OT - I hate Portland

[shadowTerp]

How in the $^#@%! do you start with 1 mid-first and 3 seconds, and end up with Bayless (a top-10 who slipped), Batum (whom you can stash) and 4 future 2nd round picks?!?

[underpressure]

They have a superior front office and an ownership which does not refrain from spending much money. Hence they are doing well.

[The Guilty Party]

I just posted something similar in the Draft Thread. Portland is insane and obviously is superior to every other team in the NBA on Draft Night.

John Paxson, on the other hand, is an idiot. He traded THREE future 2nd rounders to Portland for the 36th pick in this draft.

Also of interest is that Minnesota already owned Miami's 1st next year but they also made a deal with them tonight and acquired two of their future 2nd rounders. I suppose the anti-Portland has to be Denver who went their 2nd straight year without making a pick.

[Cru Thik]

Yeah Portland is just insane with talent at this point. I know we talked about this before that we would trade our roster for there roster in a second. But now after this draft they add Bayless, and Batum to go with Oden, Aldridge, Roy and Webster. What it must be like to be a Portland fan at this point.

[chrice]

Sweet Jesus. Indiana doesn't realize how easy they've had it in the draft. Bayless drops from top 5 to #11, Granger from top 10 to #17. Props to Portland for making a solid trade. I'm glad that this happened, hopefully Blazers will give the Lakers a run for their money in the West until Kobe retires.

[LongLiveHinkie]

I'm gonna be a Portland hater. Sick of hearing about them and all this talent when they never make the playoffs and never win anything. Portland sucks.

[azkrock]

3

2nd round picks for Omer

2-3 years later you'll bulls got steal of the draft by giving 3 2nd rounders

Omer will be Allstar in 5 years

[AI2TY5]

i don't hate them but i am in disbelief at how easily they can aquire exactly the players they want every draft night! everyone always talks about making this and that trade to get certain people that would seemingly be great fits and it never happens most teams but they seem to do it with ease. i'm not angry just jealous.

[SendEm]

Not saying that all of their players will pan out but they sure do understand how to construct a team in Portland. They have 4 players that compliment one another well ON PAPER. Bayless and Roy are theoretically the perfect backcourt. Aldridge and Oden are the perfect frontcourt. Outlaw is a wonderful 6th man. They have a backup PF in Frye and center in Joel Przybilla. If everything works out as planned they will be paying luxury tax in 5 years. That will be the payback for getting wonderful players high in the draft. But their owner is a darn billionaire who has the franchise just for kicks so it will not even matter.

[freshie2]

Getting Aldridge and Roy was great work...Oden was just luck, but the rest of their moves have been really smart as well. Bayless on that team should be a nice fit next to Roy.

This is the one team I still think makes sense for moving Miller, especially with drafting Bayless. Give him a year next to a PG like Miller, and it can only help his transition into the pro game. Plus they still have a ton of pieces to trade.

[psykosacul]

i like them actually. theyre sort of my western team ( does everyone have one?) i visited portland years ago, as i was thinking about moving out there. its still a possible place for me to set up my future. the team itself was very quality until the jailblazers hit. they have cleaned house after that mess (and rightly so) and have done an amazing job creating a forward looking team full of high character guys out of the rubble. even without getting lucky and bagging oden, they have formed a nice team.

[shadowTerp]

hate is a strong word... probably shouldn't have used it. i definitely respect the way they've built their team. it just amazes me how they continue to roll in talent AND picks.

i just think it's funny that ed wanted to build a team like the pistons... hey ed, look at what these guys are doing. no, they haven't won any playoff games (yet), but with oden + bayless + their existing core, it shouldn't be long.

[51X3RF4N]

Portland will be a good team for a few years, and maybe even win a championship. And I applaud the GM. But they made some moves that ONLY they could've made based on the assets, etc.

[jmon]

They have a superior front office and an ownership which does not refrain from spending much money. Hence they are doing well.

Or... they have unlimited money and just by picks which would easily diguise any mistakes made by KP to the general public.

just my thoughts.

Thank Microsoft, not KP.

[iladelph53]

They have a superior front office and an ownership which does not refrain from spending much money. Hence they are doing well.

Or... they have unlimited money and just by picks which would easily diguise any mistakes made by KP to the general public.

just my thoughts.

Thank Microsoft, not KP.

Kevin Pritchard is the man.

They aren't just a team with a few good players like Roy, Bayless, Aldridge, and Oden. They are DEEP. And they seem to have a good mix of role players. Webster is the 3-pt specialist, Outlaw gets offensive boards and knocks down 20 footers like it's nothing.

Frye and Przybilla are good backup bigs, especially Przy will his rebounding and shotblocking. Then they picked up Diogu in the trade for Bayless.

They have young foreign players they can take their time with in Sergio Rodriguez, Nicholas Batum, and Petteri Koponen. And I haven't even mentioned Rudy Fernandez who is going to be an absolute stud to the point where he'll probably eventually move Webster to the bench and Roy to the 3. He averaged 21/4/3 last year in his Spanish League and is playing with the Blazers in '08/'09. And they got him for cash from the Suns!

Sure, Oden fell in their lap and Paul Allen gives him the money to work with, but Pritch has made a TON of good player acquisitions. Having money and knowing who to acquire are two separate entities.

[jmon]

Kevin Pritchard is the man.

They aren't just a team with a few good players like Roy, Bayless, Aldridge, and Oden. They are DEEP. And they seem to have a good mix of role players. Webster is the 3-pt specialist, Outlaw gets offensive boards and knocks down 20 footers like it's nothing.

Frye and Przybilla are good backup bigs, especially Przy will his rebounding and shotblocking. Then they picked up Diogu in the trade for Bayless.

They have young foreign players they can take their time with in Sergio Rodriguez, Nicholas Batum, and Petteri Koponen. And I haven't even mentioned Rudy Fernandez who is going to be an absolute stud to the point where he'll probably eventually move Webster to the bench and Roy to the 3. He averaged 21/4/3 last year in his Spanish League and is playing with the Blazers in '08/'09. And they got him for cash from the Suns!

Sure, Oden fell in their lap and Paul Allen gives him the money to work with, but Pritch has made a TON of good player acquisitions. Having money and knowing who to acquire are two separate entities.

All I was saying is that it is extremely hard to evaluate whether or not he is getting good value in his deals when he makes 500 of them and is constantly spending 10s of millions of dollars every off season.

I would not be willing to say KP is a terrific GM. I would be willing to say that Paul Allen is the owner I would want. Snyder, on the other hand, is not the owner I would want for my basketball team. For my hockey team? Yes sir.

When you see player X acquired for cash, I don't know that you can call it a steal. I think it is more of one owner willing to spend and another unwilling to spend, not so much one GM's evaluation of a player being greater than another's.

EDIT: I should hope they are deep, they have acquired about 3X more players in the past 3 years than anyone else.

[LieCheatSteal]

Pretty soon, they'll hold the rights to every European star. Smart management.