The only reason people are even talking about KP blunders is because of how people feel about the Oden vs Durant debate. No matter how many ANALYSIS(which I really doubt anyone on this board is... and no Simmons is not a good source) say that almost every GM would have taken Oden over Durant. People here are just feeding off the negativity they feel when the blazers don't play very well and trying to make the fact that we have had an injury ridden season and are not performing to what people thought, then add in the fact Oden (even though he was playing at an all star level when the injury happen) went down with another season ending injury, they are just trying to salvage any sense of self worth they have even though they cheered and told there friends 10000 different reasons why Oden was better then Durant. If this sounds like a drunken ramble it is... but atm thats how I feel when I see all these negative posts about KP.
Fo sho'. It would be really nice to still have Zach Randolph on this team. I firmly believe that a team can survive having one headcase. But one has to remember that Miles was still on the team. Maybe part of the reason we were so quick to get rid of Zach was because we knew we were going to hang Miles out to dry (not saying it's a bad thing.) and Zach would make a big fuss about it. It's much more than the letter. If we had dumped Miles successfully, either by medical retirement or finding some sucker to take him off our hands, we would have had more than twice as much cap space this summer. But we didn't. We bungled the thing such that another team was easily able to screw us out of that cap space. The letter was just the icing on the cake. The reason I put Oden in the blunder category is that I remember A LOT of reports about Oden having knee problems before the draft. I wrote off all those reports as jealousy. GMs were angry that they didn't win the lottery and we were gonna get Oden. So they made BS claims that Oden had health problems. But here we are three years later and we've got the puddin' and there's plenty of proof in it. Long term Blair's knees might give out on him or one of the guys we drafted will turn out to be better. But right now it looks like a horrible blunder. I've heard a lot of people talk about what they were thinking on that draft day. Almost all of them said they were shocked when we didn't take Blair at the Claver pick, they held their breath until the Pendergraph pick and then again until the Cunningham pick. Seemed like a missed opportunity then and I haven't seen anything to prove me otherwise.
I'm not sure what you're talking about. How did they blunder in trying to dump Miles? Normally, it is not possible to dump a player at all. Portland tried to exploit a loophole, but it got thwarted by someone choosing to pick him up. There was no mistake made there by Portland...there was no way to prevent a team from doing that. Portland took the only shot available and it didn't work because the CBA has built in safeguards against that kind of exploit. "Finding some sucker to take him off our hands"--that's like saying, "Pritchard blundered by not finding some sucker to hand him a free superstar." Sure...it would be nice to get magical results, but it's not a blunder when magic doesn't happen. Miles' contract was crap...short of magic, no one was going to just "take him off Portland's hands," freeing up that cap space. At most, a team may have swapped another bad contract for Miles. Can you link one of those, from a credible site/source? Because I read no credible source saying that Oden was viewed as any real health risk.
The next line in that same link: "Despite it all, this executive believed the Blazers had done the right thing drafting the 7-footer over Kevin Durant." So your star witness in the "Oden was known to be damaged goods" case thought Oden was the right pick. That isn't particularly compelling that there was good reason reason to pass on Oden for Durant. But thanks, at least, for coming up with someone credible who thought there was some real risk.
I think the only gripe I have is with KP possibly overselling that line about "Greg's knees are pristine", when you go back and look at the things that were said in the pre-draft camp and slightly thereafter, it starts to paint a picture of some legitimate health concerns ... at the time I distinctly remembered thinking to myself that those other team execs were possibly grinding an ax in the hopes that it would depress Oden's stock and the he might fall to them, but now I'm not so sure; it looks like there were a lot of real red flags. There's no way to properly answer this, but did KP have the blinders on because he wanted Greg to be healthy -- talking himself into the physical being 'no big deal?'
-Traded Tyrus Thomas and Randy Foye for BRoy and LMA... -Bought Rudy Fernandez for 3 mil. -Traded trash for Batum -Traded trash for Bayless -Signed Andre Miller -Juwan Howard -Traded for Camby -Picked Dante Cunningham and Pendergraph....... I think the good far outweighs the bad. I'm sure I'm missing a few.
Interesting theory. Doesn't match facts, but interesting. I have been questioning KP since the Zach trade. I hated it. Talked myself into thinking the team was doing the best thing for the team as they had inside info that Zach would soon get busted for something, would bring yet another scandal on the team, be suspended from playing for a lenght of time, and become thus untradeable. We now know that was true, so I stand by my reaction that the trade wasn't very good. As for the Oden thing. I have never questioned or blamed KP for choosing Oden over Durant. Time for you to formulate a new theory.
ZBO trade was a must. Blazers had just landed Greg Oden and had an emerging LaMarcus Aldridge, but also had an overpaid Zach Randolph. Now, do you start your overpaid PF in Randolph and stunt Aldridge's growth, or do you bring the grossly overpaid Randolph off the bench? Yeah, what a crappy situation that would be. The Blazers had to unload him and his contract and they got what they got. Maybe not the best haul, but the Knicks nor the Clippers got anything for him either. Quite frankly, Randolph hasn't been looked at as a valuable piece until this year when he's finally grown up a little bit. Frye at least had some upside to him when the Blazers got him. What did the Knicks get for Randolph? Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas, aka cap space. What did the Clippers get for Randolph? Quentin Richardson(who they ended up trading) to open a spot for Blake Griffin, which is exactly what the Blazers did when they drafted Oden. Randolph has been traded 3 times in the past 3 years and Pritchard arguably got the best value for him in Frye, who at the time was thought to have some potential still. Sorry, I don't see how the ZBO trade can be looked at as bad. I've already addressed the RLEC earlier. Richard Jefferson? no thx Vince Carter? no thx Gerald Wallace? Very intriguing, but the Bobcats wanted Batum. Andre Miller? Blazers ended up just signing him. If there was a good deal to be made Pritchard would have made it.
