once the "golden boy" of the franchise. HOW BAD DID THIS GUY FUCK UP?? no wonder he got fired.... love broy but that crashed and burned oden..need a i say more rudy....laughable sergio...not in the league anymore. jarrett jack and brandon rush for bayless???? how bad does that trade look now? babbitt.......................................... no wonder he hasnt gotten another job one thing he gets a pat on the back for is batum. but thats it
traded future all-star and 2nd round in the playoff franchise player Zach Randolph for less than zero.
This is bullshit hindsight-ism. He traded Telfair for Brandon Roy. He traded Tyrus Thomas for LaMarcus Aldridge. Nuff said. Blame God for Oden's knees, but every GM in the league would've made that pick. Every one.
He actually, literally asked to be fired. Felt so guilty about the strife in the organization he asked PA to fire him. Good GM, but apparently lacked the backbone to handle the Vulcan Clusterfuck.
This is a false statement. None of us have any idea what the other GM's would have done after they saw the medical records Portland did. Remember, Portland and OKC were the only teams privy to look at certain medical records. While on paper most all other teams would have picked Oden, none of us have any idea what other teams would have done if they saw how bad his knees really were, like Portland did
Pritchard took a high-risk/high-reward approach. Had the risks paid off, a Roy/Oden/Aldridge/Batum core would have been utterly amazing. His philosophy was clearly to try to maximize upside rather than go with safer picks. It's possible that he took the wrong risks or bad risks. Roy still strikes me as a good risk, despite how it turned out. Oden may not have been, but it's pretty impossible to tell. Obviously, anyone skeptical of the move will point to the end result as confirmation, but even good risks can have bad results. I can't evaluate how expected it should have been for Oden to end up like this. I don't think many, if anyone, envisioned this. I'm generally all for a high-risk/high-reward strategy, because it takes superstars to win championships (generally) and low-risk superstar talents are very rare.
Indiana has improved to 17-11 this year with Pritchard as the Director of Player Personnel, and has that record with an 11home/17away split this year. Plus, Indiana managed to sign David West, who has allowed Roy Hibbert to flourish in the post as part of an inside/outside front-line punch. Seems odd to bash Pritchard considering the team he is with is surpassing all expectations, while the Blazers haven't hired a GM in almost a year and are floundering with an aged, hodge-podge, and thin roster. You also forgot LMA, but considering the rest of your post, it's easy to see why.
It's funny that now we evaluate him mainly on trades, because he was the most reluctant trader I've ever seen. As a former scout, he was addicted to building through the draft. Yet despite having far more picks than most GMs and the Paul Allen advantage to grease every trade with greenbacks, the only successful pick he had below Roy was Batum. You can evaluate a GM by his trades (he was afraid to trade, couldn't negotiate without making GMs mad because he demanded too much and so got nothing), draft picks (sucked except for the very high obvious picks), business management (couldn't handle it so it was given to Larry Miller), negotiating contracts (took Roy's side and promised him the Moon), and marketing skills (he would never share the Oregonian's nauseating adoration with those under him or over him). He should go into a field using his talent, narcissism. Maybe he could be a mirror salesman.
Rudy Gay is a slightly-above average player on a bad contract at this point, and the one year he got injured, his team actually made the playoffs without him. I say this as someone who advocated drafting both Gay and LMA if, possible. I'd much rather have Gerald Wallace/Batum at this point over Gay.
You do realize that both Roy and LMA came via trade, right? Also, it's been pointed out numerous times on this board, but in many, many interviews, Pritchard gave credit to the entire staff, and often by name.
I think he was the best GM we've had in the last 15 years. He had no way to predict injuries to Roy & Oden. If we had them both healthy we'd be a definite title contending team right now.
As for KP's future, lots of speculation on Indiana boards that Bird picked KP to succeed Bird, who may retire after this season, and that David Moray may not be back, either.
