What do you think is the right way to build the Blazers? Is the right way necessarily the best way? I find it so odd that everyone keeps saying that OKC is a team that was built "the right way" when they tanked majorly for Durant's first few years. Isn't that exactly what everyone is looking down upon? Everyone said MJ and Rich Cho got what they deserved, but praise the Thunder. Should we stop complaining about tanking? If so, what is the right way of building a team? Philadelphia and Indiana come to mind as teams that actually try to win in the regular season, but won't end up as more than quasi-contenders.
they drafted smarter in 07, nothing more, nothing less. You take away Durant from that team and they're the Portland Trail Blazers. You add a HEALTHY (sane, mentally clean and mature) Greg Oden or a Kevin Durant to this team and they're in the conference finals too.
The Thunder did better than just drafting smart in 07. The Thunder have built a solid team through solid drafting, yes they got lucky with Durant, FA acquisitions, trades, good coaching and solid front office work. Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka were gold draft picks, they were able to trade for guys like Sefalosha, Perkins, Maynor, etc. Scott Brooks 2010 Coach of the year and Sam Presti is probably one of the best GMs in the league at this point. They did it all with a mix of luck, smart moves and guys that live and breath basketball. They play the right way, night in and night out. It will be interesting to see how they handle the core once Harden and Ibaka are due for big money. Another team 'built the right way' in my mind are Grizzlies. It took a while but they are really starting to figure it out.
Small markets aren't going to land a superstar in free-agency -- building through the draft is the way to go. San Antonio: Duncan, Parker, Leonard, Manu. Smart trades acquiring solid role players. Thunder: Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka. Smart trades: Thabo, Perk. All of OKC's draft picks, outside Ibaka, were top-5 picks. Quality always trumps quantity! Which is why I've been in favor of trading up since the lotto.
they drafted 3 straight top 4 picks. Like I said, you get those top 3 picks, chances are you get a superstar. They got a superstar in Durant which payed off dividends for them. So, either tank bad enough to land a sure-fire franchise player in the draft or trade for immediate help. Slowly building a team does not work. Building through the draft only works if you get a player projected to be a SUPERSTAR. don't give me this shit about the Spurs being a slowly built team, they have the greatest PF of all time and just surround him with talent. Throw money, try anything to get the top players in the league via trade, free agency, whatever. After you get them, if that doesn't work, blow it up and be so bad to get a top lottery pick. rinse. repeat.
Global warming will soon make Portland the Miami of the west coast so we just need to clear cap space and wait for the next generation of the Big 3!
Stockpiling talent is ultimately the name of the game. You hope that you do land a franchise guy, but most of the time you don't. This is why some teams are perpetually terrible, despite perpetually picking very high in the draft. If you get the Durant, Duncan, Rose, then great, but if not then you can use your young talent to land some other franchise player. i.e. how the Celtics got KG and Allen, LAC got Paul, NJ got Deron.
Just like we did last time.......... just don't draft guys who's knees are made of marbles and springs.
The biggest consideration in getting a top quality player via trade is the ability to clear or absorb cap space then providing some youth or draft picks. And you have to do this while already having a legitimate star player on the team that you don't lose.
also draft players who A: actually want to play basketball B: don't have self esteem/confidence issues C: want to be in Portland.
Draft only white guys because Portland is a great city to live in if you're white and have a lot of money!
Build through draft (Durant, Harden, Westbrook, Sefolosha, Ibaka). Acquire vets through free agency/trade (Fisher, Perkins). It's a simple formula. Blazers built the right way too (trade+draft). Miller/Mills/Nolan Roy/Mathews/Williams Wallace/Batum/Babbit Aldridge/Hickson?/Thomas Oden/Camby/Pryz? ^^^Much deeper/balanced than any team in the league right now.
well, he was traded for. And I don't know if he made it a contender. The talent on the 99 and 2000 teams was a LOT to do with it.
"The right way" is to not blow a #1 overall pick when an MVP-level player is available. Bad luck with Oden is why the Blazers are rebuilding. Roy's knees aside, Oden and LMA would have been enough to attract a quality PG. Oden was a solid pick, as was Durant, and the hindsight of people at times is ridiculous at times. Had Seattle won the pick, Sam Presti would be out of a job, and Keven Pritchard would be the toast of the NBA.