The Knicks and Clippers are horribly run organizations. Historically, laughably bad. Not sure I'd want to be grouped in with them. The ZBO trade was rushed. To say it was a "must" within 5 minutes of drafting Greg Oden is laughable at best. I questioned KP's decision making at that time, and I kind of stand besides it. The blind trust put into him was sort of destructive. Did not have to happen at that time for nothing. Could have at least tried it out rather than clear and hold cap space for 2 years which was essentially overrated and useless, if it was tangible whatsoever. Point is, ZBO is now an allstar and we're eating crow.
Sorry, I just don't get how anyone can think that. ZBO needed to go. He was severely overpaid and was on the books for 4-5 more years. That's why the Blazers/Knicks/Clippers got nothing for him, not because they're terrible run organizations(although they were for acquiring him). I think it's funny the Knicks/Clippers/Grizzlies are the ones that acquired him when teams were just trying to give him away. Really tells you how valuable teams thought Randolph was. Eating crow? Ha. I was happy the day he was traded and haven't even been close to changing my mind since. In the end I just don't see how KP can be faulted when ZBO had no place on this team, was overpaid, and the Knicks and Clippers didn't get jack for him when they were trying to give him away. It just tells you how many teams out there wanted no part of him.
Again, the Clippers and Knicks didn't get jack from them because they are perennial losers in the front office and in the NBA. As was the mentality that Pritch/Penn had when they concocted that deal.
Yeah, well see, I happen to not agree. I think "stunting" is a bit of a fallacy. Sports Urban Legend. LaMarcus would have been fine. Especially since, as it turned out, Greg didn't play. That was KP's job - to polish up that POS.....THEN sell it. How hard is that to grasp? Unless there was an imminent disaster looming - which turns out there wasn't - waiting a while would have been a wait for possible upside. The chances of having to take a crappier deal than what was a pretty lame deal was low. Eating Steve Francis' contract was a BITTER, NASTY pill to have to swallow. And Frye coming off a horrible year with the Knicks. Yippie. Holdinging on to Zach would have been low downside risk, high upside risk. When you are rebuilding you take that. I don't care about the Knicks. And we didn't even get cap space. See above. Cap space, which we didn't even get when we shipped Zach. See above. Umm, not by New York, who wouldn't have traded Frye unless they thought he wasn't going to be a good player. Wow, really? If KP walked onto the Mercedes lot and saw a brand new E Class with a sticker for $20,000 he would have taken it? Good. Anybody can buy or not buy what is out there. What about making deals HAPPEN? What we do know is that KP didn't get any exciting trades done. All during a period when there have been moves made by other teams. May or may not have been KP's "fault". All we can know for sure is that KP and other Blazer folk made a big deal out of the Blazer's being a team on the rise and that we dumped Zach and Darius and others so we "according to a great plan" would have the "Golden Ticket" and if that didn't work mondo cap space to bring aboard a fantastic player that would complete the core and have a contending quality roster for years to come. At the very least KP is guilty of gross overselling of his position and the value of his assets and/or his abilities.
Sorry, no team wanted a part of Zach Randolph except the bottom teams in the league. That tells you he has a really low value around the league and it worth giving up anything for How hard is that to grasp? Aldridge ended up averaging 17/7 that year compared to Randolph's 17/10, except Aldridge made about 1/3 that Randolph did. Lol, there was going to be no possible upside with Zach. He was an inefficient ball hog that played absolutely no defense, and his contract wasn't going to change. I'll repeat it again, no one wanted to pay his ridiculous contract when you consider the type of player he is. Randolph's contract was just as nasty as Francis', if not more considering there were 3 more years on it. Are the Blazers still paying Randolph? Did the Blazers not have money in FA last year? Are the Blazers still paying Randolph? Did the Blazers not have money in FA last year? He was only 24, and has actually been a decent player for Phoenix this year. He had a lot of good games for the Blazers as well. He was also a guy Pritchard thought highly of coming out of the draft. Compare that to Tim Thomas(is he still playing?), Cuttino Mobley(didn't even play for NY), Mardy Collins(lol), Quentin Richardson(eww). I'd easily take Frye over any of them. Not even close. That cap space helped acquire Andre Miller in FA, a guy they were targeting at the trade deadline. Wouldn't you say Andre Miller has worked out? Also, not everyone is out there trying to give up a young piece of their future to the Blazers' future, unless the Blazers give up something of their future(Roy,Aldridge). Sorry KP can't make these miracle deals happen that you want him to. Teams oversell their pieces all the time. Big deal. Maybe you shouldn't be so easily influenced and check your expectations. Also don't expect teams around the league to buy what KP is selling. It's his job to talk up his team.
wow zbo rehash? he is on a .500 team and all of the sudden kp got fleeced 3 years ago??? lol where were all you guys when zbo was in ny? btw, next year zbo is an expiring, maybe, just maybe, he is playing for another contract?? no thanks, and good riddance.
Just some perspective: Randolph signed a 6 year $84M contract with the Blazers Roy signed a 5 year $82M contract with the Blazers Randolph literally has one of the most untradeable contracts in the NBA, especially when you consider he'll still be under contract for 2010 FA, a year in FA teams have been planning for for 2-3 years. That's why it was impossible to get anything for him, and the other teams just taking the contract was enough. That's why the Blazers/Knicks/Clippers got basically scraps for him, although I still think the Blazers got a better deal than all of them.
if he's expiring, he's a huge tradeable asset next year which we would have if we kept him. If Memphis decides to even trade their All Star!
