Zach was pretty great when he was with us. But his teammates sucked. We finally got him a good supporting cast and then traded him for nothing. I wanted a top flight SF for him. Like Shawn Marion. Otherwise, we should've kept him.
So maybe patience should be practiced around here. Jack looks pretty good too. Maybe KP was right about letting the cake bake. Except he should've left ZBo in the ingredients.
Durant is a stone cold Killer. The guy is one of the best scorers around and has the ability to go into the post, be one of the best defenders at his position. You can list this guys strengths all day long. The big problem I have with his game is one of the same ones I have with Carmelo Anthony game which is he doesn't pass the ball and make his team better. If he can really start to get his teammates involved more by creating for them he really will be the next Jordan.
If the reports are correct that the Blazers were warned about his knees and such from the beginning but ignored it, then yes, a miserable pick.
Durant was a sure thing and filled a big hole in the Blazers' lineup at the time. I would have kept the 26 year old ZBo at PF and played LMA at C with Durante at SG. Add Roy at SG and the core 4 players are elite.
As much as some people want him to be, Aldridge isn't a center. He is a power forward. Odeon, otoh, is a true game changing center. When healthy, probably top 5 in rebounding and blocking shots. He probably would have averaged at least 15pts/G as well. IMO he wouldn't have been far off from Dwight Howard. A healthy Oden is clearly the right choice at #1 all things considered.
I'm somewhat sorry that I opened this can of worms again, but I'll just say a couple of things that I think are true. First, from a basketball standpoint, Zach certainly had all of the skills necessary to become a terrific PF when he was here in Portland. I think he's matured a bit and isn't quite the black hole on offense that he was here, but that isn't the reason he got traded. He was traded because: A. His off-court antics were viewed as being part of the whole Jail-Blazer mess that the community as a whole had gotten sick of; and B. Because the drafting of Greg Oden looked like it would force him to become a bench player as the Blazers were going to build around Aldridge, Oden and Roy (ah, remember that sweet dream that went poof in the night). The Blazers didn't get squat for Zach in trade because his contract was viewed as being bloated and his off-court antics had soured the league on him, at least in terms of being willing to give up much for him. The Knicks had the same problems when they decided to dump him. While I understand the love by some for players like Sheed and Zach, I wish more would recognize that the off-court stuff that some of you think shouldn't be considered prominently in making basketball roster moves, does impact what the player is worth. I blame these guys for much of the fall-off the Blazers experienced as the roster was reworked.
I admit I was 100% for the Oden pick over Durant. I did however say at the draft I would've traded Roy and Aldridge for the Durant pick. That sure would have been interesting.
What reports? Or are you just pulling shit out of your ass. Every team in the league viewed his medical information at predraft camps and basically every GM said they would take Oden #1. The Blazers MRI showed his knees were "prestine" then he developed a defect months AFTER the draft.
So what if Zach had to go to the bench, we got nothing but lousy bench players in return for him! At least he would be a good bench player. Rasheed came off the bench when we went to the WCF.
LMA is certainly tall enough to play C, and I think he's about the same size/build as Tyson Chandler. You also had Joel to use in situations where LMA might slide over to PF. There are centers who don't rebound like a Chandler but with ZBo you'd have a strong rebounding PF, a perfect complement. As it is, he's not a strong rebounder even at PF. Also, he'd be a C in the Okur model, which is fine.
Agreed. Aldridge has played a ton of Center this season, basically every minute Camby hasn't played. For years he has regularly been the 4th quarter center. He has had to play with Batum, Dante, or Crash as his PF. Having Zach at PF instead would be less pounding then he has been taking this year and would have worked fine.
Durant is a 6'10" foot Kevin Martin. Funny how he suddenly got so much better when they drafted Westbrook. His +/- was negative for his first season and he had terrible efficiency numbers. I feel bad about a lot of things. I still feel bad about losing game 7 to the Lakers after being up 15. I feel TERRIBLE about trading down when we could have had Chris Paul OR Deron Williams. Now THAT was a fuckup. But taking Greg was the right decision. If we'd've taken Durant then the curse would have struck him down too, and Oden would be first team all-NBA.
He was asked to be the franchise player on a bad team one month after he turned 19 years old. The following year, with Westbrook struggling as a rookie with his own efficiency issues, Durant "suddenly" got better and his PER was near 21. You're going to credit Russell Westbrook for Durant being a great player? I'd say it's more of a mutally beneficial relationship, with Durant being the guy who handles most of the crunchtime plays.
While having a talented teammate helps, I'd be more inclined to chalk up the difference between his rookie season and the rest of his career to PJ Carlisimo trying to play him out of position in his rookie year.
That, and Durant being barely 19 when the season started, with the body of a string bean. An oversized Kevin Martin? That may be one of the dumber comparisons I've heard for Durant.
ah haha yes I definetly feel much worse about the Martell pick then the Greg pick. One player has dominated for brief stretches but had his career derailed with injuries, the other just sucked. Martell was a "botched pick" but I don't believe Greg was.
Yes, Now that was a botched pick! People seem to forget just how lucky we were to even get Greg. Our chances of getting the #1 were so slim. When I keep that into prospective I feel lucky to have even gotten G.O. at all.
At the lottery when we were down to the top 2 I was thinking, "You know, it would be kind of neat to just be #2 because you wouldn't have to worry about picking which guy to draft, they are both such good options." If we had taken Durant I wonder if we would've kept ZBo? Then not signed Miller? This roster may have been entirely different.
