My Name Is Earl

by MGNNoah on Jul 22, 2008 2:17 PM PDT

Ok everyone, we have established through a few recent posts that a lot of new blood is coming in and though we never cry out bandwagon unless you are from LA, this along with our recent (last 3 drafts) good fortune has made some of the aura around our fan-hood pickle (have fun with that one guys). I think we all need to be evened out a little bit, for the sake of karma. If we keep up the trash talking about other GM's and even our own incredible draft picks, we are bound to return to our old ways. So without further wait, the twelve biggest blunders and/or oversights in Portland's draft history.

The first two would be much higher on the list if we didn't end up with a great player one way or another:

#12: Portland Drafts Ronnie Lester #10, passes on Kiki Vandeweghe and Mike Woodson, 1980

Ronnie went straight to Chicago (I honestly don't know what we got out of it, this is only about draft choices) and faded into mediocrity. Woodson went for 14 ppg for his 10 year career playing with a few teams in that time. The man called Kiki came to us four years later as one of the all-time Blazers greats, an extremely prolific scorer. If it wasn't for him joining us later, this pick would look much worse, but we all know it's better to draft a star than to trade for or sign one.

#11: Portland drafts Mychal Thompson #1, passes on Larry Bird, Reggie Theus, 1977

First of all Mychal Thompson was a flat-out stud for us. I'm not sure if Reggie would've been better for us, the only reason this is here is because you don't pass on Larry Legend. If we didn't make a good pick inspite of this, the year 1977 would be hated by us as much as...well, you know.

This next group features some great talent that a lot of teams passed on (not just us), paired with some picks that make you go "Who's that guy?"

#10: Portland selects James Robinson #21, passes on Sam Cassell and Nick the Quick (when he actually was), 1993

James was a mediocre guard that hung around with a bunch of different teams but didn't accomplish a lot. The other two could be considered tier two or three stars in their prime (hence the position on this list).

#9: Portland select Sebastian Telfair #13, passes on Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, Kevin Martin, 2004

I don't remember anyone liking this pick. That said, every GM ended up feeling stupid for letting Kevin Martin slip that far. Besides, the guy who was supposed to save our franchise actually did, just not the way he wanted to.

#8: Portland selects Shawn Respert #8, passes on Michael Finley, 1995

Again, every GM feels stupid about not drafting Finley. We shipped Respert to the Bucks where he dwelled in mediocrity. This one stings a bit thinking what could have been in 2000 if we had Finley with that group. Would we have more titles than we do now? Hang on, we aren't halfway through yet.

#7: Portland selects Erick Barkley #28, passes on Michael Redd, 2000

Well Redd is another guy who slipped much farther than he should have. Although he fits right into the Melo/Z-Bo mold, at the very least he would have been excellent trade bait.

#6: Portland selects Jeff Lamp, passes on Larry Nance, 1981

Lamp stunk. Nance? Not so much...

#5 Portland selects Wally Walker #5, passes on Robert Parish, Adrian Dantley, and Alex English, 1976

Wally was not impressive. But hey, we can pass on a dominant center who earned the nickname "The Chief", and a couple prolific scorers, right?

Next up, welcome to the "Doh!" moments.

#4 Portland trades down for Martell Webster, passes on Chris Paul, Deron Williams, 2005

Well you all knew it was going to be on the list somewhere. If Webster didn't have the ability to explode at any moment, this might rank even higher with me. This is truly an ouch moment in Blazers history.

#3 Portland selects Qyntel Woods #21, passes on Tayshaun Prince and Carlos Boozer

Well this guy (although he was the nicest guy around when I met him, probably because he was buying a blunt wrap from me) was and is truly a waste of space. A disgusting individual if ever there was one. And we passed up the player all the trade board guys are wetting themselves over scheming about. Hassenfeffer!

#2: Portland selects Sam Bowie #2, passes on Michael Jordan, John Stockton, and Charles Barkley, 1984

Nobody needs to cover this anymore. I'm sure people are surprised I didn't rank this number one...

#1: Portland selects LaRue Martin #1, passes on Julius Erving, Paul Westphal, and Bob McAdoo, 1972

The reason why this is number one, our team would be almost as significant with Dr. J as our legend as it would Air Jordan (although we would be a dynasty), and LaRue is widely considered to be the biggest bust of all time. What a waste of a number one.

In conclusion, with the evolution of scouting and the amount of work that now goes in, teams all around the league have greatly improved chances of not making a horrible, horrible mistake. Just as important as that late 70's early 80's improvement in scouting is the evolution we are exclusively leading right now with quality of GM and owner. Hard work and open doors have brought us back from the depths of despair, so let's not laugh at Indiana, Denver, or Dallas as they prepare to fall off the edge of the basketball world. Let's all bask in how cool it is to be on the forefront of the future...Welcome band-wagoners, welcome. And may the good karma keep coming.

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This is my attempt at atonement...

For not sending in my decapitated Travis Outlaw bobblehead when Dave was doing the Oden’s knee curse removal.

I want to be tucked in by Greg Oden and have him tell us stories about the old days.

by MGNNoah on Jul 22, 2008 2:24 PM PDT reply actions

I'd move the Bird/Thompson draft way up the list

Sure, Mychal was a terrific player and he’s one of the most entertaining guys who have ever dawned the black and red, but Bird parted company with him in a huge way (I don’t see Thompson as much of the “flat-out stud,” although I’ll always love him for having given the rookie Clyde Drexler the nickname “Rexler”-“no D”). Thompson’s greatest year would have been merely average (or even slight below average) by Bird’s standards.

Of course, another blown draft was the one-time-only ABA dispersal in 1976, when management “gave away” (in the words of Lucas and Walton) Moses Malone (after having him around for training camp). There’s another dynasty lost (depressing to think how many times they’ve been close, huh?), and the greatest insurance policy Bill Walton’s chronically hobbled feet and legs would have ever had.

by Modal Rounder on Jul 22, 2008 2:41 PM PDT reply actions

well

Remember Larry got drafted as a junior before he was even ready for the pros. It wasn’t something that had been done before and because of it they made the rule that you had to declare for the draft. So I would say everyone other than Red Auerbach got hosed on that one

I remember the good old days. The Rasta Monsta days.

by GreatOden'sRaven on Jul 22, 2008 3:25 PM PDT up reply actions

I agree and also add

that Boston had to sign Larry before the next draft or he would have returned to the draft the following year. Since big money for rookies was not much in those days Larry chose Red (or Green with the other perspective). Teams knew they could draft Larry but others (including Portland) figured he would not sign until the next year. An uneven contest with Boston’s legend.

Aldridge said. "We feel like we can beat any team. We feel like we can beat the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, whoever any night right now, and we'll still be here when those teams get old and their guys retire. We're going to be here for a long time."

by lee3022 on Jul 22, 2008 11:35 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks to both of you for clarifying that situation

I knew that things were complicated by Bird’s having been a fifth-year senior and that he’d been drafted before he finished his college career, but I couldn’t remember the specifics, so thanks again.

by Modal Rounder on Jul 23, 2008 5:18 AM PDT up reply actions

Sounds like the "Anti-Portfolio"

There is a very successful and old investment company who is pretty open about the mistakes they made by passing on opportunities to invest (early stage) into technology companies that went on to become highly successful: Apple, Ebay (“Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding. No-brainer pass.”), FedEx (seven times), Google, PayPal (“Rookie team. Regulatory nightmare”), Intel, ...

I found being so honest about your f-ups a nice trait. Maybe the Blazers should do the same on their website, although maybe not the latest one. Martell might feel unwanted ;-)

http://www.bvp.com/Portfolio/AntiPortfolio.aspx

Coach, I promise I wasn't running hard ...

by Norsktroll on Jul 22, 2008 3:27 PM PDT reply actions

Hey, my name really IS Earl

And while I find Karma to be a nice idea, I just don’t believe in it. However I do see the point in not gloating or laughing at other teams in bad positions, because we’ve been there and we know what it feels like. We should treat others as we would want to be treated because it’s the right thing to do, not because of some mythical karmic aura.

This does currently exclude the OKC Thieves because they brought it on themselves. Clay Bennett is a bad bad man.

