Dan Patrick's take on the NBA Lottery Proceedings

by Samuelson on May 23, 2007 8:44 PM PDT

"So now you have the lottery and you're saying to yourself, you GOTTA have Greg Oden go to a big market, right? It's already designed. Maybe we put that envelope in the freezer and that way when Adam Silver reaches in and grabs it... he pulls out the Boston Celtics... the Celtics are BACK! Overcome the Len Bias death, the Reggie Lewis death, the 'let's tank games and keep Rick Pitino in Boston'... now they end up on the outside looking in.

Not great for the NBA.

Not great at all.

But great for Portland.

And you know what? Portland's gone through an awful lot. I mean, Portland is trying to get past taking Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan. But you didn't hear Portland whine and moan and complain... they had the Jail Blazers there! Still a great great market. Great place to see a basketball game. Love their basketball team. You could make the argument that the Portland Trail Blazers have been as important to Portland as the Spurs have been to San Antonio.

Small markets: they surround their teams.

They love their teams.

It's always half full, not half empty.

So Portland is gonna take Greg Oden (or at least they should). And then, Seattle (or the artist formerly known as Seattle) they get Kevin Durant.

And keep in mind, Seattle tried to recover from trading Scottie Pippen for Olden Polynice! Now, did they rebound from that because they ended up with Gary Payton? Yes.

It's good for those markets, it's good for those cities, it's good for those teams.

It's not good for the NBA.

But you can't sit there and accuse the commissioner of being part of a conspiracy theory.

It's going to get interesting here. It's a deep draft, lot of players that can help you right away.

Also keep this in mind: when you look at drafts in any other sport, which draft has a player who can help you right away? It's the NBA.

JaMarcus Russell may not even play for the Raiders this year.

I mean, Reggie Bush as great as he was in college, wasn't that big of an impact player for the New Orleans Saints. Now you do have certain players who come in and play right away and play well.

Greg Oden changes an entire franchise.

Kevin Durant may change an entire franchise.

The importance of the lottery: is it fair? If you're one of the worst teams should you get a chance at the top? Why don't you just have: "Hey, you get the worst record, you get the #1 pick. Anyone accuse the Raiders of tanking this year? We accused NBA teams of tanking.

And i believe for the Celtics, rightfully so.

But for the Celtics to sit around there and say: "Welp! We hope we win the lottery!

No, why don't you have front office executives who make right decisions, good trades, good drafts instead of saying "Welp! gonna have a leprechaun here, we'll send Tommy Heinsohn in there, that should do it! That should make up for all of the ineptitude we have here. Losing breeds losing, make some smart decisions, bring in the correct people, that would go a long way.

I like the odds of Portland winning the lottery:

Less likely than Shaq making 11 consecutive free throws.

Rolling snake eyes on consecutive rolls of the dice.

Flipping a coin and getting heads 10 consecutive times.

Good for Portland! If you get Greg Gden, I believe you're getting a great kid. A kid who wasn't afraid to embarrass himself shooting free throws left handed. Good team player. runs the floor, got a good sense of humor. And hopefully they've gotten rid of all of those knuckleheads that they had up there in Portland.

Got Brandon Roy. Hopefully you fight the urge to make a trade. You don't have to win now.

Don't cave into that urge, it's not winning now.

And as David Robinson said last night, "Greg Oden in 5 years: that's gonna be the right pick."

Durant's ready to play right now. And Seattle? They're going to get a very good player in Kevin Durant.

I believe there are a lot of players that are similar to Kevin Durant that have come out or will continue to come out. That hybrid: 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, 6-10... plays a couple of different positions.

Greg Oden doesn't come along very often. There aren't very many true big men.

Not great for the nba. But you know what?

That's not the way to look at it, if you're a Portland fan or a Seattle fan.

Is there a way to fix the lottery?
It's made for TV. I mean, you have to admit: This is more drama than you ever saw in the conference finals so far. There's no drama in the Spurs so far. The only drama was LeBron: Pass it or shoot it.

That was damn good drama last night (or as we like to say in the Midwest "that was drah-mah!")

And I love that the whispering that goes on...

Also you have grown men there with good luck charms...

"Oh and I brought this, uh, it's a lucky foot that I brought, and this was a hole in one that was scored..."

