I never wanted Morrison. I didn't watch much of him in college, but he just screamed "Luke Jackson" to me. Neither were very athletic, and I figured they'd have trouble getting their shot off in the pros.
I'd actually rate Jackson as being more athletic than Morrison, which is not a good thing if you are Adam Morrison. Jackson had some power dunks at Oregon before he messed up his back and right knee in Cleveland.
Yeah, I don't think anybody - even those who didn't want him - thought he would be this bad. It's horrifying. As for the draft, I did not want Morrison. After suffering through being the worst team in the NBA I wanted a great player as the payoff. Then, when we lost the lottery, I was nervous as I didn't see many blue chip prospects in that draft and thought we would get stuck with the "leftovers". I liked Roy, but didn't think he had a ton of upside left and wasn't destined to be a star. Thus, I wanted a "better" prospect than just that. I didn't like Morrison. Small. No defense. Not athletic. Didn't have a pure shot. I didn't see it, whatever it was supposed to be. Didn't know anything about Barganini. Nope. My guys were LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay. I loved Aldridge's size and developing skill set. And, I was drawn to Gay's upside, what I thought was best chance at a superstar in the draft. But, I was worried. I thought Aldridge and Gay would go #2 and #3, leaving us screwed sitting at #4. I couldn't believe how the draft turned out and was confused initially and then THRILLED once all the trades were announced. As I watched the draft and saw Gay's reaction to dropping, I decided I didn't want that guy anymore. To go in with the #4 pick and come out with my #1 choice and Roy as the icing was a great day as a fan. As it turns out, if the draft was redone today Aldridge, Gay and Roy would go top 3. And the teams with the top 3 picks would not have been willing to trade them. We would have been screwed. Thank god for the workout warrior that Barganani was. Thank you Chicago. Thank you Charlotte. Thank you Boston. Thank you Minnesota. As brilliant as KP is, there is no way the draft goes down the way it did for Portland without certain players amazing workouts, certain team's incompetence and a whole ton of luck.
It's odd and perhaps a bit creepy, but I remember your reactions during the draft. You nailed it. LMA was always an afterthough to me because I thought he'd go before the Blazers picked.
Gems of mine include: "Morrison will win rookie of the year." "Roy is the second coming of Juan Dixon." "I'll drink poison if we draft Roy." "Aldridge will never be half the player Sheed is." Granted, I didn't watch much, if any, college basketball so I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about. but god, I wanted Stache SO HARD. but really, half the reason I wanted him on the Blazers is so we could call his stache The Morrison Bridge. Anyone remember that fan song to the tune of Metallica's One? Hold my breath as I wish for stache... please God help Steve!
I remember his meltdown. Good stuff. I had argued both sides of the Brandon Roy debate... I saw him (as so many others did) as well-rounded with less upside than Gay but I had confidence that if he was taken in the mid-late lottery he'd be a good value. Aldridge was a guy I considered out of reach, so I didn't really think too much about him, but after we traded Thomas and Viktor for him? I was excited. So excited about the night that I made the following blog entry: Ed O.
again I'd point to their respective predraft camps. They were about the same size, but Luke was better by every run/jump measure that they conduct. As PapaG correctly pointed out, his rookie year back injury really curtailed his athleticism moving him from decent to bad. STOMP
I was at work and watching the draft unfold on an online draft ticker with a friend, so I didn't see how Gay reacted (and still don't know how he reacted). I remember being shocked and thrilled that Gay fell to Portland. Then horrified when Portland drafted Foye. Then unenthused but no longer horrified when Portland traded Foye for Roy. And now I'm very happy how things turned out. That has convinced me never to judge selections so quickly. I'm sure I'll break that every draft, though.
The fact is, that simply wasn't a great draft class. That Portland managed to wring potentially two stars from it is just remarkable. Great evaluation skills by Pritchard and great luck.
Well, at least they finally stopped drafting 6'8" - 6'9" forwards with the first name Josh or the last name Williams. I swear if there had been a 6'9" guy named Josh Williams they would have made him an automatic lottery pick. BNM
