McMillan Wanted Morrison Over Roy In 2006
Portland coach Nate McMillan actually wanted the team to draft Adam Morrison over Brandon Roy back in 2006.
"He told me he wanted to pick me if I fell to that spot," Morrison, a reserve for the Lakers, said. "He said he'd draft me."
Back then, Morrison had just been voted second in collegiate Player of the Year balloting.
After an hour-long pre-draft workout at the Blazers' practice facility, McMillan met with Morrison in his office where the two "talked for a little bit" about the upcoming draft.
"I thought all of those guys were good," McMillan said.
"It was a really good group."
Via Portland Sentinel
almost 2 years ago
seanch123
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LMFAO
And that’s why KP is the GM.
"B-Roy is the best shooting guard I have played against"
-Ron Artest
by premthegrem on Mar 8, 2010 4:20 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
i seem to recall that
nate wanted to pick roy even if we had won the lotto
Awesomeness (ô'səm-nes)
1. n. Something that inspires awe
2. n. Nicolas Batum
Would he have taken LMA also?
No more draft day input from Nate.
He most likely would have been taken before our next pick.
But it’s hard to say what trades would have been available.
"...it was like he brought his own personal cross-wind to the arena." - Dave
"you...are my number 1...guy"
Jack Palance voice
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
this is most likely the correct interpretation
"its tough to play with one eye, unless you're a pirate." Delonte West
"una canasta a Pau en la cara" Rudy
by Honka Playboy on Mar 8, 2010 7:22 PM PST up reply actions
maybe because nate expected roy to get picked higher than he did.
"There are a few teams you have to watch out for in the fourth quarter."
"Yeah, but Portland definitely is not one of them."
-New Orleans Hornets broadcasters at the end of the third quarter with the Hornets leading 74-59. Portland later ends up winning 97-89.
"They don't mind him shooting that shot at all. Rudy Fernandez is not that great of a 3pt shooter."
-New Orleans Hornets broadcasters right after a Rudy Fernandez missed 3pter. Rudy Fernandez finished the game with three 3pters on six attempts.
Dwight Jaynes should be all over this
reason # 574 why Nate is terrible.
Dwight should seriously write a book called “backseat driver: lessons in coaching from a guy who has never played the game”
Ball handling and dribbling are my strongest weaknesses."—David Thompson
It's not that he's never played the game.
It’s that he just doesn’t know much about how the game is played at the NBA level. He is a casual observer representing himself as an expert. Between the “Godfather” and that little weasel guy he always argues with on the show, Talking Ball is pretty much garbage.
"I just played my game. I didn't do anything special. Just take the open shot, make cuts to basket, get rebounds. That's it." ~Nic Batum
The real irony here is that half of BE at the time wanted Portland to draft Morrison. Not to mention all of the local media.
Founder of the "Crash Batumcoot" Movement.
Anything Canzano goes the extra mile to back
Should not be supported. I never liked Morrison, but when Canzano started the stache fan club, I knew he was the wrong guy.
"...it was like he brought his own personal cross-wind to the arena." - Dave
Oh, and I wasn't a huge Roy supporter.
I wanted Aldridge or Thomas and Rudy Gay. Foye and Roy sounded like acceptable consolation prizes. Oops!
"...it was like he brought his own personal cross-wind to the arena." - Dave
I'll admit it.
I wanted to “Draft the Stache”. I wasn’t even sure he’d be any good. I guess I just wanted someone on the Blazers I could get excited about. And I wasn’t the only one. There was a whole movement to “Draft the Stache”, but Blazer fans ignore that and tend to be in denial about it, much like Germany won’t admit the Holocaust happened.
http://portland.metblogs.com/2006/06/13/draft-the-stache/
Get well Greg! Rip City is still behind you!
by axel360 on Mar 8, 2010 8:29 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
because i am a husky fan
i was roy all the way
Awesomeness (ô'səm-nes)
1. n. Something that inspires awe
2. n. Nicolas Batum
by thomasikehara on Mar 8, 2010 8:41 PM PST up reply actions
Not every single Blazer fan wanted Morrison
But most did. I actually was happy with the Roy pick because Morrison was gone and I liked Roy’s game. It was the Aldridge pick I wasn’t happy about. I kinda thought he was going to be a bust and wanted the Stache.
Get well Greg! Rip City is still behind you!
Since I haven't really followed college ball much since the Beavers began to fade in the nineties...
…I had no passionate opinions re: the ‘06 draft. Henry Abbott was all for Roy, and that impressed me a lot (and now of course I feel like an idiot for barely paying attention to the Huskies during Brandon’s four years there, but who knows where these guys will end up?). I also distinctly remember thinking why’d they spend a #6 on Martell when they’re already bringing in another rookie for that job? But I also thought “Well, at least Martell is built like a small forward.”
by Modal Rounder on Mar 8, 2010 10:29 PM PST up reply actions
...and I remember Sportcenter saying Randy Foye
was the best guard in the draft so I was hoping we’d get him. It’s not always easy to know who’ll flourish in the NBA. I don’t remember folks predicting that Michael Jordan would be the next Michael Jordan when he came out of college.
Yeah...I'd say good 80% was pro 'stache
I think it’s just facial hair and Oregon thing?
I was vehemently against Ammo and Pro-Roy, though. The arguments I made at the time was even with all his scoring, Morrison had hard time achieving separation from his defender. If he can’t shake WCC defenders, he is going to get eaten alive by NBA defenders…which was proven to be true. At the same time, Roy could score anywhere and had no issue with separation from defender in a superior league.