These are grown men, with their franchises at stake. And the whispering happens on when someone drops out of the top three.

"What? Who dropped out? Boston? Boston's out!"

And the reactions of the Boston fans: unnnnhhhhh.

Didn't you react that way when you saw the Celtics play this year? unnhhhhh.

Memphis: unnnhhh

And a word to the wise: don't tank.

Portland had a 5% chance.

Good for them.

It's not fair. It used to be that you flipped a coin, Phoenix and Milwaukee FLIPPED A COIN to decide who got Lew Alicindor. And you know what the consolation prize was that year for Phoenix? Neal Walk. Yep.

You flipped a coin.

That's what it comes down to. You flipped a coin. heads, I mean tails, I mean heads. let's bring in Jerome Bettis to call. Heads. Hails, I take hails! Teds!"

Tweet Comment 12 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

What is good for the nba?

Well sure it would be have been more ideal in a bigger market. But so what? Smaller markets deserve the biggets stars too. Why can't anybody admit that? What is that like some BS statement that only Blazer Manics can feel? In the nba there are more small markets than big one's. I feel the nba has spent more time marketing stars in big markets than promoting the league as a whole. Which in the long run is a mistake. Not everybody in this country cares about the nba and not everybody who's passionate about the nba lives in a city. The NBA is making a bad bad mistake and anybody who thinks of this as bad for the NBA is too.

by pookeyguru on May 23, 2007 8:57 PM PDT reply actions

CIties

How many people get to watch teams from their city in the championship series, 2. Out of the whole U.S. of A. 2. It doesn't matter where the star goes, if it is a big city maybe 200,000 more people will watch a few games than a small city, thats it. But, for the most part I don't think it is a big deal.

by hightide on May 23, 2007 9:20 PM PDT reply actions

Or

1 if Toronto ever makes it. Yep exactly.

by pookeyguru on May 23, 2007 9:31 PM PDT reply actions

the nba needs to realize

that theirs more important things then big/small markets..

like how pathetic that other conference, if you can call it a conference, is.

ROY for R.O.Y.

by junit3123 @ Blazer's Edge on May 23, 2007 9:36 PM PDT reply actions

This wont help

that disparity though.

by pookeyguru on May 23, 2007 9:41 PM PDT up reply actions

Big markets vs. small markets?

Boston has 4.4 million people and is the 11th largest city. Portland has 2.1 million people and is the 23rd largest city. The difference between 11 and 23 is only 2.3 million, not a whole heck of alot when you figure LA has 18 million. And with Dan Patrick speaking of coinflips, if the two founders of Portland had had a different outcome on the coinflip for the name of the city, Boston Oregon would have beat out Boston MA for the #1 pick this year...

by Blazerholic on May 24, 2007 3:06 AM PDT reply actions

also 1 more important fact

the nba bandwagon fans go where the stars are but it's already starting out here on the e.coast making the blazers the bad guys like the raiders. if you wacth j.gray's interview last night with both durant*oden neither kid seem to happy about the outcome especially oden.and i get the feeling at the end of the day k.durant in my opinion is winning the choice 55-45.if you go to www.wfan.com and go to mike*maddog page and click on the pricthard interview you can tell how much more passion he has for durant over oden fascinating listen...

by fatty on May 24, 2007 7:09 AM PDT reply actions

I can't agree with you Fatty

I watched the ESPN interviews. I couldn't say that Oden or Durant were unhappy with the outcome. What I gathered is that neither guy is the articulate spokesman that we expect from future Icons.

Oden is a soft spoken, low key guy who actually contemplated staying in school because he enjoying the experience without all of the pressure. All eyes have been on him since he was in middle school.

Durant exploded onto the scene this year and proved to be a rock solid, win at all costs type of player. If you give him the ball, he's going to score. But can you make a case that he made his entire team better? Perhaps. But at 18-14, 6-10 in the Big 12, it's hard to make the case that he will automatically make your team better. Without Oden, how does Ohio State do?

The one thing that became apparently clear last year, this team will succeed with teamwork and chemistry, not superstars and fanfair.

Durant may one day command MJ type skills, but will that translate in to team success. MJ was not only blessed with the talent but he was also driven, intelligent and settled for nothing less.

At this point can you say that about Durant? If you can't, then Oden is the only logical choice for the #1 pick in the draft. And KP knows this.

