14th Pick, Portland Trail Blazers | 2024 Mock Draft
welcome to the final video of our 2024 GCM MBA mock draft we have come to the end of the lottery we are less than a week away from the actual NBA draft and I’ve got Mike richond here to talk to me about the Caboose of the lottery representing the Portland Trailblazers with the 14th pick hello good morning how are you I’m good thanks for having me on here uh the Blazers with two picks in the lottery they’ve got some they got some juice to make moves or in this draft stand still and see who who Falls to them all right let’s let’s set the scene uh in case you just didn’t happen to watch that first Trailblazers video where they took seven and they took Cody Williams we’re at 14 now uh the Portland Trailblazers had the worst record in the Western Conference 21 and 61 last year they have officially started their rebuild after uh getting scooted and Damen Lillard is out of the picture now uh they invested in their back court a lot right so they have Anthony Simon shade and sharp scoot like I just mentioned and now they’ve got four picks this draft two of them in the lottery so I don’t know if you’re looking to reload in that front court or what like I said the first pick with Portland was Cody Williams who is a big dude so we’re gonna see where Mike sits before we get to who you want tell me what you think like you’re GM right now you are the G of the Portland trailers what you would want what hole you’d want to fill at this 14 spot yeah so they’re in an interesting spot right because not only do they have four picks in this draft but or I guess I guess we for the purposes of this exercise but yeah I I am blessed with uh four picks in in the 2024 draft um they probably can’t add all four rookies to the roster because the roster is basically full they have 11 players under guaranteed contract plus a couple other guys under non- guaranteed so like if they were just to run it back they have 14 roster spots already spoken for so they only have one empty space um and they were the worst team in the west so like they do need to do they probably don’t run back the same roster as last year because that might um be a little bit wild but they probably have to make some moves they probably end up trading some veterans but there’s a chance that they package their picks and make moves and there’s a chance that they um move around in the second round or or only take seven or only take 14 but for these purposes I think what the move would be is is to bolster the front court because like you said they’ve they’ve added a bunch of young guard depth um you know they’ve invested in Shaden sharp and Scoot Henderson in back-to-back drafts they still have 25-year-old amrey Simons on the roster they could probably use another young guard but they could use another young guard that’s like a second Roundy type deep bench pick not someone you invest high in the lottery so with these picks I’m thinking upside and bigger player size is is the move that I would go they’re in a weird spot because they also have a lot of young forwards they got DeAndre at Center like the roster is just crowded so who you pick isn’t going to easily Plug and Play into the Blazers roster so you got to say here’s a player I like we’ll figure out the rest later so I think that’s my Approach with this pick are you thinking um like a player who can come in and I know you’re talking about roster spots but like say there’s say they clear up two spots for these lottery picks someone who comes in and plays right away are you looking at someone who can develop and has a high upside right I I I think it would be nice in theory if you went one high upside guy with their two lottery picks one high upside guy that’s you know maybe a project and in year two and year three they’re more of a of a regular player and one guy who can plug and play but I think realistically in this draft and where you sit at 14 you’re just not going to draft you’re just not likely to draft like MBA ready players at that spot so while I think maybe the perfect way to do it is like one high floor one high ceiling type of big swing risk less risky pick um I think realistically you got to just play the board like you got to just say okay here’s how it shook out like if this particular draft had shaken out a little bit differently maybe I’d be chasing a big man with this pick or something like that but um I’m a little bit I’m not a big Zack Edy guy like I think he’ll be a fine NBA player but I’m not I’m not a big believer and and kle we the other big Center that I had considered at this spot um I I like him but I’m I’m maybe not as enamored with his overall upside I think he’s maybe also kind of a role player type and so I’d rather take a bigger swing like someone who who’s straight up can’t play so am I on the clock can I announce my I know you’re like you’re like teasing all of us here just let’s just go for it okay with the 14th pick in the NBA draft your Portland Trailblazers select T Salah from uh the French league of the te big teenager um NBA ready frame here’s my pitch on it [Laughter] okay you just just watch him for a little bit he’s gigantic he has a lot of holes in his game right he’s not he doesn’t have a much of primary creation ability like he’s not you’re not going to give him the ball and he’s going to go get a bucket um his shooting is mostly theoretical sometimes you you know you watch the highlights really high arcing three gets a bunch of air under that ball it’s like o that that that looks nice um but also like he’s never really been a shooter at a high level in the French league and this year he’s shot under 33% from three he’s a theoretical shooter he doesn’t have a lot of on ball skills he’s not a great passer but what he is is a giant person who plays incredibly hard I believe that playing hard is a skill I think some guys have the skill of playing hard and some guys don’t yeah and some some folks like some some basketball players you have they have to be like okay today I’m going to play hard and they have to think about it the same way guys think like today I’m gonna have to keep my elbow in on a jump shot and so if you’re thinking through your form on a jumper you’re maybe not as clean of a shooter if you’re thinking through playing hard you’re maybe not you’re maybe more reactive than than you would be so um I think Salah has the upside of being like an Aaron Gordon type multiple positional Defender plays really hard probably doesn’t Max out more than like a fourth option on offense and when Aaron Gordon was the lead guy in Orlando he looked bad and when he became the fourth guy in uh Denver Denver they won the freaking title so um yeah I like him as for me that’s the pick because the upside is there for him to be really special with the understanding that he is maybe a ways away so it is so funny that this is how you like prefaced your pick I’m going to tell you exactly why uh I have notes for every player that we’re like going to talk about and my big notes for the whole Lottery and before you even said this is who I’m choosing I don’t have a pen in my hand this is what I have written down could be a gem highrisk higher reward question mark and I think that just goes for show like this could be a really really really good pick or it could be like a 14th pick and you’re just like no love lost um the one I guess like thing that people are talking about the one critique is a lot of what you talked about inexperience and inconsistency now when you’re in the NBA and you’re in the lifestyle and you have the trainers do you think that could get better absolutely do you think like once he’s here and has a team and can kind of like settle in I think that’s a really I think this is a really good pick yeah I I I think Salon didn’t end up playing on the French national team until he was like 17 he wasn’t one of these guys that was in the pipeline at 12 um and he’s only 18 now keep that in mind he is an 18 yeah so like I think he played on the U6 team like as a 16-year-old and so he’s like he’s relatively new to the highest levels of of international basketball so um and like you just can’t he at his size with the way he moves there’s just not a lot of people in the world like that look like that um so I think it’s obviously the I think the realistic floor is like this is not an NBA player but the upside is incredibly tantalizing for a team like the Blazers that just needs to they need to hit big at some point uh I think this is worth taking a risk on yeah I like it Mike thank you you are the what are they saying Save The Best For Last cherry on top of a wonderful Lottery uh thank you thank you thank you I appreciate your time and man less than a week away let’s go it’s it’s here thanks for having me
Kelcey Wright Johnson is joined by Mike Richman for the 13th overall pick in the Grind City Media 2024 Mock Draft presented by Southland Casino.
The Portland Trail Blazers are on the clock! Who will they take?
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