Not a full game, arrived in time for the 4th quarter. It was against Hapoel Jerusalem, where Pooh Jeter plays, and Valencia got their revenge for losing the previous game and won by 5. Now they need to beat Kazan or lose by less than 5 in order to advance to the next round. About Claver. It was just one quarter. But from what I've seen, they don't go to him very often on offense, kind of like Batum before the last 2 games. Very smart player, very team player, the team seems to play better when he's playing. On defense, he seems to be a good team defender, always looking around, not always tied up to his man but close enough that he can close him out when he gets the ball. Valencia, as a team, plays excellent defense and I would say he's their best defender (but I was always watching him so I can't realy tell for sure). He really impressed me on defense and I think he has a chance to be a solid role-player off the bench. He had one steal and maybe a rebound or two and missed the only shot he took (a 3-P) in the quarter I've seen. (When I compare him to Batum, you have to consider he's Batum-like in Europe. Now, I don't think the quarter I've seen is the best he can play but when I first saw Batum against an Israeli team in Europe, he looked like Europe's-Pippen, not Europe's-Batum. So, I guess you can say that if Batum is a poor-man's Pippen, Claver is a poor-man's Batum)
All i'm saying is Claver better come over and put out decent production because we whiffed on a lot of prospects to sit and wait for him when we could have traded up for a point guard or just taken DeJuan Blair
I get the feeling that it was him or move the pick. He was chosen because it was thought there would be no PT for any rookie, so it was worth continuing the "stash overseas" strategy. Also, you don't know we could have traded up. And we couldn't have taken DeJuan Blair because the medical staff wouldn't allow it (and think how it would've looked, given what we did with Miles). Here's hoping Claver continues to improve and becomes a decent trading chip. Meanwhile, I wonder if the Spurs and Magic are despairing of ever seeing the two top big men in Spain, Splitter and Vasquez, ever come over.
As I understand it, if he's good enough to play in the NBA, he's good enough to make a hell of a lot more money staying in Europe than signing with us -- for three years anyway. After that, decisions will have to be made regarding his ability, our needs, our budget (and we will have one), and the possibility of trading his rights. As a Blazers fan I'm interested in keeping track of him (and Kopo and Freeland), but I'm not going to worry about whether he comes over for a couple of years and then not unless he really blows up over there.
The Nuggets got the 18th pick (Lawsom) by simply trading a future 1st round pick. I'm sure we could have moved up in the late teens, it's not difficult at all. Hell, we've bought picks around there before.
I don't buy that reasoning. We picked three rookies in the 2nd round and signed them before all the injuries hit the rotation, so I don't see why any non-lottery 1st rounder would have been different in terms of projected playing time requirements. If rooks weren't expected to play at all, we would have moved the 2nd rounders for future picks or taken less "experienced" guys that would need to sit for a few years before contributing, anyway. It seems pretty clear that we were drafting for current need in the 2nd round.
I always see these kinds of comments, but I never see anything that supports why people think that way.
Because unlike many other draft picks from overseas, I have never seen Claver indicate that he wants to come over here. Batum wanted to be here. Rudy wanted to be here. Sergio wanted to be here. Claver, signed an extension to stay there.
Claver was worked out by the Blazers a year before they drafted him. One would guess he did not come for the trials if he did not at least think about it. I am willing to bet there were communications between the Blazers and him telling him they are not going to need him for a little more time - so he signed the extension.
Some people are bluffing when the make bets and have no intention of paying up, others are addicted to gambling and yet even more get a visceral thrill from wagering money on some proposition, I mostly fall into the last category ... though I didn't think I needed to justify my proposal to lay a monetary wager with a fellow poster.
That could be. They seemed to be in pretty good contact with Freeland and Kopponen. But all of them are crapshoots for turning out decent. Just another possibility on paper to get a quality player, but true talent unknown at this time.
It occurs to me that you aren't so much worried about why I would propose a wager, but wonder why I think he'll never come here. 1) He's either a very tall small forward or a very slight power forward, and this team already has a semi-soft 4 who likes to shoot long jumpers, and 6'8"-6'9" small forward who looks to be a near lock to hold that spot for the next 8-10 years 2) Claver is Spanish, after the rather difficult time our other two Spaniards have had playing here under Nate something tells me he's in no hurry to come over and risk a similarly trying transition. 3) Lastly, I just don't think he's coming here; no further explanation needed.
He measured 6'11" in shoes at his Portland workout. From Kevin Pritchard himself during a 1080 the Fan interview.
