Most Champs in recent memory won with players that they drafted. 2024 Celtics - Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum (drafted) 2023 Nuggets - Jokic (drafted) 2022 Warriors - Curry (drafted) 2021 Bucks - Giannis (drafted) 2020 Lakers - LeBron (didn't draft) 2019 Raptors - Kawhi (didn't draft) 2018 Warriors - Curry (drafted) 2017 Warriors - Curry (drafted) 2016 Cavs - LeBron (technically drafted) 2015 Warriors - Curry (drafted) 2014 Spurs - Duncan and Kawhi (drafted) 2013 Heat - LeBron (didn't draft) 2012 Heat - LeBron (didn't draft) 2011 Mavs - Dirk (traded for on draft night) 2010 Lakers - Kobe (traded for on draft night) 2009 Lakers - Kobe (traded for on draft night) 2008 Celtics - Garnett (didn't draft) 2007 Spurs - Duncan (drafted) 2006 Heat - Wade (drafted) 2005 Spurs - Duncan (drafted) 2004 Pistons - Billups (didn't draft) So in the last 20 years we have 15 out of 20 Champions with their best player drafted by them. One caveat, I'm counting players who were drafted and swapped for another draft pick on draft night as drafted by that team. Dirk and Kobe. To me, if your rookie season was spent with that team, they drafted you. But of those 5 champs with their best player acquired other than draft, 3 of them were LeBron lol. Another caveat is Durant, who you could argue was Golden State's best player for two of those titles. But to me, that team was still built through the draft with Curry, Klay and Draymond. And Durant never won shit without Curry. The draft is still the best, and really the only, way to for most teams to win championships.
Wow. That is striking. And even if that wasn't the case, Portland isn't a destination for free agents and we don't have a lot of assets we could package for a great player somebody else drafts. If we don't draft enough talent to win a championship it is simply not going to happen. Portland. Where we step over dollars to pick up dimes.
Also, except for 2019-2020, of those whose best player wasn't drafted by them, their second-best player was a hall-of-famer that they drafted (Pierce 2008, Wade 2012/13, Kyrie 2016)
For decades that I lived in the Bay Area, Golden State was never a destination for Free Agents. They sucked, threw good money after bad and went through a slew of coaches. Then they started drafting well from mid lotto picks assembling a promising young core and got their books in order. At 29 with All Star and All-NBA Defensive team credentials, Andre Iguadala had his pick of destinations. I posted this elsewhere, but FAs with options primarily want to A. get paid B. be part of a good team/win. Portland is one of the youngest teams in the league and yet they're winning with a young talent at every position. To be a destination for Free Agents, a franchise has to have cap space available & it's been a long while since that was the case in Portland. It's not the city/demographics fault when a team doesn't have the cap space to sign more then a MLE FA, it's the result of management's decisions over time. If they're able to clear Grant's contract plus all the other deals that expire following next season, the Portland Trailblazers will be a destination for Free Agents. STOMP
I've heard all of this every time we've had cap room. But Portland isn't like the Bay Area for young rich men.
It’s been forever since Portland had cap room and when they did they didn’t have a promising young player at every position. As far as comparing the two markets, yes the Bay Area is substantially bigger and more diverse, but they hadn’t signed a FA of note for at least a decade prior to Andre and haven’t signed one since. I would pin that on (like the PTB) never having the cap space to do so STOMP
Dame, CJ, Aminu, Harkless, Crabbe, Leonard... Both Dame and CJ were more proven than anybody on our roster. And Aminu, Harkless, Crabbe, and Leonard were all seen as very promising young prospects. We're not the Bay Area. We should never make free agency a prominent part of our plan unless we can just spend more than everyone else.
sorry no way in hell. The roseyest revisionest glasses could never cast Harkless, Crabbe or Leonard as promising. I never saw any of the three as worthy of even rotation minutes and never did they flash anything to give me hope that someday they would be. Harkless couldn't shoot, lacked length & was regularly overmatched on D... the Blazers got him for a 2nd round pick after he basically washed out on a crappy Orlando team. Crabbe could bury open shots which was his only above average skill, but his jumper took eternity to get off so any D shut him down. & Leonard... seriously??? Good grief, you believed in him? Again, the great allure of the Bay Area has only helped the W's land a single Free Agent of note in the past 30 years. There were several other offseasons during that stretch that they had the cash to dangle at Free Agents, but no one wanted that opportunity because they lacked the talent on the roster to win. While the Portland market isn't a draw unto itself, the same could be said of much of the league. What has consistently drawn interest from Free Agents is $$$ and the chance to win. Very few teams typically are able to go above a minimum Free Agent offer in an offseason, so Portland wouldn't be bidding against "everyone else". Even fewer of the teams with $$$ offer a chance to play on a contender. It seems in general that I like the talent on the current roster more then you and certainly management could correctly choose to build via another actions, but I truly believe that the FA course is a legit option for them to explore which would be done via talking to agents prior to that offseason. It's certainly more legit then tanking every season and crossing your fingers STOMP
