Conley Not a Good Target

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by rafy, Jun 2, 2007.

  1. rafy

    rafy JBB JustBBall Member

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    <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> When the Portland Trail Blazers ended up with the top pick in June?s draft and everyone began assuming they would pick Ohio State center Greg Oden, it became assumed they would also make a play for Oden?s best friend Mike Conley as well. Most agree Conley is the best point guard in the draft.

    Conventional wisdom also says the Atlanta Hawks ? currently at #3 in the draft ? should have Conley locked in as their pick, what with passing on players like Chris Paul and Deron Williams in their recent past and desperately in need of stabilization at the one.

    The question now seems to be what would it take for the Atlanta Hawks to trade the pick to Portland so the Blazers could end up with both the young Buckeyes? Good question. More conventional wisdom seems to intimate some sort of package revolving around Portland sending Jarrett Jack and Zach Randolph ? two positions of need for the Hawks ? for the #3 pick and some collection of swingman talent, perhaps including any of a group including Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, or Lorenzen Wright and Speedy Claxton to make it work.

    One question though: Does that improve the Portland Trail Blazers? Without a doubt adding Randolph to the Hawks would drastically improve their team. They would finally have not only a low-post scorer, but a player who wants the ball in crunch time and who would destroy just about every power forward in the Eastern Conference. Jack would return to his college home (Georgia Tech) and provide a steadying influence ? not to mention his bulldog attitude when it comes to injuries means he would be available every game ? on a team desperately in need of it. Jack and Randolph also work well together ? the challenge would be seeing how players like Shelden Williams, Zaza Pachulia, Josh Smith, and others would fit to them.

    But for Portland, it sure doesn?t do a whole lot. That would leave the team with four point guards: Dan Dickau (solid, but not a starter), Sergio Rodriguez (point guard of the future, but not ready to start yet), Conley (another point guard of the future?), and possibly Claxton (injury-prone and not a starter). Jack is currently more steady and reliable than any of those players. While Rodriguez may be ready to make the leap to starter, it would have to give Coach Nate McMillan just a little bit of the cold sweats thinking of how shaky his point guard situation would be.</div>

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