Weekend Project

by Dave on Apr 27, 2007 11:54 PM PDT in News

We mentioned yesterday that outside of Travis Outlaw (and he's on the bubble) the Blazers have retained nobody from the 2002, 2003, and 2004 drafts. Hindsight is 20-20 but we're going to give you the benefit of it. Here's the project:

The 2002-2004 drafts are listed in their entirety below. (Click at the bottom of the post to see them.) Using only our first-round picks build the team we should have drafted. This is not supposed to be an exercise in picking the best stat players. Anybody can do that. Really build a team that makes sense as a unit along with the other players we have and tell us why.

Again, use only our FIRST ROUND picks and make them in the same spot we actually drafted! The second rounds of each draft are listed only for reference. You are free to use our first rounders to select anyone who fell to the second round.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

2002 Draft

Round 1

Houston Rockets Yao Ming
Chicago Bulls Jay Williams
Golden State Warriors Mike Dunleavy
Memphis Grizzlies Drew Gooden
Denver Nuggets Nikoloz Tskitishvili
Cleveland Cavaliers Dajuan Wagner
New York Knickerbockers Nene Hilario
Los Angeles Clippers Chris Wilcox
Phoenix Suns Amare Stoudemire
Miami Heat Caron Butler
Washington Wizards Jared Jeffries
Los Angeles Clippers Melvin Ely
Milwaukee Bucks Marcus Haislip
Indiana Pacers Fred Jones
Houston Rockets Bostjan Nachbar
Philadelphia 76ers Jiri Welsch
Washington Wizards Juan Dixon
Orlando Magic Curtis Borchardt
Utah Jazz Ryan Humphrey
Toronto Raptors Kareem Rush
Portland Trail Blazers Qyntel Woods
Phoenix Suns Casey Jacobsen
Detroit Pistons Tayshaun Prince
New Jersey Nets Nenad Krstic
Denver Nuggets Frank Williams
San Antonio Spurs John Salmons
Los Angeles Lakers Chris Jefferies
Sacramento Kings Dan Dickau

Round 2

Golden State Warriors Steve Logan
Chicago Bulls Roger Mason
Memphis Grizzlies Robert Archibald
Denver Nuggets Vincent Yarbrough
Milwaukee Bucks Dan Gadzuric
Cleveland Cavaliers Carlos Boozer
New York Knickerbockers Milos Vujanic
Atlanta Hawks David Andersen
Houston Rockets Tito Maddox
Washington Wizards Rod Grizzard
Washington Wizards Juan Carlos Navarro
Los Angeles Clippers Mario Kasun
Milwaukee Bucks Ronald Murray
Portland Trail Blazers Jason Jennings
Chicago Bulls Lonny Baxter
Philadelphia 76ers Sam Clancy
Memphis Grizzlies Matt Barnes
Utah Jazz Jamal Sampson
Milwaukee Bucks Chris Owens
Seattle Supersonics Peter Fehse
Boston Celtics Darius Songaila
Portland Trail Blazers Federico Kammerichs
Minnesota Timberwolves Marcus Taylor
Miami Heat Rasual Butler
New Jersey Nets Tamar Slay
Dallas Mavericks Mladen Sekularac
San Antonio Spurs Luis Scola
San Antonio Spurs Randy Holcomb
Sacramento Kings Corsley Edwards

2003 Draft

Round 1

Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James
Detroit Pistons Darko Milicic
Denver Nuggets Carmelo Anthony
Toronto Raptors Chris Bosh
Miami Heat Dwyane Wade
Los Angeles Clippers Chris Kaman
Chicago Bulls Kirk Hinrich
Milwaukee Bucks T.J. Ford
New York Knickerbockers Mike Sweetney
Washington Wizards Jarvis Hayes
Golden State Warriors Mickael Pietrus
Seattle Supersonics Nick Collison
Memphis Grizzlies Marcus Banks
Seattle Supersonics Luke Ridnour
Orlando Magic Reece Gaines
Boston Celtics Troy Bell
Phoenix Suns Zarko Cabarkapa
New Orleans Hornets David West
Utah Jazz Aleksandar Pavlovic
Boston Celtics Dahntay Jones
Atlanta Hawks Boris Diaw
New Jersey Nets Zoran Planinic
Portland Trail Blazers Travis Outlaw
Los Angeles Lakers Brian Cook
Detroit Pistons Carlos Delfino
Minnesota Timberwolves Ndudi Ebi
Memphis Grizzlies Kendrick Perkins
San Antonio Spurs Leandro Barbosa
Dallas Mavericks Josh Howard

