OT - Chad Ford

[RonaldArtest]

Don't let revisionist history around here fool you. A fair percentage of people here - including myself - wanted Barnes. With Val coming over, Drummond was not that high on most of our lists. Many, again like myself, wanted to trade that pick. I remember BC being really high on Lillard, and half the people here crucifying him for that. Yes, Austin Rivers did have a cult following even here.

It's the same with the Bargnani draft. Everyone goes on about LMA, but really, it was Rudy Gay that was the choice beside Andrea. Similarly, the love people have here for the Xavier Henry's of the world is insane around draft time, but you never hear about it a year later.

Chard Ford pretty much did what we all do on a consistent basis - except Reddit isn't going through our post history to point out our
attempt at revising the past.

Drummond was supposed to be well gone by the time the Raptors selected, so of course he wasn't going to be discussed much pre-draft. Anthony Davis, MKG, and Beal were hardly mentioned by fans on their lists for who they wanted to... no one expected him to be there at 8.

Barnes didn't end up being available at 8, so I'm not sure how he applies.

This was specifically about the "post draft outcry" over who Colangelo selected, which was quite obviously about missing Drummond..... and not Rivers.

I don't know about that. There was a ton of conversation around MKG, Lamb, and Beal and trading up for them. There was a ton of talk about Lillard and Waiters. We rarely ever talked Drummond around these parts. I was sure that once Drummond was available there, we would use that pick to trade for Lowry as there was strong chatter that Houston really wanted him.

Valanciunas' stock was very high at that time. I think Chard Ford said that if he was available in that draft, he would have gone top 3. The consensus was that we had a top C prospect coming over as a rookie. Even if we picked Drummond, I am certain that he would have never worn a Raptors jersey. Hindsight is 20/20, and there may have been many that thought Drummond was the best player available at that time, but not many (rational) people thought he was the right pick for the Toronto Raptors.

If you're a drafting in the lottery, you take BPA always. This team wasn't overwhelmingly strong at any position. You take the best player available, and figure the rest out later. BC fanned on this draft big time, all because he had his Nash plan in place.

[Regulator]

Le Doug should be retroactively removed from Toronto sports media history.

[JN]

Don't let revisionist history around here fool you. A fair percentage of people here - including myself - wanted Barnes. With Val coming over, Drummond was not that high on most of our lists. Many, again like myself, wanted to trade that pick. I remember BC being really high on Lillard, and half the people here crucifying him for that. Yes, Austin Rivers did have a cult following even here.
.

You are not correct re. Drummond. Drummond was the player that fans were most angry about as soon as the draft was completed. He was just not discussed much at #8 for various reasons.

- Drummond started the year in the discussion for the #1 pick with Anthony Davis. He was clearly surpassed by about Mid-December. Personally, like many others, I did not like Drummond as a #1 pick early in that year.

- Drummond basically remained in the discussion for the #2-#5 pick until the end of the college season. This was the range we were discussing on the board at that time -- we were hoping for better than pick #8. People had preferences at #2 over Drummond. Not many people wanted Drummond at #2. Personally, I was in that group as well.

- As workouts hit Drummond was considered more close to #5. The assumption was that he would never be available at #8. Only when the draft started to get really close (within a week of the draft) did it come as a possibility that he may fall lower.

- When it became a real possibility that Drummond could be available at #8, I like many other's started to really like him as a pick. Did I like him at #1 earlier in the year? Did I like him as top 3? Nope. But as he fell lower the risk tolerance was higher -- and I really liked himn at this point.

Threads on Drummond started to pop up in the last week prior to the draft as he was falling, became that was the only time he moved into discussion at #8. And the longest threads of anger immediately after the draft were Andre Drummond threads. THIS IS NOT REVISIONIST HISTORY. One must only look at the board 1-5 days after the draft to see this was true.

Support for the above to refute your false claims:

Here is a post from April 21:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1176395

He was not really being discussed because no one thought he would fall. But if he was there the results were clear that we should take him. Look at the poll results.

Threads after Drummond was drafted and before his first season started

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1204608 (78 pages)

[SharoneWright]

^
The only thing holding Drummond back from a solid #2 ranking was character/work ethic. He was a no-brainer at 8.

(Way better pick than Ross,,, even though Ross [for all his faults] is better than his draft-night buzz).

[ForeverTFC]

Don't let revisionist history around here fool you. A fair percentage of people here - including myself - wanted Barnes. With Val coming over, Drummond was not that high on most of our lists. Many, again like myself, wanted to trade that pick. I remember BC being really high on Lillard, and half the people here crucifying him for that. Yes, Austin Rivers did have a cult following even here.
.

