Why Haven't the Trail Blazers Traded the Veterans? + How Deni Avdija Will Help Portland's Young Core

Talking Trail Blazers roster building, Deni Avdija and more with Brandon Sprague of 1080 The Fan and Jacked Ramseys.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More

Watch the show and subscribe on YouTube

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
eBay Motors
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

FanDuel
FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!

#TrailBlazers #NBA

[bschlesi]

Deni is an amazing team player and a winner
Also he brought Portland 10 M supporters

[TheCriminalViolin]

Toumani in the latter half of the season was solid as a scorer and from three when the team gave him a chance and trusted him. The amount of times Toumani actually got going offensively, carrying us in comebacks only to suddenly be ignored completely as if he wasn't even on the court at all was egregious. Watching all of the games last season through and seeing that really got under my skin after awhile man. I even attended one of those games (the last game at home versus Miami) where that happened. Literally yelled out to pass him the damn ball while he's just left wide open after going on a one man 8-0 scoring run when we needed it most, alongside my brother and few others after they just started acting as if he wasn't there again.

Toumani is a beast, and clearly he has the chops and confidence to really make himself into a rock solid, consistent, reliable two-way player. He's my favorite player on our roster at that. No one in the NBA plays like he does. He's real old school in his mentality when he's playing. Undying in effort no matter what. Never give ups. Just keeps going 100% every single possession, loose ball, getting blown out or staying in the game. Doesn't matter.

Kris Murray is brutal to watch. I guarantee he's got no real potential nor future in the league. I'm afraid at this point, it's becoming another case of nepotism again. "But Keegan is great" yeah but, that doesn't mean his brother is or will be. That's been the calling card too, even through this summer league. The announcers would keep qualifying their mention of him with "Kris Murray, brother of Keegan Murray". It hasn't stopped. It's just as constant as it was at the start of last season. That's a horrible sign always, when announcers have to give such a qualifier to a player in order to ensure people aren't just super confused as to who he is and why he's even playing and on a roster. It's like telling on yourself.

The hate that Bari gets though stumps me. People in this fan base and even in our media genuinely act like and talk as if he's a bad player, or otherwise isn't good enough to crack any team's rotations. Not a valuable player. That's wild to me. Sure, Bari isn't a standout player by any means, and I don't know if he ever will be, but as a important roleplayer? He's absolutely solid for any team. Teams need super energetic guys who just fire up their team on and off the bench, and play with that spark of energy being a animal on the boards like he does. He's like a slightly more versatile Manimal. Bari is overall quicker on his feet than Kenneth was, and is a notably superior shooter too in the spot up. He also is somewhat superior defensively overall, being more capable defensively. No, Bari won't stop too many blow-bys on the perimeter, and he'll suffer from lack of overall size and strength against true power bigmen, but he still gives solid effort defensively no matter what, and actually tries most of the time. And his effort can and does tend to help overall for us when he's out there. He's a middling defender both on the perimeter and in the post. So overall, Bari is not just some cuttable dude on this roster at all, and has some solid value. I feel like it's similar to how few people had any issues with Joe Cronin cutting my main guy Transom Waterford (Trendon) last season. I was stunned, appalled and outright angry at such a idiotic, insulting move. Though I'd argue Trendon is a superior player overall with notably more potential than Bari has. But it's still painfully similar in mentality people have toward Bari right now.

[ssourick]

Love seeing Mike & Brandon together! This was one of my favorites and I can hardly wait for the next one on Friday. Have a nice vacay Mike!

[rosecityusa]

6:09 Why are we forgetting that Dame didn't give a list. He gave the Blazers
☝🏽team. The saltiness about Dame being traded to a contender is mind boggling.

[yonihalevi]

If you don’t let deni run you’re dumb.
He is an amazing playmaker.

[Cool_Doctor_Money]

Blazers don't want DLo and I agree

[seventyfive]

Why are you thinking about how Deni will help the development of Sharpe and Scoot? *_Think how they will develop Deni!_* Let's be real, in terms of IQ, shooting, defense 1 through 4, the one you want to build around is Deni. He's no superstar, yes, but he's a guy that if he becomes your center piece, EVERYONE gets better. Change your mindset.

[UsualCase]

What would be the maximum salary Portland could offer Deni on his next contract? I didn’t realize that would be limited by his salary on his current contract.

[mattalley]

I wonder if the gameplan is to get some talent this year, be bad, hope they capture the Flagg, and then try to win while maybe adding some more pieces around Flagg? Yes no maybe?

[MojoMan]

Kris Murray: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy required asap.

[charlesdoyle]

Bringing Deni back by Trade does not seem to match up with Tanking for Flagg. What if Deni addition gives PDX 5 TO 10 More wins?

[MojoMan]

We will all freak if Deni has more assists than Scoot...

[seventyfive]

*_Deni will be damaged by not trading Simmons and Grant._* Deni works great in a system of passers due to his IQ and unselfishness, so ball hogs are wasting his potential to help young players to get better, and his own development as a young player himself.

[chirocket]

No trade if the price is two first rd picks.

[DunkItHard]

What about What about

Lakers receive: Jerami Grant, Jevon Carter, Duop Reath and the Bulls 2029 second round pick

Blazers receive: Lonzo Ball, Nikola Vucevic, Dalton Knecht, their own first round pick back from the Bulls, the Bulls 2028 First round pick, the Lakers 2027 Second round pick

Bulls receive: D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Robert Williams III

[diablo]

Thoughts on Ant to Indiana and Grant to Atlanta?
Pacers have young players/picks and Ant would be a flamethrower with Hali.

With ATL we could have a trade centered around Hunter (solid young 3/D) and expiring salaries. Maybe send RWIII or Tyse as well.

[MojoMan]

▪︎Are More Fast Breaks Coming This Season?
One can surmise that the addition of Donovan and Deni, along with Scoot's growth and maturation, should result in a noticeable and appreciable increase in fast breaks and points from them.

[YowzaBowzaWowza]

Every Blazer fan in “Cronin’s Corner” does backflips in the coping department. The Advija deal was a ridiculous giveaway. My picks were Buzelis at 7 and Ware at 14. No Brogdan deal until it BRINGS BACK ASSETS AND VALUE. Portland management is either just woefully incompetent or focused purely on short term money saving and tanking. Portland overvalues and overpays it’s players and will always be on the losing side of every deal.

[livingthefight]

Simons, Murray, Banton to Detroit for Tim Hardaway jr and Ausar Thompson, Marcus sasser and picks

[stevepeterson]

Hey "ant" is still here because his trade value sucks. The day they gave him 25m I posted on the forums it was one of the worst contracts ever handed out by the organization ever.