Given the draft follies of the year before, I probably would have blown a gasket if we went Morrison. Remember, the decision to trade down for Webster was pretty popular at the time as well… until Chris Paul started playing, anyway. While I was one of rare few Blazer fans that wanted to stand pat and draft Paul, that’s only because I watch ton of ACC ball and your average Blazer fans don’t.
"I think he’s been doing some good things. I think he’s been doing some good things. He’s had to play a lot of minutes lately with Blake being out. I think he’s been doing some good things." -Nate McMillan
Trading down was popular?
Anyone who watched Paul play in the NCAA Tourney for Wake knew he was out of this world. I liked Webster, but I was beside myself when we passed on Paul. Now, I will admit, I had no interest in taking D Will.
"...it was like he brought his own personal cross-wind to the arena." - Dave
At the time of the move, it was.
Few fans were on board for staying put and drafting Paul because we have our PG of the future in Telfair. (which is pretty ridiculous now, but plausible back then) Plus, Martell did already have an NBA body with a pretty stroke. That was the company line, and good % of the remaining Blazer fans in the lean era did buy that explanation from Nash.
"I think he’s been doing some good things. I think he’s been doing some good things. He’s had to play a lot of minutes lately with Blake being out. I think he’s been doing some good things." -Nate McMillan
I hate to be "that guy" (the guy who says "I said all along team X should have taken player X")
But I really wanted CP3.
However, you could argue trading down and taking Webster instead of staying put and taking Paul was actually the smarter move, simply because who knows what players we get in all the drafts after 2005? Probably not Roy, Aldridge, or Oden and maybe not even Rudy, Nic, or Bayless.
Get well Greg! Rip City is still behind you!
by axel360 on Mar 9, 2010 5:09 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
To be fair, I wanted Ty Thomas over Aldridge so it's not like "I always know better than GMs!"
We’d likely still have Roy even with CP3, since we still had the pieces to make that trade. Not likely Oden or Aldridge, though. As for the rest, they’d be somewhat obtainable especially Rudy (straight cash for phoenix’ pick) and Nic (late first rounder).
"I think he’s been doing some good things. I think he’s been doing some good things. He’s had to play a lot of minutes lately with Blake being out. I think he’s been doing some good things." -Nate McMillan
Oh..and Oden over KD.
although that one isn’t completely over, but KD is definitely winning that argument at this point.
"I think he’s been doing some good things. I think he’s been doing some good things. He’s had to play a lot of minutes lately with Blake being out. I think he’s been doing some good things." -Nate McMillan
I was all for Oden too
Although Durant is lighting it up, Oden (unlike, say, Tyrus Thomas or Adam Morrison) has been held back largely due to bad luck with injuries, rather than just being a bad player. He was really coming along this year. In the end, the two will be judged (mostly) by rings.
Get well Greg! Rip City is still behind you!
Martell did already have an NBA body with a pretty stroke. That was the company line, and good % of the remaining Blazer fans in the lean era did buy that explanation from Nash.
The story is Martell had a great workout at the PF when Paul Allen was present and hardly missed a shot. If you remember the Blazers of 5 years ago they were called “the gang who couldn’t shoot straight” and the feeling was the team needed floor stretchers. And of course this was pre-Roy so wings were more of a premium
No matter what fans thought back then, the Blazer’s owner was going to get his man. And Nash had a really good reason to not draft another lottery PG (Bassy)
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
And as said above
This is why he’s not the GM.
"Good evening Blazer fans, wherever you may be!"-Bill Schonely
Wow..
In other news did you guys hear Monty Williams blame himself for the Denver loss and not Nate? Monty says “my bad gameplan.” I donno. Something is missing from that.
"When it's played the way is spozed to be played, basketball happens in the air; flying, floating, elevated above the floor, levitating the way oppressed peoples of this earth imagine themselves in their dreams."
- John Edgar Wideman
what if we had drafted ..
brook lopez, dejuan blair, kevin durant, rudy gay…im sure we could have got someone better than martell and trout. help me out
why?
30 teams get to guess about the likely future of every draft pick. You can’t call foul just because your one team in thirty didn’t get it right every time. I think we’ve fared far better than most.
That being said, it might help your argument if you compared the players your criticizing with players that were available at that pick during the same draft (i.e. if not Webster, Paul).
I told Nate to draft him
He came into my work and I said “draft the stash” and he said “we’ll see” with a little bit of a laugh. I’m an idiot
ALLLL Rudy Then!!!!!
just think, if KP had stuck to the "script" and drafted Morrison
Stephen A Smith wouldn’t have had a meltdown during draft coverage and said things like “I have no idea what Portland is doing!” etc
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Draft the Stache? PUH-LEEZE.
As a Dawg fan, I definitely wanted Portland to draft Roy because by that point we pretty much knew the Sonics were long gone. Roy should have been POY in college and not just because he was destined to do well in the NBA; because he was the best college player that year. Period. I think a ton of the NCAA basketball classes of ‘06-’09 would completely agree.
Morrison’s always had too many health liabilities, plus playing in the WCC is a big meh. Health liabilities being the way he treats himself. I’m a diabetic and know I have to take better care of my body than most because of it, and he doesn’t even take as good of care of himself as the average person or even average diabetic person does, let alone the NBA.
Not like the Utah Jazz... it's about REAL jazz. Go Dawgs, Go Blazers, Go Tarheels!
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