Round 2

New York Knickerbockers Maciej Lampe
Cleveland Cavaliers Jason Kapono
Los Angeles Lakers Luke Walton
Miami Heat Jerome Beasley
Los Angeles Clippers Sofoklis Schortsanitis
Milwaukee Bucks Szymon Szewczyk
Chicago Bulls Mario Austin
Atlanta Hawks Travis Hansen
Washington Wizards Steve Blake
New York Knickerbockers Slavko Vranes
Golden State Warriors Derrick Zimmerman
Seattle Supersonics Willie Green
Orlando Magic Zaza Pachulia
Milwaukee Bucks Keith Bogans
Houston Rockets Malick Badiane
Chicago Bulls Matt Bonner
Denver Nuggets Sani Becirovic
Utah Jazz Maurice Williams
New Orleans Hornets James Lang
Indiana Pacers James Jones
Philadelphia 76ers Paccelis Morlende
New Jersey Nets Kyle Korver
Toronto Raptors Remon Van de Hare
Chicago Bulls Tommy Smith
Portland Trail Blazers Nedzad Sinanovic
Minnesota Timberwolves Rick Rickert
Boston Celtics Brandon Hunter
Dallas Mavericks Xue Yuyang
Detroit Pistons Andreas Gliniadakis

2004 Draft

Orlando Magic Dwight Howard
Charlotte Bobcats Emeka Okafor
Chicago Bulls Ben Gordon
Los Angeles Clippers Shaun Livingston
Washington Wizards Devin Harris
Atlanta Hawks Josh Childress
Phoenix Suns Luol Deng
Toronto Raptors Rafael Araujo
Philadelphia 76ers Andre Iguodala
Cleveland Cavaliers Luke Jackson
Golden State Warriors Andris Biedrins
Seattle Supersonics Robert Swift
Portland Trail Blazers Sebastian Telfair
Utah Jazz Kris Humphries
Boston Celtics Al Jefferson
Utah Jazz Kirk Snyder
Atlanta Hawks Josh Smith
New Orleans Hornets J.R. Smith
Miami Heat Dorell Wright
Denver Nuggets Jameer Nelson
Utah Jazz Pavel Podkolzine
New Jersey Nets Viktor Khryapa
Portland Trail Blazers Sergei Monia
Boston Celtics Delonte West
Boston Celtics Tony Allen
Sacramento Kings Kevin Martin
Los Angeles Lakers Sasha Vujacic
San Antonio Spurs Beno Udrih
Indiana Pacers David Harrison

Round 2

Orlando Magic Anderson Varejao
Chicago Bulls Jackson Vroman
Washington Wizards Peter John Ramos
Los Angeles Clippers Lionel Chalmers
Atlanta Hawks Donta Smith
Seattle Supersonics Andre Emmett
Orlando Magic Antonio Burks
Atlanta Hawks Royal Ivey
Chicago Bulls Chris Duhon
Toronto Raptors Albert Miralles
Boston Celtics Justin Reed
Seattle Supersonics David Young
Atlanta Hawks Viktor Sanikidze
New York Knickerbockers Trevor Ariza
New Orleans Hornets Tim Pickett
Charlotte Bobcats Bernard Robinson
Portland Trail Blazers Ha Seung-Jin
Miami Heat Pape Sow
Sacramento Kings Ricky Minard
Memphis Grizzlies Sergei Lishouk
Dallas Mavericks Vassilis Spanoulis
New Jersey Nets Christian Drejer
San Antonio Spurs Romain Sato
Miami Heat Matt Freije
Detroit Pistons Rickey Paulding
Houston Rockets Luis Flores
Los Angeles Lakers Marcus Douthit
San Antonio Spurs Sergei Karaulov
Minnesota Timberwolves Blake Stepp
Indiana Pacers Rashad Wright

