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Ziller: Blazers Get "D" For 2007 NBA Draft

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Tom Ziller of SBNation.com has decided to give revisionist NBA Draft grades for all thirty teams for the last five years. He starts with 2007 and writes that the Portland Trail Blazers didn't fare so well. ---------------------------- This week, we'll look back at the last five NBA drafts and assess grades for performance. For all the folks who rip next-day draft grades in June, none of them seem to go back and revisit later. ... PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS Greg Oden (1), Rudy Fernandez (24), Petteri Koponen (30), Josh McRoberts (37), Taurean Green (52) Grade: D What looked like a massive haul turned out to be a nightmare and scrap metal. We all know Oden's story well: a series of injuries befell him, and he's out of the league trying to rebuild himself. When on the court, he was actually quite good, which salvages part of this grade -- without the injuries, he wouldn't have been a bust. But would he have been nearly as good as the player Portland passed up, the three-time scoring champ? Rudy never really fit and could be headed back to Spain. Koponen still hasn't arrived, McRoberts was a neat reserve for a couple years before bailing, and Green never made an NBA impression. Most of this grade can be attributed to fate. But for a draft harvest that should have been bountiful, this turned out awfully bleak. ---------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter