Outside the Box

I like the thrill of adding a potential great to our lineup from the draft, having our team grow together, rather than a crazy you-never-see-that trade.

BUT

If I had to make a trade, it would be for Bron-Bron.  The reason is simple: a young known quantity, who could play a position we're weak at.  Look at what he has in Cleveland, a hardworking, decently talented (but not a playoff-level without him) team doing.  Imagine him on a hardworking, soon to be very talented team in Portland.  

Plus, while Cleveland has made some good moves, and they were burned by Boozer, they don't strike me as a franchise we'd trade with and go "oh man, now we're gonna see them a lot in June!"

Can you imagine a lineup of:

Jack/Sergio
Roy/Jones/Webster
LeBron/Outlaw
Zach/Aldridge
Aldridge/Przybilla

Not to mention the hyped our transcendental heir-Jordan vs your transcendental heir Jordan battles with LA.

The downside is we are in the West, we will be depending on Joel (and Zach?).  

Considering our centerpiece great player will be almost developed, with his career practically ahead of him, our window could actually move up, and with James, KP, Roy, et al, a title/dynasty would be as close to a guarantee as could be (Oden/Durant still more potential than anything, as good as I'm sure they'll be).

I agree he's an amazing young player, but something about him bugs me. Maybe its untrue, but I've read several stories about him ordering people around, and just generally having a sense of entitlement along the lines of a Saudi oil prince. Plus, I don't really know he'd play that well with Roy. He needs the ball in his hand just about ALL the time. I'm going to be one of the few people rooting for the Spurs, I think.

I think it would take a 3-team deal that would land us multiple young superstars, such as Wade + Derron Williams, or Chris Paul + Dwight Howard.

is Dwight Howard.  I think he is a growing beast.

In a good way.

Wouldn't trade the pick for anyone.  Consider the contenders:

• Kobe - No.  Just No.  You don't meet ol' scratch down by the crossroads.
  
• Dwight Howard.  Oden is expected to be better is most aspects.  Howard's offensive game is raw.
  
• LeBron.  Most tempting, but doesn't "feel" like a match for Portland.  Agree with the above poster than James has become a weird combination of arrogant and insecure.  Probably just needs to grow into his role.

We have a chance to go all the way with "our guys".  Own own draft picks and, in a weird way, compensation and redemption for the ugly years.

I would keep the pick under all circumstances.

I was born and raised in L.A. As a school boy Laker fan I watched Chamberlain battle Alcindor (later Abdul-Jabbar). I was too young to know the Laker's pretty much bought my favorite player, Wilt, (who happened to score 100 pts in a game on the very day I was born). (I also watched Walton play for UCLA at Pauley and cheered when he helped the Blazers win a championship).

It left a bad taste in my mouth when the rebuilding Laker's traded their team for Kareem (Wilt's usurper), but as a kid, I got over it when the championships started rolling in - but only after they only started after they DRAFTED Magic and later DRAFTED Worthy.

Now that I've lived all of my adult life up here, and especially after the Laker's bought Shaq, I became an unconflicted Blazer fan once and for all.

One of things that cements a team to its fans is watching "our" players develop. "Our" meaning those who started their career on "our" team. I feel Portland had a strong relationship with the Drexler / Porter / Kersey teams because the players making up the core of those teams were not hired guns. Buck Williams was the only established player brought in to start and he was respected but never embraced like the other starters.

The teams that Trader Bob built, though very talented, exciting, and for the most part successful were never embraced to the same degree as the earlier teams. Scottie Pippen, for example, will bever be thought of as a Blazer, really, just as Drexler will never truly be a Rocket even if that was the team he won a championship with.

For that reason I'd rather keep this pick than have any other established player (or players). I've rooted for teams that have won championships "the right way" and for teams that tried to buy them and though many adult Blazer fans have never enjoyed a championship let me tell you, doing it through the draft is many times more satisfying. I have confidence that adding Oden to this team will result in championships.

are probably Bronbron and Wade.  I wouldn't pull the trigger on either deal, but I'd have to think pretty hard about it.  Everyone else is too old or too unproven.

No way they're offered of course.

As a lot of people have already mentioned, I think that LeBron and Wade are the only two players that you would "think" about trading the #1 pick for... but that would put too much pressure on the Blazers to win NOW. I want to enjoy this ride from start to finish... follow Oden (or Durant) his whole career, and wait for him and Roy to hold the trophy aloft.

Great thread Dave.

