I disagree. If our big's develop and were in the race for a title atop the west. Claver wants to be here
I said it the day of the draft - Claver was a wasted pick. The Eurostash just ain't what it used to be. With the weak dollar, the growing of popularity of basketball and Europe and the associated higher salaries, using a late first round pick on a European player is a waste - unless you can get them signed immediately while they are still young and in need of development (i.e. Batum). If you don't sign them immediately and let them play in Europe for a year or two, one of two things will happen. They will develop into a player worthy of an NBA rodter spot. In which case, the will get paid a lot more to stay in Europe than you can pay them based on the rookie salary scale for a late 1st round pick. Or, the won't develop (aka: they will suck). In which case, it's a wasted pick by definition. Again, as I said on draft day, other than possibly summer league, we'll never see Victor Claver in a Portland Trail Blazers uniform. We should have drafted Blair at 24. Even before all of the injuries we've had this season, we had a GLARING hole at back-up power forward. Blair would have been PERFECT in that role and would have gotten minutes from day one. With the injuries, he would have been getting big minutes. BNM
Rudy was drafted with the intention of bringing him over. No doubt about that. Claver on the other hand probably was not. This team was overcrowded as is, and the last thing we needed was another rookie (even though we ended up with three). I'm not sure Pritchard expected to keep Cunningham, Pendergraph, AND Mills on the roster.
Will he want to be here enough to forfeit the tens of millions of euros, a shorter, easier schedule and the better fringe benefits he would receive to stay in Europe (assuming he's any good, if he's not, who cares). I doubt it. BNM
We could have taken Casspi a pick before Sac and drafted Blair with our first pick in the second round.
Salaries in Europe have gone up a LOT since Sabonis played there. Any late 1st round pick that ends up being worth a crap will get paid a LOT more to stay in Europe than what they can make in the NBA based on the rookie salary scale. If you don't bring them over right away, while they are still young and raw, there isn't much of a chance they will ever play for you. BNM
We didn't know that at the time. I was stunned that Blair dropped as low as he did. I was thrilled that he'd fallen to us at 24. And then pissed as hell that we passed on him. BNM
I could see Rudy going back to Europe. Maybe not right away, but if he ends up playing on the bench for the next few years I could see him bailing back to Spain where he's a star.
I don't really care if Claver is here or not next year. I want to see how Rudy pans out for a couple of years until I want another Spanish player. Casspi would be great, but he would not have got any time here and no one would know who he is if he came here. He needs to thank the God he prays to he went to Sac.
I also hoped Blair would fall to Portland, was very surprised when Portland didn't draft him and I wished they had. Pritchard knew all the same things we did, though, and kept passing on him. I wonder why. (Not sarcasm...I really do wonder and would like to hear his real, unvarnished reasoning for why he passed.)
Claver will be like Freeland or Petterri...international player that a bunch of hoops junkies will rave about but will never come here. and if they do, they'll be disappointing role-players. should have drafted Blair like many here wanted to.
QFT. Granted, the sheer volume of injuries could not have been predicted - but why pass on a chance to add free talent?
Pritchard seems to have something against guys who can only play a single position. He prefers length and versatility over a wide-bodied specialist who can only play one position. So, he drafted Claver, Pendergaph and Cunningham, guys who can all play multiple positions (Claver 4,3; Pendergraph 5,4 and Cunningham 3,4) over Blair who can really only play the 4 (but play it very well). I said before the draft that this team has enough length, but needs more width. We had a glaring need for a solid rebounding, defending, physical back-up power forward - and passed on the best one in the draft three times. Same thing happened with Millsap in 2006. I wanted to take him at 30 or 31, but we passed on him 3 times and he went to Utah at 47 (the steal of the draft). BNM
Ah...but when YOU said it, at least some people listened. When I said the same thing, I got the torches-and-pitchfork treatment! I guess I have to emulate you and try to be more lovable.
Well, that does assume that the dollar continues to fall against the Euro indefinitely, far from a sure thing. The EU is having their own financial woes right now. When we drafted Sabonis, for example, he was a player for the Soviet Union. He fell to us at pick 24 for that reason. Even though it took us a decade to eventually get him over, it still looks like a pretty smart pick by Portland. Even though we never got the real Arvydas, we still got a lot more value than most people do with a #24 pick. Because Portland made a long-term gamble that international circumstances would change. Now, I'm not saying Claver is the next Arvydas, or that something as epic as the fall of the Berlin Wall will shake up his likelihood to come over here. But you have to admit it's certainly possible that in 5-10 years he could still wind up here as international circumstances change. Or say that Claver really blows up in Europe, and the Knicks come calling to us with a trade offer three years from now. Maybe the rights to Claver suddenly become pretty valuable, because Claver knows he could get massive endorsement deals in a city like that, and New York could woo him while we can't. Second round picks are a huge gamble anyway. In hindsight I'd prefer other guys, but I can see that Claver might one day pay off. Too many things can happen for anybody to confidently say that for the next 10-15 years a Euro will never, ever play in the NBA.
You also said that Pritchard "mailed it in" which is what I found a bit...questionable. Disagreeing with his picks is reasonable...saying he didn't care or put any effort into drafting is quite a bit different. Don't you think?
How is Claver better than Casspi when he's never played a minute in the league and Casspi is doing pretty well....?