So while Pritchard seems to sit on the fence about who he is going to select, be assured that he already knows and that this is his opportunity to bring some more media sunshine to this franchise.

KP, keep floating back and forth. It makes for a more dramatic, entertaining buzz for the Scarlet and Black known as the Portland Trailblazers.

But in the end, we all know who is going to be joining this team, come draft day. The only real suspense will be what happens after the first pick in the 2007 draft is selected. Will KP trade Zbo on Draft Day or whill he wait for the first day of Free Agency.

Was Damon really a bad Blazer, or did he get the short end of the stick?

by rpxxxiv on May 24, 2007 11:01 AM PDT reply actions

Don't fault Durant

his Texas team had been absolutely stripped of their talent for a few consecutive years. They were almost entirely composed of freshmen, sophomores, and lower-tier upperclassman who probably won't be drafted.

- Sam

by Samuelson on May 24, 2007 12:46 PM PDT up reply actions

I guess my response would be

Who did OSU have that was really any better? You could make a case for Conely and Cook, but there is a big discrepancy between how OSU did and how Texas did.

Oden has more of game altering presence about his play, whereas Durant could dominate a game. At this juncture, Portland may miss out on the super stardom that comes with Durant's abilities, but I'd take the championships that come with solid team play, aggressive defense and good chemistry.

What happens if Seattle falters during Durant's rise? Hasta.

But in Portland, this doesn't have to become Oden's team for us to succeed. We have enough guys who will be able to gel and grow within the franchise that there doesn't need to be a super star, for there to be leadership.

We have a leader, Brandon Roy. We have the pieces to bring together the picture of winning. If Oden comes here, he won't feel obligated to put the team on his back or be the best player on the floor. But if Durant came here, there would be pressure for him to be the Man, and this may lead chemistry issues. Coach doesn't push for individual greatness, and Durant's career at Texas shows just that. He was on a team that played at a much lower level than he did and I'm afraid that they may have amounted to a little too much shine on this star.

You put him at Duke, or North Carolina, does he perform as well? Competing day in and day out against guys where the gap between his greatness and their's is much smaller, than at Texas, will he continue to perform at the next level?

You gotta love that we're not going to draft for spectacular Player, we are going to draft for team success. And with that, you need to draft someone who has brought his team success, even when injured, who is not in a hurry to prove anything, but has the gifts to excel at this love we call the game of basketball.

Was Damon really a bad Blazer, or did he get the short end of the stick?

by rpxxxiv on May 24, 2007 4:24 PM PDT up reply actions

Don't get me wrong

I'm entirely in the Greg Oden camp.

I just don't think one can fault Kevin Durant for his team's success (or lack thereof), especially because he's a freshman and only had one year with the program. They both played in huge conferences and were pretty successful.

- Sam

by Samuelson on May 24, 2007 6:05 PM PDT up reply actions

I pretty much agree

But I think OSU was a bit better than Texas, and better coached. I don't watch a ton of college basketball but I made a point to watch Oden and Durant cause I remained hopeful all through out the year...

So for once I have some actual experience with the college guys we're gonna draft.

Durant was the main guy on Texas, but a LOT of the time the other guys didn't act like it. He didn't get nearly as many shots as he should have... and the coach didn't force them to give him the ball everytime.

On a better team with a smarter coach, I think Durant might have done even better. Probably less rebounds if he played alongside a good rebounding center, and less points if on North Carolina (their big NBA scorers always have deflated scoring numbers at UNC), but otherwise the support he got from having better teammates would have helped a lot.

Oden also did not get the ball enough. Guys like that, on another tier from the other players, you need to just give it to them and let them live. Sure, within the team construct, but don't put the gameplan and offense you designed in your office a few years before above the reality of the situation: you need to just give the damn ball to the best player.

MY POINT OF VIEW: Oden's and Durant's teammates knew Oden and Durant had nothing to worry about come time to turn pro. I definately got the feeling that the teammates were trying to 'get theirs' at the expense of Oden and Durant, trying to prove that they were good also and make a name for themselves in the long shadows of our next superstar.

It didn't really work and affected what the true numbers of both guys were. I say on the Blazers, with the unselfish team guys we got, their numbers will be even better.

Mortimer

by Mortimer on May 25, 2007 3:56 AM PDT up reply actions