So, I ask again, anyone know why Claver was in Portland on the day of the draft? Is he STILL in Portland? Was this planned, and if so, what was the plan?
They probably coordinated Claver coming in with Allen travelling down to Portland. My guess is he's now back in Valencia. I've heard conflicting reports on his private workout. Quick said it wasn't great, others raved about it.
It's just what I heard through the grapevine from people who were actually at the workout. Sorry, no link available. I think given that we cleared out a SF slot and will likely send out more players in a consolidation trade, that guys like Koponen, Freeland and Claver may be brought over. Also, we hadn't seen him in a while.
Okay, can you summarize the word of mouth? Exactly what was raved about? I'd still like to know who set this up (Claver's side? Paul Allen? KP?) and what the reason was. Was it just a "hey, just checking in" thing, and the fact that it happened at draft time was pure coincidence? Because Claver's season has been over for a while.
Spain hasn't had a great track record in Portland lately..... or maybe Spain hasn't had a great track record with Nate McMillan.
No specifics, just that Claver looked really good. No clue, but I don't think it was an accident that Claver's visit coincided with Paul Allen coming to Portland. Furthermore, it's a nice reminder for the Blazers what they have in terms of assets so they could make better decisions during the draft.
Other than the Gasol brothers - what recent Spanish player did very well overall in the NBA? Sergio did not exactly set the world on fire in Sacramento or under D'Antoni, Navarro had one OK year in Memphis, Garbajosa never looked the same after his injury. Did I forget anyone?
Speaking of Euro's, J. Quick, via radio, said that the team feels that Freeland and Koponen are a few years away from being NBA players.