Why? Sergio is done and Blake is an expiring contract. This makes Lawson our #3 Pg at the start of the year and by trade-deadline or next year - one of Lawson/JB/Blake can be shipped out for another asset.
That would be pretty awesome. I gotta admit that a late lottery pick doesn't shout "exciting!" to me, but any move will probably be fun and interesting, and I'd rather have a late lottery pick than #24 and no move. Ed O.
Brandon Jennings is my pick for slider in the draft. You don't hear anybody talking about being high on him.
I'm getting the same feeling. If they don't trade for a vet on draft day then the strategy will be about shedding salary for free agency. I'd guess that would mean trading the pick and seeing if they could ship off Sergio an/or TO for future 1st rounders.
As much as I hope KP makes some big move, the closer it gets to the draft, the more I feel he's going to stay pat and trade out of the first round like you said. And I'll be disappointed because I think a lot of fans have been expecting something since the trade deadline and especially come draft time.
It has to be either Lawson, Blair or Henderson (although I'd prefer Green and we wouldn't have to move up for him). Of course if we're hearing this, then it's likely the goal is something totally different.
This is a very weak draft and I see no way that the Blazers are able to move into one of the top 5 selections. If you're not in the top 5 the chances are remote that you'll get a player that can contribute. I'm fine with the team trading out of this and focusing on a free agent.
This please. Trading up to get the 8th pick in a 3, maybe 4 player draft is pointless. There may be a guy there who would eventually be able to play big minutes on a contender, but it certainly wouldn't be next year. If that is KP's idea of taking the team to the next level I really wonder what he is thinking.
hey, the last time we moved up to get the 8th pick in a 4-player draft, we got gary trent*! and just look how well that turned out! SR * or shawn respert, depending on how you want to look at it...
Trade for what vet? I'd love to hear some of "trade fro a vet...trade out of the 1st round" loverws to actually throw out some reasonable names....and not pie in the sky...fantasyland dreams like Chris Paul, Devin Harris, Steve Nash & Luol Deng....Those are pipe dreams people....
What FA? Have you seen this year's list? it isn't very appealing..... 33yr old Andre Miller & 35yr old Jason Kidd...wow, sounds thrilling...and you forget Hedo, ORL mgmt already said thery are going to resign him, even if it costs them some luxury tax, and that is exactly what I expect to happen.... 2010 is the year to have cap sapce...too bad POR won't by that time.... Hey let's go overpay for some 2nd tier FA just b\c we have cap space..... the west keeps gettin better ...either POR keeps up or they are going to get left behind....
If this report was accurate though, who could POR be targeting? My thought would be a player that they have projected higher that has sudddenly dropped for whatever reason....and that brings a few players into the equation.... a guy like Brandon Jennings for example, once considered as high as top 5, a lock in the top 10, now floating around the edge of the lottery (or outside of it)... another guy would be Demar Derozan, was floating around top 5 and now possibly around 10-12 range....same goes with Jordan Hill possibly... Jeff Teague and Dejuan Blair certainly have seen thier stocks drop some....both were in the top 10 at one point.... The guys that run Draft Express, know thier stuff and they usually have hit the range that players will go fairly accurately if I recall......I think IF POR is looking to trade up it is exactly b\c they see a player they have rated as top 5 (like Bayless last year), who has inexplicably dropped (lots of times for no reason of thier own doing) 5-10 spots from where POR mgmt feels they should be...making them a good value... Jennings, Derozan, Hill and maybe Jrue Holiday (was talked about as top 5 at one point...I don't see it though) could fit that description...Teague and Blair are outside possibilites too IMO.....