Nice to see someone else have KP's back with at least a fair amount of objectivity. I think KP's background taught him a few things about building a team in a small market like Portland. - You need to build your team through the draft: Unquestionable whether or not KP did this, in fact he probably did it to a fault. Important to remember that he also stole Batum from Houston. Portland is rarely, if ever, going to be a true destination for a star player (a must-have for dynasties), so those MUST be acquired in the draft. - You need to take chances: KP gambled with health and lost a few too many times. Some Blazer fans act as if he wrote his own pink slip simply by drafting players with injury problems. The problem with that logic is that there are PLENTY of players that have had long and very successful careers with early injury problems. We were simply not fortunate enough to draft those players, but you can't argue with the basketball TALENT that he brought in. For those who argue that Rudy was a bust - remember that KP and Tom Penn were able to get him LITERALLY for nothing and, as part of acquiring him, unloaded a "me-first" cancer who's posse was causing trouble throughout the city, and who's attitude was waring in the fans. Don't let ZBo's performance in Memphis cloud your memory of him - he was a knucklehead, at best. A cancer, at worst... - Character counts: Love him or hate him, through good luck or bad, no one can deny that the team KP put together was full of likable guys that you were proud to root for, win or lose. Again, his risk w/ injured players backfired and we'll never see "what could've been", but that team, had they gone the *other* direction, could've been one of the best and most likable teams in NBA history. KP swung for the fences and he nearly hit it out. In a world where singles and doubles feel just as bad as outs, in a town that hadn't hit a homerun since '77, do we really want to bag on the guy who gave it a ride to the warning track? It's too bad we fell short, and I'm sure a lot of this bitterness is misplaced disappointment about Oden and Roy's injuries, Nate's ineffectiveness and Allen's baffling mismanagement, but what was KP really guilty of? His greatest offense, that I can see, is a lot of bad luck...
I'll also point out that had KP picked Rudy Gay over Roy, he'd have been fired a hell of a lot sooner than he was, based on Paul Allen's track record with GMs.
I don't know how you could blame him for drafting BRoy- look at how effing good that dude was. Gay has never been that kind of player as far as ability to take over and win games, and I don't think he ever will be. Plus Roy made his teammates better, Gay is Melo-lite. IMO sometimes you've just got to take a chance on these guys with an injury history. Monta Ellis dropped to the second round because of injuries and, aside from the moped incident, he hasn't had any major injuries and even with the moped thing he hasn't lost a beat athletically. Dejuan Blair shows no signs of slowing down. If you had Gay right now you still wouldn't be a contender. If Roy didn't continue to wreck his knees, you're be much closer IMO. Foye for Roy was brilliant. Tyrus Thomas for Aldridge was as well, though anyone worth their salt knew he was being overlooked. I always thought Aldridge was clearly the #1 talent in that draft but the Tyrus Thomas hype was off the charts and Colangelo's boner for euros are the only reason Bargs got taken #1 overall. Aldridge getting shit on by Big Baby in the tourney that year didn't help the TT/LSU hype train either. Rudy was still probably a good pick given how late he was taken (IIRC). Funny how quickly you guys forget how he was your Batum before you had Batum. The gushing over him on here was insane, you all thought he would be an all-star. I remember getting into a Rudy vs Monta Ellis debate on here a few years back. You're the exact same way with Batum now BTW. FWIW I do think Rudy got derailed by Nate and the same could happen to Batum. But Rudy clearly wasn't Joe Johnson re-incarnated or whoever the hell you were comparing him to and Batum isn't going to be Pippen, you'd be pretty lucky if he turns out to be as good as Iguodala IMO. Also that Kurt Thomas trade with those first round picks was fucking brilliant. Always been a fan of KT and back then he was a really great post defender, one of the key pieces allowing the Suns to be a real contender IMO. I wouldn't knock the Bayless trade either. That dude had insane talent, and I believe in stockpiling great talent. Jack and Rush are fine role players now but inconsequential in the early stages of building a contending team. You add/keep those kinds of players when you've got the core in place and you know you're contending. Dunno if you guys have noticed but not a whole lot of draft picks pan out in the NBA. Oden is incredibly unlucky. Roy was brilliant but his knees caught up with him. Aldridge remains a great, great pick. How are you killing this guy for not hitting on 100% of his moves? Zach Randolph just became a valuable player last season and you have a better player at PF anyway.
I could see KP eventually coming back. As long as Allen is the owner, I don't see it. But KP has ties to the community, has shown he has basketball knowledge and I believe he fits a small market team very well . . . he may be attractive to have as a GM to a new owner. The Roy pick over Gay was absolutely the right pick. Roy has given more to his franchise in 5 yrs than Gay will his ever give to his. ROY, three time allstar, face of the franchise . . . I know some consider it a failure to not get the first round of playoffs, but personally I loved the Roy years (especially given the prior 5 years). The mistake was resigning him, but I'm guessing most franchises would rather have Roy for 5 years than Gay for a career . . . as a fan I know I would.