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Comments

I'd take

Carlos Boozer, Josh Howard, Anderson Varejo

We'd have:
Jack
Roy
Howard
Boozer
Battery of Pryz/Varejo/Lafraentz

Boozer: would you turn down a trade of Randolph for Boozer? 'Nough said

Howard: we finally get a young Scottie Pippen

Varejo: fills the back-up role nicely, any other player that looked interesting (I am not completely familiar with all of them) would have taken the 2 spot, meaning less time for Roy. I saw Varejo in the playoffs last year, and he was hustle, hustle, hustle. His stats aren't bad (7 and 7 in 23 minutes w/less than one turnover), and I'd rather not use Boozer as center, though I admit the emerging Aldridge would complicate that. It would probably be both of them playing some PF and C,depending on the match-up.

Can you imagine a front line of Aldridge, Boozer, and Howard? Add Varejo and Pryz off the bench (Varejo at PF if at the same time), with sixth man Outlaw, and that team is scary, and playing right now.

Chemistry wise: Varejo hustles (again, just from what I've seen),
Boozer plays for Sloan, and Howard for Avery Johnson; playing for McMillan should not be that difficult.

Barbosa was so tempting, but Sergio should be something comparably good, while Outlaw will probably not be compared to Josh Howard. Boozer solves the Zach Problem (and how!) so no Tayshaun Prince (esp. since we'd have Howard). Al Jefferson would be a backup on this team, Martin would be in Roy's spot, and with Sergio up and coming, and the solid Jack, Nelson would just be a logjam at point.

Oh, Nancy! The Superpan is not magical, it will burn you.

by supremepuntiff on Apr 28, 2007 1:17 AM PDT reply actions

barbosa

also has a great pg coach with the suns. he wouldn't have that here and so his growth may not have been as explosive.

by ratbastird on Apr 28, 2007 9:00 AM PDT up reply actions

Barbosa

I agree completely that his situation with the Suns has helped him immensely. Also, I have a hard time calling him a PG. His job with the Suns is as a scorer, even though he does spend time at the PG spot.

Also, for a guy that fast, the Suns system is perfect. He may or may not have flourished with the Blazers.

by jksnake99 on Apr 28, 2007 10:29 AM PDT up reply actions

I probably won't do this

because I'm not familiar enough with the non-Blazers to put together a good team (other than statwise), but just in case I want to try... are you being picky and saying if we don't draft Telfair we can't have Roy or are we assuming that KP did his magic and managed for us to get him without the Telfair trade?

I like supreme's team (first created) and I'm looking forward to seeing the arguments others choose for the team they assemble.

by jorga on Apr 28, 2007 7:39 AM PDT reply actions

Naw

Just assume the 2005-06 drafts were the same even though Telfair was a part of that Roy deal. Otherwise it gets too complex. Pretend some voodoo magic was involved.

--Dave

by Dave on Apr 28, 2007 10:50 AM PDT up reply actions

Plus

I'm sure KP would have gotten Roy no matter what the cost - Telfair or no Telfair.

ROTUNDITYDOTNET

by damir on Apr 28, 2007 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions

Here's my take:

2001-02 Roster (http://www.basket-stats.info/nba/2001-2002/teams/west/portland.htm)
2002: Tayshaun Prince (Qyntel Woods)
Prince competes with Rueben Patterson as the backup SF, and learns how to play 3 positions from Pippin. Can't take Boozer, as Kemp and Randolph are already the backup PFs.

2002-03 Roster (http://www.basket-stats.info/nba/2002-2003/teams/west/portland.htm)
2003: Josh Howard (Outlaw)
Howard immediately becomes the backup SG, but is mainly there for his defense. Leandro Barbosa is also a possibility, but the team already has Stoudamire and McInnis.