You are not correct re. Drummond. Drummond was the player that fans were most angry about as soon as the draft was completed. He was just not discussed much at #8 for various reasons.

- Drummond started the year in the discussion for the #1 pick with Anthony Davis. He was clearly surpassed by about Mid-December. Personally, like many others, I did not like Drummond as a #1 pick early in that year.

- Drummond basically remained in the discussion for the #2-#5 pick until the end of the college season. This was the range we were discussing on the board at that time -- we were hoping for better than pick #8. People had preferences at #2 over Drummond. Not many people wanted Drummond at #2. Personally, I was in that group as well.

- As workouts hit Drummond was considered more close to #5. The assumption was that he would never be available at #8. Only when the draft started to get really close (within a week of the draft) did it come as a possibility that he may fall lower.

- When it became a real possibility that Drummond could be available at #8, I like many other's started to really like him as a pick. Did I like him at #1 earlier in the year? Did I like him as top 3? Nope. But as he fell lower the risk tolerance was higher -- and I really liked himn at this point.

Threads on Drummond started to pop up in the last week prior to the draft as he was falling, became that was the only time he moved into discussion at #8. And the longest threads of anger immediately after the draft were Andre Drummond threads. THIS IS NOT REVISIONIST HISTORY. One must only look at the board 1-5 days after the draft to see this was true.

Support for the above to refute your false claims:

Here is a post from April 21:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1176395

He was not really being discussed because no one thought he would fall. But if he was there the results were clear that we should take him. Look at the poll results.

Threads after Drummond was drafted and before his first season started

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1204608 (78 pages)

I appreciate the effort, but you've missed the point - and as I referenced in a follow-up post, I don't think I articulated my post as well as I wanted which plays a role in the misunderstanding.

Here is a thread for a counter argument; take a look at the poll. Ahead of Drummond are Dion Waiters, Austin Rivers, Jeremy Lamb, Harrison Barnes, and Damian Lillard.
viewtopic.php?t=1189669

My point is NOT that no one wanted Drummond. If you go back to the OP, I was saying that Austin Rivers had a huge following here. Everyone is pretending that it was Drummond all along. It wasn't, and that was my point. Even with Drummond available, there was a good portion of posters asking for Rivers, a good portion asking for a trade (this was me), some asking for Lamb, and another group asking for Drummond. But to say Drummond was the universal choice is wrong.

[Dukenukem23]

Selecting Drummond seemed so oiut of the realm of possibility that I don't think people focused on him, but when he fell to our pick myself and a majority of the board were shocked and disappointed when he wasn't the pick.

[OakleyDokely]

This act will forever be known as "Fording"

[cram]

Can't believe the Austin Rivers vs Drummond is still going.

Let me clear it up for you guys -- many here DID want Austin Rivers. It wasn't the majority though.

[brownbobcat]

Can't believe the Austin Rivers vs Drummond is still going.

Let me clear it up for you guys -- many here DID want Austin Rivers. It wasn't the majority though.

Leading up to the draft, I recall the consensus top-7 being Davis, MKG, Beal, Robinson, Lillard, Barnes and Drummond. One of the reasons the coin toss was aggravating was because there seemed to be a definite drop-off after that group and opinions were varied. Waiters suddenly shot up at the very end and most people seemed happier about that because it meant we'd get one of Lillard/Barnes/Drummond. I'm sure there was a group of Rivers supporters, but it was definitely small.

[cram]

Can't believe the Austin Rivers vs Drummond is still going.

Let me clear it up for you guys -- many here DID want Austin Rivers. It wasn't the majority though.

Leading up to the draft, I recall the consensus top-7 being Davis, MKG, Beal, Robinson, Lillard, Barnes and Drummond. One of the reasons the coin toss was aggravating was because there seemed to be a definite drop-off after that group and opinions were varied. Waiters suddenly shot up at the very end and most people seemed happier about that because it meant we'd get one of Lillard/Barnes/Drummond. I'm sure there was a group of Rivers supporters, but it was definitely small.

Drummond wasn't considered an option until he dropped in the draft.

Before the draft happened, most were targeting a swingman. I remember Jeremy Lamb being at the top of most lists, with Austin Riveres somewhere behind. Terrence Ross was considered a longer shot than Austin Rivers, based on the pre-draft hype machine.

[cram]

As for Chad Ford......how does ESPN not know who did it? Wouldn't most systems require a login to access and change? I doubt anyone in the building can just change the website content....