GM: Chad Buchanan President of Basketball Operations: Kevin Pritchard Uh, ya think maybe Paul blew it on that one? Pritch was the best GM we have had here in 2 decades. Do you think he would have surrounded Dame in his prime years with Alfarouk Aminu and Mo Harkless? I would very likely still be a season ticket holder if that master bullshitter Olshey and "Chopping Block" Cronin never showed up.
We're talking about the same guy that had access to medical records and still took Oden over Durant? Of all the people to be upset we lost, Pritchard is near the end of that list. Saw him at a Costco while living in Indy; took all my power to not go up to him to ask wtf he was thinking in that draft.
Celtics cannon fodder? If Boston sweeps Indiana, they'll be a group of tank pushers getting mad at KP for trading 3 FRP's for Siakam.
For real. You play the games as they come and still have to win them but Damn they got the luck of other people getting injured.
a question that was never asked... what OHSU genious convinced the Blazers to perform experimental microfracture knee surgery on a 7 foot 250lb Center? remember, Oden's knee's were "pristine" after Pritchard drafted him. Sooo.. Let's smash them with a hammer, glue them back together, then give Oden a year off to recover. It must have been a nightmare for Greg. I was never upset with Oden. My "wtf is going on?" was directed towards the voodoo witchdoctors in Portland.
It's been 14-years since Pritchard was last in Portland. It's the first time Pacers have made the ECF in quite a while too. This feels like an over-reaction to be honest.
Kevin was a terrific GM. He missed on Oden/Durant but can you think of a better draft day than getting both Aldridge and Roy through trades? He made us relevant in one draft and nabbed Batum in the next. He should get more credit.
The Pacers are just this year's Hawks-when-they-made-it-to-the-ECF. They were lucky enough to come up against two banged up teams missing key players. They are about to get demolished at least 4-1 and will not be back next year.
What medical records? I've never seen any evidence they had records that indicated anything but good health. Nearly every GM at the time agrees they would have taken Oden as well. I'd love to see any evidence that there should have been concerns about Oden's knees.
https://www.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/11/thats_not_a_limp_thats_just_od.html This was before he played a single game.
This article was after Oden was injured for his rookie season. Before the draft it was unanimous that Oden was the superior pick. Orlando was the one franchise that would possibly take Durant because they had a prime Dwight Howard at center.
That his legs were different lengths and that he walked like an old man? Oh yeah, people knew. https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=nbamockdraft/070627
