Canzano, via Sports Sunday, feels the Blazers will be very busy on draft day and will trade up for a PG. It's a deep class but there are only a few worth trading up for. -Brandon Jennings: 6'2" PG -Tyreke Evans: 6'6" Combo -Ricky Rubio: 6'5" PG -Jeff Teague: 6'2" PG -Jrue Holida: 6'4" PG Mike Barrett and Co. talk about Koponen. Canzano talks about PG's in this draft. It seems like many have written off Bayless as a future starting PG for us.
Exactly. With every thing that is said this time of year, I look in the complete opposite direction. Every year since KP has been at the helm this has been the case, and at least in my view, he has gone a way different than I was led to believe.
Rubio is not 6'5". He is 6'3.75" Jrue Holiday is overrated. He didn't even do that well in college. I would rather have Maynor or Flynn over any of those guys.
If we move up, I'd like it to be to 14 or 15 to get DeJuan Blair. I love Tyreke Evans, and pairing him with Brandon Roy would give the Blazers a huge, athletic back court, but he'll go higher than the Blazers can realistically get without giving too much. BNM
Jrue sounds like an interesting prospect. I found this from theknicksblog.com: LINK He sounds like he can be a Rondo type.
If you can tolerate developing him for 2 or 3 years he could be fine, but he's only 18 and he did not have a great year at UCLA. He sounds like the kind of kid who needs to go to a team with lots of development time and low expectations for team success, not the kind of player who is going to thrive buried 3rd on the depth chart and unable to get on the court in real game situations with a contender.
If we can land a starting PG (ie. Andre Miller) we can develop Jrue (or Jerryd?) slowly. Miller/Blake/Holiday Chad Ford did say Jrue measured 6'4", he's only 18 so he could still be growing. But to say he's the best perimeter defender in the draft as an 18 y/o guard, that's saying a lot. He has the tools to become a very good player.
My opinion is that the Blazers will move up in the draft, and then use that pick to land an expensive player that fills a need at PG or SF
I sort of agree with MM. We'll move up by trading a player like Outlaw, snag a good PG and let them develop behind Blake. At the same time, it may be that bayless develops as well.
On the players mentioned.. it makes me happy that Maynor wasnt mentioned.. (so youre saying there's a chance!!!)
That sounds likely This not so much (developing two young point guards simultaneously doesn't seem to work so well). Development time is rapidly coming to a close with this team. That's not to say you don't pick up players to develop and slot them behind established veterans who own a starting spot, but this notion that Steve Blake is just going to be a placeholder starter for a year or two while some young point guard tries (and maybe fails) to develop just seems awfully unlikely to me. I didn't think this a few weeks ago, but I'm more and more convinced that we'll see not only Sergio moved this off-season, but possibly Jerryd moved too, in an effort to trade for a point guard that you can point to and say "that's our starter", with Blake as the primary backup ... but I wouldn't be shocked to see a guard like Eric Maynor, Jrue Holliday, Darren Collison, et al. (a pass-first guy with some defensive chops) acquired and molded over the next year or so to be able to eventually step in as either the primary backup or as a possible starter a year or two after that. I know I've at times been a big proponent of trying to see what Bayless turns into, but the more I think about, the more I suspect he'll probably need to go to a team that can give him the floor time to develop -- that means more than likely going to a team seeking a young guard where he'll be able to play and make mistakes without fearing an early hook. Frankly, I see his opportunities here being very limited as this team moves forward into its contention window.