2003-04 Roster (http://www.basket-stats.info/nba/2003-2004/teams/west/portland.htm)
2004: JR Smith / Kevin Martin / Anderson Varejao (Telfair/Kryhapa/Monia)
Varejo is the easiest here, a backup big always helps. Smith and Martin are bench scorers after drafting Prince and Howard, but they make Patterson and Derek Anderson expendable.

That leaves (roughly) at the 2004-2005 season:

C: Ratliff / Varejo
PF: Randolph / Shareef
SF: Prince / Miles
SG: Howard / Anderson
PG: Dickau / Gill

Miles and Ratliff may not get those fat extensions, number one priority is a veteran point guard and another center. Steve Nash is available...

by skyman375 on Apr 28, 2007 7:53 AM PDT reply actions

I wouldn't change a thing

all the bad choices led up to a year where we exploded with good choices.

by ratbastird on Apr 28, 2007 9:01 AM PDT reply actions

k

Krstic
Josh Howard
Delonte West

Because this gives us a team of potentially:

PG- Jack
SG- Roy
SF- Howard
PF- Zach
C- Krstic

and a bench:

Guards- Delonte west and fred jones (2 combo guards) and sergio
SF's: Miles, Udoka, Webster
PF/C: Przybilla, Aldridge

once they trade zach (for a veteran pg and a future pick maybe)

they can move LMA to PF, and thats a pretty complete versatile lineup.

ROY for R.O.Y.

by junit3123 @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 28, 2007 9:34 AM PDT reply actions

With the premise that we would still have gotten

...the same picks and same players (minus TO, and we wouldn't have), I would pick:

Tayshaun Prince
Barbosa
Al Jefferson

PG: Barbosa/Jack
SG: Roy/Webster
SF: Prince/Udoka
PF: Randolph/LaFrentz
C: Jefferson/Pryz

Wow, that would be potent. We can only dream.

by jamon51 on Apr 28, 2007 10:16 AM PDT reply actions

Errr

Backup PF should be LaMarcus Aldridge. My bad.

by jamon51 on Apr 28, 2007 10:17 AM PDT up reply actions

OT comment triggered by your post

I finally remembered to look up the etymology of "my bad" thinking it probably came from a tv show I never watched. But according to Random House it came from pick-up basketball. (That's why I thought I could throw it in here.) RH said (in 2000) that it was nominated as "word of the year" in 1999, but was already 20 yrs. old at the time. Popularized by the movie Clueless (which I did see, being a Jane Austen fan.) but naturally I don't remember the phrase :-)

by jorga on Apr 28, 2007 12:03 PM PDT up reply actions

just do me a goddamn favor pricthard

don't be like the miami dolphins and have a young franchise qb in your laps (b.quinn) and take t.ginn.jr that's like the blazers getting a stud like c.brewer at 8 and we take the kid from syracuse instead terrible just a horrible day..

by fatty on Apr 28, 2007 12:20 PM PDT reply actions

My take...

2002 - Tayshaun Prince (Woods). Solves the small forward issue.

2003 - Josh Howard (Outlaw). Solves shooting guard issues. Roy comes in as our point guard.

2004 - We have 2 1st round picks this year. First pick is Kevin Martin (Telfair); second pick is Anderson Varejao (Monia). Meshing that with our current players, that results in a lineup of:

PG: Roy/Jack/Sergio/Dickau

SG: Howard/Martin/Webster

SF: Prince/Udoka/Miles

PF: Randolph/Aldridge/LaFrentz

C: Varejao/Pryz

with LaFrentz also covering center. I would take a big man in the draft (Hibbert or Halford) and trade Jack to Miami for a future 1st rounder, because as Shaq gets older Miami gets worse, plus we can't carry 4 PG and have to make time for Sergio.