I am the master of my fate, I am the Captain of my soul. - Charles Wesley

by Earl on Jul 22, 2008 3:41 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs

Good one

That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes. - Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35-95AD) Roman Rhetorician, Critic

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 22, 2008 3:46 PM PDT up reply actions

Lol--top 10 nominee

Hey, my name really IS Earl

Integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do.

by prezofdeath on Jul 22, 2008 7:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Agreed (The karma bit was for flavor)

By the way. Go back and look at Thompsons’ career again. He’s not Larry Bird, but he was an extremely valuable player, and I think my placing on the list is justified because of that. A lot of times we got diddly, but in his best year for us, Mychal did almost 21 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal per game. Although not all of his years were that strong, they were all very quality.

I want to be tucked in by Greg Oden and have him tell us stories about the old days.

by MGNNoah on Jul 22, 2008 3:50 PM PDT reply actions

What year did we draft Clyde?

I must be geting old,once your memory goes,forget it.

by southern oregon on Jul 22, 2008 5:21 PM PDT reply actions

I just answered my one question

by southern oregon on Jul 22, 2008 5:24 PM PDT up reply actions

Wow!

I honestly didn’t realize we passed on Larry Bird and Dr J! I think those are as bad as passing on MJ. What the hell! Portland has horrible draft decision history, let’s hope we’re not talking about Durant/Oden in this way 20 years from now. Oh God.

myspace.com/marktwainindians

by mark twain on Jul 22, 2008 6:44 PM PDT reply actions

wtf

dont ever say that again

That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes. - Marcus Fabius Quintilian (35-95AD) Roman Rhetorician, Critic

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 22, 2008 11:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Or Bayless and all those guys that will be better than him

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by tominhawaii on Jul 23, 2008 7:05 AM PDT up reply actions

Where was tominhawaii today?

Did he, too, find out something about Darius Miles and get whacked?

Darius Miles found me.

by prezofdeath on Jul 22, 2008 7:10 PM PDT reply actions

Whooops

Thought this was the junk drawer…found him over there! Darius apparently hasn’t found him yet…

Darius Miles found me.

by prezofdeath on Jul 22, 2008 7:11 PM PDT up reply actions

Ha Ha

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by tominhawaii on Jul 23, 2008 7:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Julius was headed for ABA

as they needed a marquee player to compete. I may be faulty in my memory but I think the ABA teams pooled their money to help sign Julius Erving for the Nets. So he was not a good pick.

There is so much more knowledge now about players than in the 70’s and in the 90’s it was about finding players who would sit the bench most of the time. We were pretty good then.

You left out passing on Tony Parker, Manu and Josh Howard but then nearly everyone else passed on them also. Boozer was a 2nd round pick so most teams passed on him as well.,

by lee3022 on Jul 23, 2008 12:53 AM PDT reply actions

I only counted the top blunders as in

passing on greats while getting nearly nothing or comparably nothing in return.

I want to be tucked in by Greg Oden and have him tell us stories about the old days.

by MGNNoah on Jul 23, 2008 7:18 AM PDT up reply actions

Let us always remember...

and never forget, most teams also passed on Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey.

"I love this game!" -Moonbeam, from 'Rollerball' right before he was knocked into a permanent coma

by -ken on Jul 23, 2008 4:16 AM PDT reply actions

and Greg Oden

Bayless4Ever

by Sabonis4Ever on Jul 23, 2008 8:34 AM PDT up reply actions

Hard to pass on a guy

that gets drafted first.

I want to be tucked in by Greg Oden and have him tell us stories about the old days.

by MGNNoah on Jul 23, 2008 8:42 AM PDT reply actions

don't forget

we let moses malone walk away in one of our early training camps

by usdblazerfan on Jul 25, 2008 1:40 AM PDT reply actions

I know we are never to speak of Sam-Bam

But Sam Bowie netted us Buck Williams. That alone softens the blow. And just how idiotic would it have been to draft for the ONE position we were set at? We had an all-star (Paxson) and a rookie that everyone was high on (Drexler) already taking up all the minutes at the 2. And Jordan had a suspect jumper.
I’m more irritated that we called the coin-toss wrong and didn’t get Akeem.

"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." -Gandhi
"Throw Thag, throw. Throw throw throw throw throw throw"- Far Side

by TheThinWhiteDuke on Jul 26, 2008 8:16 PM PDT reply actions