The Draft
The NBA Draft lottery is tomorrow and I have to say the whole thing has me down a bit. It reminds me how hopelessly bad the Blazers are and will be for a good while and it also reminds me that the Blazers could be in the same situation the Niners were in before last season. Obviously, not all number 1 overall picks are created equal. The year Lebron James or Tim Duncan or Reggie Bush or Mike Vick come out are a little bigger deal than the years of Alex Smith (not that I've given up on him already, but so far he's not lightening in a bottle) or Tyrus Thomas.
As you can probably tell, I don't like this draft much. There are some nice players, but no franchise types. I see the best players down the line being Foye, Roy and Aldridge in that order, but only two of those guys work for Portland and both could end up being adequate backups. Not really a ton to get excited about here.
Of course, that's assuming that the Blazers even get the first pick. If they do, my hope is they can use it to sweeten up D Miles and send them both packing for a legitimate NBA scoring threat. If they can't use it that way, my second choice would be to trade down for some consideration.
I think the best guys for the Blazers are as follows in this order:
1. Brandon Roy (but with the first overall pick? I don't think so)
2. LeMarcus Aldridge (even if they keep Zach this makes sense because I think they can play together and if they don't keep Zach, this is a no brainer)
3. Rudy Gay (My money is on this guy pulling a Charlie Villanueva and shedding that "soft" and "no-heart" label to become a premier NBA scorer)
4. Adam Morrison (I'm a big fan, but when you consider that his ceiling might be Mike Miller or Antoine Walker, it's hard to get real amped up to take him number one). Dude can score in college, but can he do anything else? I'm guessing he becomes a useful pro, but the comparison's to Bird who was a great rebounder and amazing passer need to stop right now).
5. Randy Foye - (I think he ends up the best PG in this draft. Of course, that's not really what the blazers need, so maybe I should change this pick)
6. Tyrus Thomas (I'm just not sure about this guy at all. He has had about 3 good games in his entire career and they weren't dominant. If this guy looks like the next Marion in workouts then he would be the perfect "type" of player for the Blazers right now catching lobs from Bassy or Jack. But if he comes across as really raw, you look down the bench at Travis Outlaw, remind yourself to not be an idiot and draft someone that you know can play.
I'll try to add more after the ping-pong balls do their thing tomorrow.
The NBA Draft lottery is tomorrow and I have to say the whole thing has me down a bit. It reminds me how hopelessly bad the Blazers are and will be for a good while and it also reminds me that the Blazers could be in the same situation the Niners were in before last season. Obviously, not all number 1 overall picks are created equal. The year Lebron James or Tim Duncan or Reggie Bush or Mike Vick come out are a little bigger deal than the years of Alex Smith (not that I've given up on him already, but so far he's not lightening in a bottle) or Tyrus Thomas.
As you can probably tell, I don't like this draft much. There are some nice players, but no franchise types. I see the best players down the line being Foye, Roy and Aldridge in that order, but only two of those guys work for Portland and both could end up being adequate backups. Not really a ton to get excited about here.
Of course, that's assuming that the Blazers even get the first pick. If they do, my hope is they can use it to sweeten up D Miles and send them both packing for a legitimate NBA scoring threat. If they can't use it that way, my second choice would be to trade down for some consideration.
I think the best guys for the Blazers are as follows in this order:
1. Brandon Roy (but with the first overall pick? I don't think so)
2. LeMarcus Aldridge (even if they keep Zach this makes sense because I think they can play together and if they don't keep Zach, this is a no brainer)
3. Rudy Gay (My money is on this guy pulling a Charlie Villanueva and shedding that "soft" and "no-heart" label to become a premier NBA scorer)
4. Adam Morrison (I'm a big fan, but when you consider that his ceiling might be Mike Miller or Antoine Walker, it's hard to get real amped up to take him number one). Dude can score in college, but can he do anything else? I'm guessing he becomes a useful pro, but the comparison's to Bird who was a great rebounder and amazing passer need to stop right now).
5. Randy Foye - (I think he ends up the best PG in this draft. Of course, that's not really what the blazers need, so maybe I should change this pick)
6. Tyrus Thomas (I'm just not sure about this guy at all. He has had about 3 good games in his entire career and they weren't dominant. If this guy looks like the next Marion in workouts then he would be the perfect "type" of player for the Blazers right now catching lobs from Bassy or Jack. But if he comes across as really raw, you look down the bench at Travis Outlaw, remind yourself to not be an idiot and draft someone that you know can play.
I'll try to add more after the ping-pong balls do their thing tomorrow.
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