That team looks pretty solid to me. With all that firepower you don't have to dump it in to Zach every trip down - he can go back to grabbing offensive boards for his points. Kevin Martin might have to be moved later on to make him happy, which is ok because we could get more picks and have Brandon help cover SG if Webster continues to have problems...

by Blazerholic on Apr 28, 2007 1:38 PM PDT reply actions

If we had R. C. Buford (Spurs GM) or Bryan

Colangelo(Raptors GM) we wouln't have drafted anyone we did from 2000-2003, and our team wouldn't have had as good a position as we did from 04'-06' because of the players we had/would've retained/never acquired and the players availible in late 1st and entire 2nd(00-03).

In my opinion before you can fix any mistakes on your own team, you have to try and figure out why a team like the Spurs is consistently successful, besides having Duncan? What is their system? What players have they drafted/signed/traded for and how do they fit that system? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each rotation player(1-8 or 9) and how do they fit with each others'? How is their character? Also what mistakes has Buford made even if they're minor(like picking Udrih instead of Duhon), and what shoould they have done differently? What do the Spurs have in common with other successful or more specifically, championship teams?

Then examine a consistently unsuccessful model like the Atlanta Hawks. Why have they been unsuccessful? What are the strengths/weaknesses of players 1-8 and how do they fit together? What's missing? How would the team possibly look if Buford was the GM:coach, system, personnel?

by JMblazerfan on Apr 28, 2007 5:46 PM PDT reply actions

There are lots of answers...

to the questions you've posed here, but I'm going to narrow it down to one overriding thing.

Focus. The Spurs have had a vision and the focus to stay with that vision. Timmy doesn't hurt, either.

The Hawks, Clippers, and, in the years we are talking about, the Blazers have had little or no focus, no clear cut game plan. The Blazers changed direction at least three times during this recent stretch.

The good news is that they seem to have recovered their focus and seem to be narrowed in on a game plan.

by ken @ Blazer's Edge on Apr 28, 2007 7:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Just a reminder

If I'm not mistaken, the guidelines of the post are this:

Choose any player taken after our pick in exchange for the player we actually picked (no second round switches! you should only be replacing one player per draft), with said actual player being in bold.
Our picks in '05 and '06 are NOT affected. It's not a woulda-coulda-shoulda kind of post that asks where are team would be right now if the course of draft history were altered, but rather, just for fun, say you could insert a guy we passed up on from 02-04 onto our current 06 team, with replacing the actual draftees from those years the only stipulation. So no worrying on missing out on Roy, and no need to lay out a roster including anybody form the actual draft years (i.e., Shawn Kemp is non-existent, as far as this scenario is concerned.

An aside: people want Roy at the point and Howard for shooting guard. What is the reason? Even if Roy made a fine PG, picking Boozer over Prince has the added effect of taking care of the Zbo situation. We can afford to take less on trade because he's not our number 1, and we get a slightly younger guy who is putting up comparable numbers on a hard-nosed, play the right way, PG oriented team. I'm not familiar with his defensive prowess, but I've not heard of him holding team defense back at all.

Dave, help me out if I've misread anything. I'd hate to raise someone else's (brain)child, as it were.

Oh, Nancy! The Superpan is not magical, it will burn you.

by supremepuntiff on Apr 28, 2007 7:32 PM PDT reply actions

Yeah, you're right

this isn't meant to be entirely a "reality" post. Obviously one move affects future ones. In fact last spring I wrote a post saying how unfair it was to bag on GMs just because some better players lasted later into the draft. That happens every year to every GM and they can't all suck. To prove the point I listed what our "ideal" picks would have been for the last 25 years and it was so implausible as to be totally ridiculous.

But we're not criticizing here, just noting that very few of our picks from these particular years are still here and wishfully thinking what it would be like if it were different (for fun and in honor of the NFL draft and such). It's also interesting to see different models of how a team fits together, which includes not only opinions on skills and chemistry but also frank assessments of what we need.

This is also why I didn't let people switch second round picks as well, because then we go from three imaginary perfect picks to six or more, and that just gets too silly for even moderate suspension of disbelief to support.

--Dave

by Dave on Apr 28, 2007 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions

The reality is we never had a shot at the players

we missed. And I don't mean to harp on certain GMs, but I just don't think that the truly good management gets nearly the credit it deserves.

