intangibles for us and also as a veteran, which is something we’re going to need. We have a very young roster. I want to make sure there’s enough veteran leadership around these guys.”
- Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype listed a handful of potential trade partners for the Trail Blazers if they do decide to deal Brogdon.
- Veteran Blazers forward Jerami Grant, who signed a new five-year, $160MM contract with the club in July, admitted it was “definitely a shock” to realize he won’t be playing with Lillard going forward but said that it’s “part of the business” and that he’s comfortable moving forward with the current group. “Joe and (Blazers owner) Jody (Allen) have been doing a great job,” Grant said (Twitter link via Highkin). “I’m fine.”
- With Lillard gone, there may be an opening for young wing Shaedon Sharpe to move into the Blazers’ starting lineup, but he said on Monday that he’s not worried about whether he starts or whether he ends up playing at the two or three, according to Highkin (Twitter links). “It doesn’t really matter to me, for real,” he said. Sharpe also told reporters that he expects to play for Team Canada in the 2024 Olympics.
They will be better off with out Dame. Damtime most overrated player this side of James Harden
I agree, Lillard hasn’t ever made it deep in the playoffs while harden has at least went far and failed multiple times.
Cronin has the right idea with Brogdon, he’s almost certainly worth more as a veteran leader on POR than he would be in a trade. But Brogdon would have to be on board with it. Maybe he’ll take to the role, but with his remaining prime shrinking, it shouldn’t be assumed.
Portland is doing this ALL wrong.
Why are they building a roster to try and compete???
A rebuild takes time.
It wasn’t long ago, OKC traded a haul to get Paul George to pair with Russell Westbrook. That experiment lasted 1 year. They have now build a monster roster through the draft. They have two future max contract guys in SGA and Josh Giddey. Chet Holmgren has a chance to be a third. Jalen Williams, who they took #12 in 2022 is a stat sheet stuffing stud, and has a chance to be a 4th max contract guy. ALL through the draft. They have a young roster, headed into their prime.
DeAndre Ayton, Malcolm Brogdon, Rob Williams will ensure that you are picking in a draft position to NOT add young talent to Scoot and Sharpe. Scoot needs time to develop and gain experience. You are building a roster around a player who has yet to play an NBA game.
3 years from now, you will have to beat OKC and Memphis, who drafted Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson and Desmond Bane. Do you see the age difference??? Do you see that these guys needed a couple of years to mature and develop.
Portland has accomplished nothing other than show Damian Lillard they can build a competitive roster without him.
In the process, they tanked their future by trying to win-now for no reason at all. How is Ayton going to match up in the middle in 3 years against Holmgren or Wembanyama??? This is what future NBA bigs look like.
Umm.. they are building a roster to compete because if you only win 10 games and never really play competively, bad habits will form and you risk turning into what HOU is dealing with now.
If all their starting guards are under 25, it is unlikley they will actually win, no matter the roster, but with Ayton, Williams, and Grant up there, at least they will be playing their positions well and yhe guards will more quickly learn.
And how many more lottery picks do they need? They have Scoot, Sharpe, and now Ayton… they need to develop those guys to their max potential and keep bringing on guys that fit into the mix
Houston did what Portland should have done. They built through the draft. Jalen Green is heading into his 3rd year, and now he is ready to be one of the top scorer’s in the league. Jabari Smith, Tari Eason and Sengun. This is their future core. They began the process of developing chemistry last year. Now Houston adds Brooks and VanVleet to be veterans to now teach them how to move up to the next level.
It started with the draft. It started with being bad enough to get high picks. These guys fit together. Jabari Smith can be the 6’10 Swiss Army knife that he is. Tari Eason is a beast. Sengun skilled big. All put with a great scorer in Green. All through the draft. They are still a couple of years away, but you see where it is going. No shortcuts to LONG TERM success.
When they did trade for a player …. They took a chance on a young player. A knucklehead, but a young talent. That player is Kevin Porter. Porter should never play in the NBA again, and will never play for Houston again. They are not concerned one bit about losing him. He was gonna be a problem in the locker room anyway.
Ayton is 25! In three years, he’ll be in his prime. He’s also very mid in a lot of ways right now (mid defense, low motor, can’t shoot, can only really score out of the pick and roll, can’t elevate his teammates), but if they can get him to turn a corner he could *become* someone to build around.
Williams will not be playing enough to change anything. His knees are made of spun sugar. And if he is good, they can just trade him. Plenty of teams would take the risk of his knees if they could get his defense. He’s got a tradeable contract.
If Malcom Brogdon was enough to elevate this roster to even mid-tier play, they’d have just made a trade of that caliber with Lillard still on the roster. Even with Lillard balling out they lost almost fifty games. And again, tradeable contract, and if he’s too good, he’s gone.
It’s not like OKC ditched all their players in one offseason for a rebuild. They were a playoff team the season after they traded Russ and PG, but they’d already started tearing things down.
Honestly, Sharpe, Simons, Ayton, and (mainly) Scoot are enough or a cornerstone to build around without blowing up anything else, at least for this season.
Portland is following almost the exact model of OKC’s rebuild. Get an elite young guard, pair him with veterans to learn from in his first season with the team, then keep tearing down for picks and young guys until you re-enter contention organically.
He’s 25 with a throwback skill set that is better for the NBA 10 years ago, and not now, or 3 years from now.
Currently? Sure, if you only focus on the lack of a jumper and that he scores in the pick and roll (which isn’t even that much of a throwback; like 2000s to 2010s, pick and roll bigs where everywhere. It’s not like he’s a post-only player.). If they actually focus him in areas other than being Chris Paul’s pick-and-roll partner, he has room to grow. He needed to go to a team that didn’t view him as a finished product, because he isn’t. He’s shown signs of a developing jumper, post game, and court vision. But in Phoenix, he was never going to have room to improve or change.
Any contender was the same.
Also, is he too good to rebuild with or not? Make up your mind. You had the same nonsense in the Boston thread saying they should have grabbed him for skills he doesn’t have, and now you change from ‘too good for rebuilding position’ to ‘limited throwback’.
The next time tanking works will be the first as I always say
Now okc ( may ) eventuality break the curse but everyone will forget how many fallen soldiers it took to get to that singular point
Teams rebuilding have to compete now cause the lottery can hurt an awful team like it did Detroit with them getting a worse pick.
Call the Bulls up, take Ball, your FRP, a SRP or 2 and go out and sign a vet min guy for a locker room chaperone.
Why does everyone copy me. I said Ayton was 25 a couple days ago and this doesn’t make sense. Scoot is a young rookie, Sharpe is young too. Why did they get r Williams and Ayton. I would package them to Houston for Smith jr and Porter jr. I would offer something for Wiseman, then draft Holland next year in the draft. Another clueless team
Devontae Grahm would be an excellent addition at the point to go with Brogdon. Scoot isn’t even remotely ready to run the show and is likely to struggle more than not his first year.
I said Ayton is 25 three days before this article. Nobody likes my post but everyone copies me
You might need to repost in every article. Some people don’t click and read every article and comment on every post on this site. The Lillard trade was great news weather you liked it or not cause there were 2 or 3 articles a day about him for weeks.