It's per Canzano via Twitter so take it for what's it worth. http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_...-mullen?sct=nba_t2_a3&eref=fromSI&eref=fromSI
-10 -10 Starting at 0 for a rumor, that makes -20, which ranks just above "deal coming soon" but below "hold onto your shorts."
During a lockout any Blazer news is good news (meaning that it's something to talk about) even if it comes from Canzano.
I wasn't criticizing your posting of it, just making fun of Canzano and a couple of attempted rumor-mongers of years past.
Mully made some good trades. Dale Davis and Speedy Claxton for Baron Davis. Murphy, Dunleavy Jr., Diogu for Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell. Traded a first rounder for Marcus Williams which was an epic fail. He's got a poor draft record. Not sure if Dunleavy was his pick at #3 overall but he was a big Dunny fan. Took Pietrus at 11, Biedrins at 11. Then took Ike at 9 and Monta at #42 overall. Then he took Patrick O'Bryant at 9, Brandan Wright (traded J-Rich for BWright essentially), Belinelli at 18, and Anthony Randolph at 14. I left out all the other second rounders he whiffed on. Monta was a hell of a pick and he deserves credit because he personally went to Jackson, MS to watch Monta play and its an area where many scouts/GMs refused to go. Biedrins was a decent pick at 11. Pietrus is meh. Dun at #3 sucks. Ike, BW, POB were huge busts. Jury is still out on AR and Belinelli. He deserves at least some credit for getting Azubuike, CJ Watson, and Matt Barnes from D-League/obscurity. He doled out a LOT of big, long, horrible contracts right when he started- Derek Fisher, Adonal Foyle, MD Jr., Murphy, J-Rich, etc.- but by the end of his tenure he seemed to realize that this was a mistake and was more careful with his money. Although he did want to give Baron a big extension that ownership denied. He negotiated smarter with Barnes and S. Jackson and didn't give in to them even after the team did very well. Gave a terrible contract to Maggette though and tried to sign Brand and Arenas to a max deal that offseason but thankfully they jilted us. Good signings include Turiaf and Azubuike's contracts and Barnes' one year deal after we beat the Mavs.
The 2002 draft was full of questionable picks. How did Amare drop to#9? You've got Dajuan Wagner picked ahead of him, and Tskitschvilli (both out of the NBA now?)? Certainly, out of the '02 class, Caron Butler would've been the best SF available, and he fell to #10. Hindsight is 20/20 for any draft, especially with how brutal injuries, etc., can be (consider the two players taken before Dunleavy have had injuries destroy their careers - Jay Williams and Yao Ming).
Didn't Wagner try out for the Blazers (well after he was drafted and trying a comeback) or something like that?
Find the historical accuracy for all NBA scouts. You have your short list for the best GM candidates. The problem is disentangling who said what in each of the 30 draft rooms. One scout was 30% for drafting the player who later became a star, and another scout was 50% in favor.
Did Mullin ever get over his alcoholism? I forgot--was he on a Dream Team, or maybe it was the Top 50 of All Time. I thought he was just another high-stat, no defense, Don Nelson product from Golden State.
