If it’s not an “INC”, it’s a C at best.

As for Claver, the “Ghost of NBA Draft Past” gave that idea to KP. And I agree with him that Claver is a big talent and thus had him on my Blazers draft board albeit for the original #33 pick.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/6/16/911916/slam-online-the-ghost-of-nba-draft
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2009/06/slamonline-mock-draft-victor-claver-no-24/

I for one am just as excited to have the Blazers at a point that they were not in a position to have to land a huge name in the draft. It means that Rip City has arrived.
 As for the guys we got, the biggest deal is the fact that KP has 10 mil plus (if they renounce Freeland and Kopenen) to land “the guy” who will put the team in the finals next year. I think it’s a huge point that there was only ONE guy in this draft that was going to start and contribute on day one, the rest (at least in the short term) are backups. This includes Rubio and Curry.
As for a grade, I would give the Blazers a solid B, and if they land a top shelf PG in free agency or via trade, it becomes an A.

this is what happens when you pick in the mid to late 20’s. Obviously the team is gearing up for a trade and free agency, both of which can have a much larger impact than a late round draftee.

He wasn’t being serious at the time, but back in December he wrote:

We then use our 1st round pick to take Victor Claver

Even idle thoughts can prove to be prescient. Anymore daydreams we should know about?

I don’t know, I had a different opinion of the guy based on what I had seen (Quick’s behind the locker room pieces, video interviews). I thought he had a nice attitude, a bit of a joker thing going with the rest of the team (clothes, music, etc…) and good relationships with them (specially with Rudy and LMA).

He was expected to fall to the second round because he was hurting his draft stock un purpose so he wasn’t tied to the rookie scale, but he’s lottery talent for very cheap.

Salaries are very important. Rudy and Nic are so valuable because they come for cheap. Having 2 solid rotation players for 2M is crazy, and that’s what Claver will bring.

He’ll come in 2 years, at a time when Blazers will have a hard time to add valuable talent via draft, we’re doing it the way the Spurs did it before stashing Oberto, Scola, Splitter…

A great move in a weak draft.

I do like the Claver pick and see it as a good move for this team at this point in time. I really have a problem with the way the team responded to the Blair questions. They thought he would be gone by 22, so they didn’t do their homework? I can see that as an acceptable excuse the first time he passes by, but by the 3rd time that is unbelievable. If you want to take the home run swing, take the fast ball down the center, not the curve. I thought there was a reason behind it, but after reading that I have to give the team a big red F on that one. And that doesn’t stand alone.

The reason that I have such a problem with this goes back to the trade deadline. We have been sitting on a bunch of chips we just couldn’t keep for the past season. So far we’ve lost 2 of them (one huge one in the RLEC in that economy, and now Sergio). We need to get something to get us over the hump while we still have a chance. I like the Eurostash idea, but we aren’t maximizing the potential with the options we have. Sergio needed to go. Anyone can see that. But get something for him. There was nothing there when RLEC came around? Is there something better now that we’re going to do with the money? We’re down to just free agency or a trade. I understand that if you’re not happy with what’s there then you should wait for a brighter day, but our days look limited. I’m not one to criticize the front office normally. I have been on board with everything for the past 3 years and even defended them at the trade deadline, thinking they had something up their sleeve. At this point though it just seems like we are sitting on our hands and letting opportunity pass us by.

Ben, I have to respectfully disagree – I do not think there were any players (outside of maybe three or four) “true short-term difference makers” – this was not that draft, nor would it be in anyone’s truest aspirations picking in the 20s.

Sure, they didn’t make any blockbuster trades, but give them time. Draft night wasn’t the forum for that – they didn’t need more draft picks with any trades. I also think that KP has his eyes set on free agency (where there are people that fit our real needs right now) – those are the true short-term difference makers.

As for Claver, I love it. This guy is getting all sorts of pub in Spain, and if it hadn’t been for that injury in December, he may have gone earlier. A perfect stash ‘n see for a team that didn’t need a rookie on the active roster.

I tell you now what I´ll say: “Yes, he is and we should have known when he was 23 and a Blazer.”

Spaniarrrrrddddd!!!!!! ;)

was knowing that it marked the beginning of the end for Ben’s over-hyping of Bayless consistently at the expense of bashing Sergio needlessly. Hopefully with this post representing the ridiculous peak, from here on it will fade into the distance.

For everyone’s info, the trade exception created from the Sergio Rodriguez trade is worth only $874,000.

http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/resources/08-09teamsalaries.htm

The NBA fiscal year doesn’t rollover until 7/1/2009, so any trades consummated prior to the July moratorium are based on player salaries from this past season.

Ben says that Mills is stashable because of his passport. Is it possible to draft and American player and then “encourage” him to play in Europe for a couple years?

Not that many players would want to do that, but is it possible?

