You too? Now I don't feel so alone. Definitely a big mistake on my part, but then I had just endured one of the worst general managers any team I've rooted for has ever had, so my excuse is that I expected trades to be disasters...yeah, that'll do nicely.
My bias is of the opposite kind---I'd rather try to turn a youngish-but-no-quite-good yet player into a high lotto pick anytime. There's a lot of research showing that after #7, you're really just in a crapshoot in terms of drafting players and having them develop. But from 1-7, you can get some really good talent. Which is why I would've given a lot for WAS's #5 pick. Which is why I'd give Outlaw up for a MEM #1 yesterday. Additionally, while I think that not having any veterans is bad, I'd rather have, say, Pendergraph than Ike Diogu. (Well technically, DeJuan Blair rather than Ike Diogu, but I digress ). I'd rather have Kopo as the 12th man than, say, Brevin Knight or Earl Watson. And that colors a lot of my trade analysis.
I was so psyched about that trade... and then disappointed when we took Foye. And then elated that we got Roy. I didn't like Roy at #4 (which, clearly would have been a reasonable pick, but a mistake relative to what we ended up doing) but I was delighted when we were able to get him for Foye. Ed O.
Technially, we traded Telfair and Ratlif (last year of deal), for the #7 and Raef (2 years of big money). Looked at simply in those terms, the "deal" doesn't look anywhere near as good. A hot, young point guard prospect and an ending contract for a #7 pick in a 4 player draft (as it was labeled) and a bad contract. Doesn't sound great when you describe it that way. Thus, I am not surprised a lot of fans were not happy. That come draft time, the Blazers managed turn that #7 pick and cash considerations into Brandon Roy was lovely. We fans have shortened these transactions to: Telfair for Roy. That is simply not true. And to your point: Once I found out we traded Telfair, I was happy. I was never a fan and never became very emotionally invested in him as a Blazer. I wanted him to succeed. But, when he didn't, I didn't feel much about it other than wanting to move on. Once I realized we ended up with Brandon Roy out of the deal, I was thrilled. I thought we were getting the next Michael Finley. Heh. Shows what I know.
On a less goofy note, I still believe Nash was brought in to slash and burn, and to be the bad guy. He did that admirably, and they got rid of him for a better GM in the nick of time.
He actually sucked even at that. He didn't get a single prospect for Rasheed Wallace. He got nothing for Bonzi Wells. He signed Theo to an EXTENSION, which was inexplicable to me even at the time. He spent tens of millions of dollars on SAR and Theo alone that did the team almost no good on the floor. Ed O.
I was describing my reaction at the end of the day, when it essentially was Telfair for Roy, plus two extra years of a bad contract. Basically, I thought that Roy was destined to be a solid starter, above average in all areas of his game, but certainly not the star that Telfair was sure to become.
