I ALMOST agree with you, but this whole fascination with drafting international players and hoping they might someday become valuable assets was not exclusive to Pritchard. It started with Whitsitt (or even before, if you count Sabas and Drazen - who were both drafted by the Blazers in 1986), extended through the Nash/Patterson era and was taken to the extreme by Pritchard. Whittsit took Federico Kammerichs and Nedzad Sinanovic with second round picks in his last two drafts, and Nash spent two first round picks on Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monia and a second round pick on Ha Seung-Jin in his first draft. At least those three saw time on the floor in Blazers uniforms (back when we were the worst team in the league). So, someone at the top has been encouraging the Blazers GMs to take chances on international players for a very long time. I would suspect that someone would be Paul Allen since he's been the one constant through the Whitsitt, Nash/Patterson and Pritchard regimes.
So, as Rudy and Nic enter the final year of their rookie contracts, out of all the international players the Blazers have drafted, who was the last one to make an NBA roster past their initial rookie contract? Was it really Arvydas Saboniis drafted 25 years ago in 1986? Have the Blazers REALLY wiffed that badly on international prospects over the last 25 years? It sure looks that way. Yet. they keep passing on guys like Paul Millsap, Dejuan Blair, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Kevin Martin, Chris Duhon, Trevor Ariza, etc. that had successful college careers to take a chance on some international player who has proven less and will likely never even wear a Blazers uniform.
At one time, the "euro stash" made sense, especially if you already had a very deep roster with no immediate holes that could be filled where you were drafting, but those days were over at least five years ago. Due to escalating salaries in Europe, combined with the weak dollar and declining NBA salaries, it hasn't made any sense in years to waste draft picks on players that will likely never play for your team. Either they will never develop into NBA caliber players, or if they do develop to the point where they could actually play at the NBA level, they will make more money playing a much shorter schedule in Europe. Either way it's a wasted draft pick. You either wasted it on a crappy player, or a decent player who will never play for you.
So, out of the three international players that finished the season with Portland, how many will remain in the NBA past their rookie contracts (or 4 seasons in the case of 2nd round picks)? I see Rudy leaving the NBA and going back to Europe after his rookie contract. Batum will definitely be in the NBA long term and is clearly our best international player since Sabonis. Patty's initial 2-year contract is up. Depending on who the Blazers draft, they may, or may not bring him back. If they do, I expect it to be something like a 1-year contract with a team option for a second year. Unless he shows significant improvement, I don't see him lasting past that in the NBA.
BNM
