Joe Cronin Lays Out His Vision as Blazers Introduce Draft Picks

The Blazers believe Shaedon Sharpe and Jabari Walker check the right boxes for "talent and mentality."

TUALATIN, Ore.—"Talent and mentality."

Those two words are the underpinning of Joe Cronin's plan for reinventing the Trail Blazers this summer. They're two things the team needs a lot more of, by the GM's own admission, and they're two things he feels their newest rookies, who were introduced to local media on Saturday.

The gathering was a pretty standard-issue press conference to introduce a set of draft picks. Both Shaedon Sharpe (No. 7 overall) and Jabari Walker (No. 57 overall) are excited to be in Portland, feel like it's a perfect fit and just want to help the team in any way they can. Cronin wasn't sure Sharpe, their top target from the beginning, would still be on the board when it was the Blazers' turn to pick.