15 = 16. That’s a cute little slogan that somebody cooked up last summer, and I truly hope it wasn’t KP! Management folks are forever coming up with such things — mission statements, covenants, etc. — that they hope will substitute for critical thinking at some point.

It’s definitely the case that in a team sport like basketball, it helps to have a cohesive group of people working together for similar goals. But it’s not realistic, nor is it fair, to expect everyone to sacrifice every last little vestige of self-interest to the common good.

It’s instructive to consider the different expectations for management personnel under these conditions. Where was the outcry when Tom Penn was considering signing up with Memphis recently? Isn’t he just supposed to work his 80-hour weeks without complaint and accept whatever role and responsibility is provided him? Well, he leveraged that little adventure into a promotion and a raise while being showered with praise by the rest of the organization.

It’s generally supposed that Nate and KP, while agreeing on some things, nevertheless have some points of disagreement. KP is thought to favor a longer term approach to a championship, relying heavily on youthful talent, whereas Nate is presumed to want immediate veteran assistance. What if the Blazers were to clearly pursue the path favored by KP and ended up losing more playoff rounds? Would anybody fault Nate for looking elsewhere for a coaching job, where his philosophy was shared more fully by the rest of the organization? I don’t think so. It doesn’t really matter whether there is any substantive issue dividing Nate and KP — but again, it’s instructive to imagine the situation and assess our feelings about it.

It seems to me that players have just as much of a right as their bosses to ensure that their careers are productive, satisfying, and profitable. Of course, in a world where 15 = 16, that might not be true.

Thanks Ben. I feel better. I was bummed last night because I am so used to KP just pritchslapping everyone and got a little to hyped up about what to expect. In the end, even though we didnt make a big trade or land what I considered to be a major prospect, we still are better off than we were at the start of the draft. I still dont like giving up Sergio for so little, but I guess we needed to clear salary and he wanted to move anyways. What all this draft stuff or lack of means is that we are going to target a Freaa Agent PG and we will be involved in some trades. I cant wait to see how it all plays out. Again thanks Ben for the great DDAY report.

I mean, I’d be tempted to give it a “C”…but that’s really not fair, because we/I may not be seeing the importance of any of the moves/picks, which may only become apparent after free agency or future trades have been completed…or when/if the foreign talent ever suit up in the black, white, and crimson.

I have to disagree with this portion of Ben’s assessment:

“The single best thing about not drafting a point guard and trading Sergio, though, is that the Blazers are now forced to make a move at the point guard position this offseason.

Like many others, I believe we needed to make changes at the point. I think Bayless needs more time to develop into hopefully a Tony Parker-like PG to run with Roy. I like Blake, but see him really as a stop-gap type guy – I think we’ve already seen the best he has to offer, and while it is quality, it’s not (imho) quite good enough to be our #1 PG as we enter the “championship window”.

The problem with Ben’s point is that what we have now done is effectively back ourselves into a corner. Everyone now knows we MUST get a PG. By sticking with the Blake/Sergio/Bayless rotation all of last year KP built up a lot of bargaining power – other teams couldn’t low-ball us on trade offers, since we were OK rolling with the trio we had. Now they KNOW we need a point. Our hole there has been exposed, for everyone to see and exploit.

Ultimately I didn’t really think drafting yet another rookie was the way to satisfy our PG need – I’d rather address that hole through trade or free agency – but I would have loved to see us take a step towards solving our issues at the point, instead it looks like we took a step back.

Perhaps that step back was in anticipation of a HUGE leap forward, but now everyone sees it coming and it’s harder to “Pritchslap” someone when they see it coming.

alright norsk, who were your top 10 olympic stander-outers?

mine are probably:

10. M. Gasol
9. P. Mills
8. the Chinese’s jumpshots
7. Calderon – i thought he looked like a 2 guard, but awesome
6. can’t remember six, was too early in the morning when i watched the games
5. lithuania in general – the US stomped them in exhibition but they really came out and competed-check grammar on that sentence.
4. Kobe – as much as balzers hate him, he played very well and was fun to watch play amazing perimeter d, something the blazers could study
3. Coach K – super intense military guy, really inspiring at times
2. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy
1. Dwayne Wade – Bejing MVP IMHO

by appel82 on Dec 1, 2008 8:58 AM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions 0 recs

http://www.blazersedge.com/2008/12/1/676558/monday-junk-dec-1-08#10372128

What memories do you leave in Portland?

Many, and all good ones. They have been three fantastic years, in which the fans, the press and franchise have treated me very well. It is not a fault of anybody, simply it has not worked out like we thought, and that´s all. I leave many friends there.

Getting rid of Sergio.

Addition by subtraction if you ask me.

Him and his whining were getting a little old.

I have faith he will learn from his mistakes. Its only his 3rd draft!

link.