Without a good GM we wouldn't have a chance at late 1st round gems like Tony Parker, Tayshaun Prince, Josh Howard, or Leandro Barbosa. Do you see the connection? They were all drafted by teams with talented management teams:Spurs, Pistons, Mavs, and Suns respectively. All these organizations would find a way to be successful even without one of those players, because they have the right folks running the show.

So instead of focusing on what we didn't have a shot at, why not focus on this year's draft and beyond now that we finally have a good GM?

by JMblazerfan on Apr 28, 2007 10:50 PM PDT up reply actions

Technically that's not correct...

Dave said "using only our first round picks". We had two first-round picks in 2004, Telfair and Monia. You can't exclude one and not the other if you're playing the "what if" with the first round picks. (Sorry Dave, just following the letter of the law.)

Second, some people just don't like Boozer because of the whole bolting Cleveland for Utah fiasco. If we had drafted Boozer, just insert the word "Portland" for "Cleveland" and you get the idea.

Finally, with guys like Prince and Howard, Zbo isn't the sole focus of the offense - he returns to the scrapping, hitting the boards Zbo to get his points. There would be no Zbo situation. And by choosing Boozer over Prince, you haven't resolved the small forward situation, which is more precarious than the "Zbo situation".

by Blazerholic on Apr 28, 2007 10:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Dave

Maybe you should ask that same thing, but starting with the 2002 roster, not this year's roster. No trades allowed but the benefit in hindsight for drafts, and Pippen, Kerr, and Kemp all retire.

Might be interesting.

For kicks, here's the 2002 roster:

C Dale Davis
PF Rasheed Wallace
SF Scottie Pippen
SG Bonzi Wells
PG Damon Staudamire
SF Ruben Patterson
SG Derek Anderson
PF Shawn Kemp
PG Steve Kerr
PG Erick Barkley
PF Zach Randolph
Butler, Brunson, Boumje-Boumje, Dudley

My team would then be:

C Al Jefferson/L. Aldridge
PF Zach Randolph/R. Wallace
SF Tayshaun Prince/R. Patterson
SG Brandon Roy/B. Wells
PG L. Barbosa/D. Staudamire

Ugh...well, not much to work with, but probably still a pretty good team, if radioactive.

by jamon51 on Apr 28, 2007 8:33 PM PDT reply actions

Oh wow

That team would be scary, but I can't decide in which way. I think I'd hate to be the coach.

I think that team would make the playoffs but I also think it would be far more likely to implode than to have the discipline and cohesiveness to go deep.

Very interesting way to mold the question. You are always free to change stuff around if it makes for better discussion.

--Dave

by Dave on Apr 28, 2007 10:33 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah

But Miami won the championship with a group of misfit ex-superstars, so maybe that one would have been able to. And as we saw in Detroit with Sheed, winning fixes a lot of personnel problems!

by jamon51 on May 3, 2007 11:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Show love to Travis...

I would go Tayshawn Prince, Travis Outlaw, and Al Jefferson.

This would enable us to move Zach this year with out a question because we would have Al Jefferson junst blooming into a great PF. But even if we decide to keep Zach and forgive his thuggery, this team would be built for championships... and we still can be with a few good drafts in a row.

PG J.Jack/S.Rodriguez
SG B.Roy/M.Webster
SF T.Prince/T.Outlaw
PF Z.Randolph/A.Jefferson
C L.Aldridge/J.Pryzbilla

by Scotty the Mastermind on Apr 28, 2007 10:56 PM PDT reply actions

hey i told

you guys the other day from q.woods to j.jack the blazers had no clue no direction when it came to front office until pricthard.a man by the way 2.yrs ago should of been the g.m.now webster as long as b.roy is here which should be the next 12.yrs,will not be able to flourish he'll blossom elsewhere.as for jack he's solid starter other than that the other players drafted are bust.like i said woods,monia,ha out of the league.kryhapa, telfair soon to be out of the league.and outlaw will be overpayed by some other sucker i meant team out there.

by fatty on Apr 29, 2007 7:37 AM PDT reply actions