POSTED: June 22 -- 10:11 a.m. ET Chad Ford: What would the draft be without a few Blazers trade rumors? Portland GM Kevin Pritchard has been among the NBA's most active executives on draft night. In 2006, he pulled off three draft-day trades to get his hands on LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy and Sergio Rodriguez. In 2007, Pritchard landed Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Koponen with draft-day deals. And in 2008, Pritchard traded up two spots in the draft to get Jerryd Bayless and then landed Nicolas Batum in a trade. Will Pritchard strike again this year? The Blazers have been making inquiries all over the first round. Their main target has been Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair, a burly power forward who plays with a toughness the Blazers lack and coach Nate McMillan would appreciate. However, Sunday night, there was talk Pritchard has even grander plans. With point guard Ricky Rubio possibly slipping out of the top four, the Blazers are talking to the Wizards about acquiring the No. 5 pick. Pritchard has been on the hunt for a point guard, and Rubio would be a nice fit to round out the Blazers' collection of young, unselfish talents. But trading for the No. 5 pick is far from a done deal, as the price would be high for the Blazers. The Wizards want any team interested in the No. 5 pick to take Etan Thomas off their hands -- a move that could eat into the Blazers' cap space this summer. The deal almost certainly would cost the Blazers some young talent, like Bayless, Travis Outlaw or Batum. Even more pressing, McMillan has been pushing for the Blazers to sit out this draft and instead add a veteran to their young core. Pritchard joked to The Oregonian that McMillan "will probably kill me" if he adds another rookie to the team. McMillan laughed and told The Oregonian, "you will have to put me behind bars" if Pritchard gets another rookie. There's no question Pritchard also is trying to figure out a way to get maximum cap room this summer to use for a free agent or in a trade. The Magic's Hedo Turkoglu gets the most mention, but sources say Portland's real target is Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich. If the Bulls re-sign Ben Gordon to a big contract this summer, they are going to have to part ways with Hinrich to be able to afford it. The Bulls are dangerously close to the luxury tax as it is, and gving Gordon a big deal would put them over the top. Enter the Blazers, who will have the cap space to absorb Hinrich's deal and put the Bulls back under the tax threshold. Hinrich would give the Blazers a seasoned point guard, but one without the sizzle or upside of Rubio. Can Pritchard sit back and let Rubio slip through his fingers?
Hinrich and Hedo get us deep into the playoffs for years to come Rubio gets us ousted in the first round again, maybe for only a year.
Told ya. IGNORE NATE, Kevin, IGNORE HIM. Of course, this might all be a cunning plan to get the Grizzlies to take Rubio at #2, and then NOT trade for him, and let the Grizzlies waste that pick on a player who then stays in Europe. "That's for Darius Miles, fuckers!"
I'd really rather not see yet another rookie in our rotation, but a lineup of Rubio, Roy, Batum, Aldridge and Oden would be something. Four of our five starters would be top 6 draft picks. After all the speculation, I'd have to admit to being kind of disappointed if we only wind up acquiring Hinrich and Hedo. I can see it working, maybe even contending for a title with them, but I don't see them pushing us into the "title favorites for a decade" category.
So very few teams have titles with that many high draft picks. Rubio hasn't done shit in the league either. And who really knows how good Batum will end up being? Maybe he peaked?
Yeah - after letting us down majorly at the trade deadline, Pritchard owes us! Hinrich and Hedo means people with pitchforks on his lawn - WHO'S WITH ME!!?? (By the way, I'm not being sarcastic about not wanting those two. They're very meh. Hinrich gives us a very good backcourt defender at an exorbitant cost, but he's not the PG I want to get everyone involved (he's a moderately richer man's Blake) and Hedo has very average stats but looks great in crunch time, which over here we call "Roy time".)
Rubio is a few years away, but I would trade our cap space and (expendable) youth for him in a heartbeat. Even if Nate complains about it. And LMAO @ the notion that Nic has peaked.
See, I would be on the lawn with a pitchfork if KP brought in yet another rookie. Especially one that seems to be slipping past teams that need a PG. Hinrich and Hedo seem to be exactly what this team needs. At least exactly what they need that they can get.
My sense from reading the article is that they do indeed feel that they can take a step up to the elite level now if the right deal is made, which is a better feeling than I had when KP sat on his hands with RLEC earlier this year.
I'm not saying he has peaked, I am saying who knows? Martell never really got any better. Travis improved, but still has huge holes in his game. It happens all the time.
I dont think its a guarantee that we lose in the 1st round.. we would have beat a good portion of the west this year. We just got 1 of the 2 or 3 teams we dont match up with. If we would have gotten NO, Dallas, Utah, San Antonio, and maybe Denver, we would have been playing the 2nd round too. So to say that Rubio would set us up for another 1st rd exit next year, to me wouldnt make sense. This is assuming Rubio would only offer us at the very least what Sergio did in the playoffs.
This is true - but there are two big differences between Nic and these two. Outlaw is an extreme athlete who is not going to be the brightest basketball player in the league. Webster lacks lateral movement, does not have reliable handles and lacks confidence quite often - and, despite his "NBA read body" and "picture perfect shot" has never resembled an NBA starter in his production (using PER, for example). Batum on the other hand is an elite athlete with very good lateral movement - and you do not get the sense he has any confidence issues. While his offensive production is not as good as Outlaw - it was better (using PER) than any year Webster had - and whatever he lacks in offense he more than gives you back on defense. Obviously - the future is not set in stone - but Batum seems like a much better prospect than either of the other two - based on his body of work so far in the league.
Amazingly I'm in agreement with MM. People get enchanted by rookies every year. It's like the saying in football that the fan's favorite player is the backup QB (because they never get any playing time and so people speculate about how much better they must be than the starter). Rubio is good to be certain, but hasn't proved anything. Rather than keep rolling the dice every time out, let's get some proven components who can co-exist with the ones we have now.
Well that is if Martell even ever plays again. I don't think we can judge Martell due to the fact that he never got to play last year, and last year was a key year for him. You are right in the past he was never consistent enough, but then again most of the team stunk then. Who knows what some good open looks might do for him now that some talented bigs are in the middle. Right now I am viewing Martells foot injury much like Grant Hill's. I'll believe he is back and playing when I see it.
Agreed. I would hate to see us add another rookie. Bayless and Batum are probably as much as I'd like to see get focused on this year (oh and Webster), Add some veteran talent (Heinrich, or Hedo) and call it good.
Yes, people get enchanted by rookies every year. And every year somebody is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT to get enchanted. Remember John Nash? "Oh no, we don't need ANOTHER rookie PG - we have Telfair. Who knows how good these young guys Paul and Williams will be?" It's okay to get enchanted by the right player. The trick is, which one. Veterans can be just as disappointing when they change venues. Look at finals hero James Posey - New Orleans' "missing piece". Think the Suns are glad they gave away picks that turned into Rajon Rondo, Rudy Fernandez, Luol Deng, Nate Robinson and even Sergio Rodriguez, all because they were in their "window" and didn't need any more young guys?
