We needed interior toughness last year. McRoberts has a little bit, at least in comparison to the rest of the team sans Oden, but he was the human victory cigar.

...

Now I need to go update the BlazersEdge Dictionary.

Sorry, cant get past the first three words.

You’re saying Michael Jordan became who he was because he was drafted into the perfect situation? Clyde would have just shifted over to SF. Jordan is a basketball absolute in any situation. He would have been great wherever he went – immediately.

There is no rule saying you have to play 1 point guard, 1 shooting guard, 1 small forward, 1 power forward, and 1 center at all times. If the best player available is a SG, then maybe sometimes we play 3 shooting guards along with a power forward and a center. How many teams still start a traditional lineup? How many teams finish a game with a traditional lineup?

We just need to get the best players we can. Because this team has so much promise I think we sometimes forget that this team couldn’t even make the playoffs last year. In fact, has anyone on the team other than Blake, Jones, and Raef ever even been in the playoffs?

The drafting mistakes are nearly always stemming from drafting for NEED over BPA. In the lottery where the players are more elite and have value even if they don’t play right away, you draft BPA except in extraordinary circumstances.

Jordan would have destroyed any SG in front of him. I get your point, but I do think Jordan is a bad example. He would destroy them on and off the court, Jordan style. He very well might not have liked being in Portland or sharing with Drexler early on, but any situation would’ve been the right situation for Jordan. He was just so dominant MENTALLY, he’d take over any shooting guard of the day.

Let’s say we draft this year’s Jordan, DeAndre. He won’t play much behind Oden and Pryzzle, for sure. But he’s still a legit athletic 7 footer with a lot of value, and could get us something even better than having him on our roster. Hell, maybe he sucks—he won’t even get a chance to show he sucks. It’s a perfect crime!

Later in the draft, I think drafting for far off potential or current needs is just fine. But in the lottery, the talent is too high to merely go with need. Consider need into the equation, if all things equal go for need, but it can’t be the dominant factor into who you draft.

That’s how mistakes are made, and not just Bowie over Jordan.

Mortimer

Let’s not forget that Martell would be a senior in college this year.
Paul is a couple of years older and was mature when he entered the
league. PG’s are typically more prepared mentally/physically upon
entry into the NBA and high school shooter/scorers take longer to
come into their NBA skills, ie Rashard Lewis.
We all love and respect BRoy’s game/total package, but look at
what 4 years of college and hard work did for his game. In the end,
the Martell vs. Paul will be in the long run, not the beginning of
acclimation to the big/strong/fast NBA. Have patience !

COINCAST SUCKS !!! BRING BACK OUR BLAZERS !!!

I like to run it though an equation, if
BPA*(Trade value exchange rate)>Need
Than go with the BPA.

This term is fairly ambiguous. It seems like a lot of BPA is based on what happens after the draft rather than leading up to the draft. Does anybody remember any strong critics of the Sam Bowie pick in 84’ that addresses the issue of talent rather than just his leg injury? I would love to see some evidence that Sam Bowie was not BPA that came out prior to the 84’ draft.

or argument. I don’t think it can be proven either way.

I do however agree with your points about how thin the line is from very good NBA regular to end of bench player. I’ve always been of the impression that there are always guys who are good enough to be playing, but don’t get the chance. The first two examples that leap to mind are a couple of my favorite former Blazers – Ime Udoka and Mario Ellie. I tend to think Khryapa fits in that category. Nate obviously saw something he liked in him and the guy earned a fair amount of PT. He then gets traded to Chicago and now everybody thinks the guy sucks. Yet someone with the Bulls must have thought enough of him to have him included in a deal to trade down two positions in the draft. My opinion is that Khryapa had Luol Deng and Nociones in front of him, plus the Swiss Mister who had just been drafted. In other words, the only way he’s see PT was if at least two guys got hurt.

I don’t think a lot of talent is slipping through the cracks in the N.B.A. . It’s a crucibal of competition and everyone wants to win. Once in a while a guy will find opportunity in a different situation and then “seem” to come out of nowhere but in general if you have talent and are in a good system then 99% of the time the opportunity will arise. I also think history has shown time and time again that you draft BPA not for need. For several reasons. First of all you can draft BPA thinking it’s not a need and then suddenly find yourself due to injury or otherwise “needing” that player. Needs change. Also, of course, if you have a depth of talent it allows for trading for needs. I remember The Blazers drafting Walter Berry, whom we did not actually need, we had Kersey. But Berry had fallen in the draft and was College Player of the Year so we drafted him as BPA. Berry never worked out, for us or anyone in the N.B.A. BUT we were able to trade him based mostly on his reputation for Kevin Duckworth, who was a need. Bottom line for me is when building a team talent is the commodity of value either as a actual piece of your team or as a trading chip, I think you evaluate the entire picture, but then go with BPA and let the chips fall where they may. The deeper you go in the draft the more this tends to homogenize, in other words BPA becomes harder and harder to define. If your looking at two players with what you think are pretty equal potential as far as what type of impact and talent they posses, and one is at a position of need and the other isn’t then I think it’s fair to choose the guy that will fill a need but otherwise I think you have to look at obtaining the best and then use your assets to build the best team you can.