Ok, now that I have calmed down from the draft and let everything sink in, here are my thoughts. I really like the Dante Cunningham pick. I was WTF at first, but that was because I wanted Blair so badly and this was the 3rd time we passed him up. I have been watching tape on Dante and he looks like Brandon Bass with a mind range jumper. He has the pick and pop J down pat and looks to be a nice athlete. I'll go as far as saying, he will get more PT than Pendergraf. I really didn't know much about him, other than he came from a great program. But I call it the LA Syndrom because I was pissed off we took LA in 06 because I was preoccupied being pissed at dealing Bassy to Boston that night so anything we did was going to piss me off, which is how I felt about not getting Blair, nothing would make my draft night happy. Loved the Sergio trade. He was a nice kid, but we got one of the most valuable picks in the draft (#1 in round 2) and dumped salary. I was only expecting a TPE from NY for him, so moving up 7 spots in the draft was golden. #55 was a steal and I am glad we got one of the better points in the draft. Mills fills the 3rd pg void and can help out in injuries occur or to change things up. I almost feel like we have thunder and lightning at the PG spots, with Mills being Lightning and Bayless being Thunder.The kid can flat out ball and is the quick PG we all have wanted. I would much rather take him in round 2 than trade up for Lawson. 31 was a bit too high for Pendergraf I thought. I like the fact he led the NCAA in FG% and he is a pretty agile guy for being 6'10". I still wish we would have taken a flier on Blair though. I think this one is going to bite KP in the ass like passing on Millsap in 2006. Oh well, we have two suitable backup 4's who can duke it out for the Frye minutes while the loser gets the Shav seat on the bench. I just can't get past Victor Claver. He looked good on film, but I hate using 1sts to stash overseas. I would have much rather traded the pick for a 2010 1st, in a stronger draft. Also, I would have rather tried to nab him @31. 22 is a bit high for a SF who I think, personally, never sees the light of day in a Trail Blazers uni. He is a SF at the age of Batum, but Batum seems like a keeper and already light years ahead of him in NBA experience. We are also targeting a SF in free agency and then there is Webster and Outlaw, which I'm sure one will still be here. It just seems like we added to the logjam. I hope there is value out there for him to use as trade bait. After thinking about it, I upgrade the draft grade from a C to C+......I am not sure I'll be able to get over not picking Blair. Hopefully, Dante performs well over the summer and contributes as a rookie to make me say "DeJuan, who?" And finally, yes, KP should still be on the hot seat if he does nothing this summer with our cap space. This is the last time we'll have any serious money to play with and we can't let it go to waste. I don't want to here this same junk about liking our team and going to war with them. I hear enough of it from MB and it's obvious, we need a vet upgrade at the point to mentor Bayless, a proven 3rd scorer, and toughness along the way.
OK, I've settled down and am willing to upgrade our grade from a D to a C-, because of Mills. Eventually, I'll feel better... until Blair kicks our ass.... and posters here start defending passing him, even after he kicks our ass. Breathe, breathe. I'm hoping Mills becomes a new fan favorite. Not in love with Claver, either, but the thing I'm having trouble with is why KP is "targeting" more than 1 player in this draft?
I think it says something about Blair that we passed on him 3 times. Not once or twice. 3 separate times. We clearly had ZERO interest in him, and Nate said in the press conference that he wasn't even on our draft board. With all due respect... These guys spend MONTHS doing their homework on these kids. Posters on message boards watach a few tourny games and look at a couple mock draft websites. I'm not here to say that Graf or Cunningham was the right pick and that Blair will fail in the league, or that gms don't make mistakes, but I think it's safe to say that they know more than we do about those decisions, and CLEARLY Blair wasn't exactly popular w/ ANY team... I say wait and see until next seasons trade deadline. If for some reason we don't make a splash this offseason, we STILL have the opportunity to make lopsided trades w/ cap space next year.
Sometimes when players slip, there's a good reason. Anyone remember when we were so stoked to land the college player of the year Walter Berry with the #14 pick? What a screw up that was. The day after the draft, people were pretty much dancing in the streets to celebrate, but he arguably shouldn't have even been the 14th pick of the second round.
Agreed. KP should talk shit about his picks so nobody takes them in trades possibilities . He actually should have started before their names were even called. "Well we really didn't want him but there's nobody left, and to be honest we don't really care we are going to try and package them in a deal... fingers crossed!!!!!" THAT'S how you run a team. IMO they should have taken it a step further and just passed when it was their turn.
WTF do you mean hot seat? What the hell is wrong with you? Who fucking cares if we don't sign some FA??? We have a GREAT team right now. Some of you assholes make me so angry. And why the fuck are so many of you crying over Blair? 30 teams, yes 100% of the teams PASSED on him in the first round. There is SOMETHING we do NOT know about him that made the entire NBA not want him in the 1st round. We are posters on a forum. NOT NBA GMs!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, enough with the name calling, I'm not an asshole, b/c I have a different opinion, try to argue your point like an adult. I will 100% buy into the theory that KP is too in love with his own players for his own good if we do nothing this summer. Blakey is not a championship level starting PG, we need a veteran 3rd scoring to help out LMA and Roy. I let it slide that we didn't move the RLEC b/c maybe the deals weren't there, but we got cap space and the best owner in the league, we need to improve, bottom line. There is no way we have enough PT to keep Batum, Rudy, Webster, and Outlaw happy, someone has to go, you can only play so many players and the rotation only shortens when it comes playoff time.
There is no need to go there with the name calling dude. We know we are not GM's. We all have opinions of what we want to do. Please respect the person even if you disagree with their opinion.
it would be crazy to target a single player in the draft unless you have the first pick. and how many picks did the blazers have going into the day? 4? why in the world would KP only be targeting one guy?
How so? It's been awhile and I don't remember that piece of it. Didn't we get Duckworth (as well as Sabonis) in the same draft with later picks? Edit: scratch that -- just checked wikipedia. Duckworth was drafted later in the draft by San Antonio (second round) and we later traded for Duck. Still it amounted to trading two guys from the same draft and we took the scrub with the 14th pick.
I know...it is sooo annoying when people think for themselves and refuse to toe the party line. Sure, we got blown out in the first round....that is the TRUE mark of greatness...not winning.
portland got blown out of the first round? you mean they didn't lose game by 1 and 3 points? not toeing the party line is fine. but suggesting the KP be on the hot seat if he doesn't bring in a big free agent is just ridiculous. same with everyone going crazy over not picking blair(who i liked and thought would be a great fit in portland) or getting mad about picking a euro to stash.
If memory serves, didn't you project no playoffs and 46 wins? Yet you're still looking down your nose as if they underachieved last season? Your pessimism seems to be a moving target STOMP