As long as the pick is Oden!

and that only because James has proven what he can do at the NBA level and is 22 years old.  I had thought about a trade of Oden for Bosh and Bargnani, two top young guys from previous drafts.  Jack, Roy, Bargnani, Bosh, Aldridge would be pretty special, but I probably still wouldn't do it.

d.howard would i've be even think about moving the pick.but i can't wait to see pricthard get rid of some of this mediocre talent we have on our bench for real role players.when your #1 pick of your draft in 05 is getting schooled by in coming rookies that's all you need to know.and here on the e.coast the buzz id pricthard is talking to numerous teams and like he said on lottery night we will be making some moves on draft night just not involving the #1 pick so who goes on draft night i got a couple of hunches also i see with 1 of the guys we move that a 2.nd rounder or 2 will also be moved on draft night. like i said who goes on draft night and for who. that's my ? also the knicks are talking sheed for richardson*lee the knicks also will be very active to upstage pricthard on draft night.k.p. has a lot of envious g.m.'s who don't like his swagger my nba buddy told me.it's the old too much too soon theory and it's good to see the blazers as the wheelers and dealers like the good'ole days of buckwalter&petrie days you go k.p. yo go boy.. and finally were getting rid of some this mediocre talent that has done nothing to help.you know how embarrassing it is that 1 draft class a mediocre draft class at that and portland got 3 gems while the guys abbott*costello (nash*patterson)took in 2 and the other disaster of whittsit(outlaw*woods) kryhapa,telfair,monia,ha,woods all out of the nba webster*outlaw just not cutting it.only jack is solid and that's why there is a lot of interest for him around the league.good for j.j. at least he performs unlike the rest of them above..and for the kryhapa lovers out there why don't you want him back from the bulls in a potential zbo trade at least he played hard the rest see yah !!!!

I think the list has to be limited to big men, because it's really hard to compare Steve Nash to Tim Duncan.

Nowitzki can't score in the clutch and might never recover from his Finals loss and first-round exit this year...

Yao Ming would just look funny in a Trail Blazers uniform. Seriously. He's a great player but not something worth this year's #1.

Dwight Howard... is just a freak. He's young. Obviously talented. His offensive game is a lot better than people give him credit for, but he constantly sees triple and double teams. I would think long and hard about this. Dwight is at least proven to be an All-Star. He's never been hurt. He benches 375. All great qualities...

Shaq would have been considered 5 years ago. In fact, had this draft taken place around 2000, we may have snatched Shaq away from the Lakers. That being said, he's a shell of his former self.

Tim Duncan just might be a little old. Oden looks a lot like Duncan, so it's hard to trade potentially 10 good years of Oden for 2-3 great years from Duncan. I think this might actually be close, but the age is the kicker...

KG seems tired. Excuse me for drawing on XXX but you know the part where Samuel L. Jackson asks Vin Diesel if he's ever seen a lion at the zoo? They come in with all that passion in their eyes and eventually after years in a cage, they lose their fire... Well, that's pretty much the best explanation I can find about why KG can't single-handedly make the T-Wolves relevant.

Elton Brand is another big to consider but, again, age has to be a factor. Oden is 19 and he's coming into the league when all the relatively dominate bigs (Duncan, Shaq, arguably Yao, KG, and Nowitzki) are seasoned veterans and entering the years of their life where they start to decline.

I think the only trade I would absolutely 100% pull the trigger on is Tim Duncan and Tony Parker for the #1 pick, Darius Miles, and Raef LaFrentz. We'd dumb a lot of salary, pick up an extremely solid post player, and we'd get to see Eva Longoria 41 times a year....

Here's the 2 conditons:

1-The Pistons must first trade us Tay and Dice for Zbo.

2-The Spurs must give us Duncan and Parker for the #1, but they also have to take back the Raef and Darius contracts plus Dickau.

Incoming: Duncan/Parker/Prince/Dice

Outgoing: #1/Raef/Miles/Zbo/Danny Boy

The championship rotation next year:

1-Parker/Jack/Sergio
2-Roy/Jones/Webster
3-Prince/Ime
4-Duncan/Dice/LMA
5-LMA/Joel/Duncan

I won't accept Wade or Lebron for the #1 pick, only a DYNASTY. Make it happen KP!! LOL.

I guess I'm a softee fan, but I would just trade the pick for a bunch of mediocre talent that would get schooled by incoming rookies...

No, seriously, I wouldn't trade the pick for anyone. LeBron would be th eonly one close, but liek people have said, we have a chance to build something very, very special here, so no, not anyone.

(But ok, you said IF we did, who would it be, and so if I had to , yes it would be LeBron)