RealGM

"To add four players probably isn't realistic unless a major trade is made. And I'm not so sure getting younger is at the top of our list," Pritchard told HOOPSWORLD recently.

"We look at picks as liquid assets. But since they are liquid, they are very movable. They can be traded; you can take a couple picks and move up or move down. What I look at is it gives me the flexibility to do a lot of things.

"We probably won't add four players, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility."

...

"I look at the draft as risk assessment as much as anything," said Pritchard who is racking up the frequent flier miles on scouting trips during March. "We all like to say that we are basketball experts but in truth, it is somewhat a black box. You just don't know exactly how it is going to turn out. But you do background work, you evaluate the talent, you look at what the kid is like on and off the court, and hopefully you make good decisions.

"If you make good decisions the draft can be a wonderful thing. But no one is perfect in this business."

...

Although Pritchard said adding four new players to the Blazers roster "isn't out of the realm of possibility," you wonder what would happen if Portland's GM decides to add a player or two to the mix.

Knowing the Blazers already have a large talent pool overseas with forward/center Joel Freeland, guard Petteri Koponen and swingman Rudy Fernandez, don't think for a second drafting another Euro talent isn't out of the question.

It would simply mean one more player gaining experience and learning the game in the European League, instead of sitting at the end of an NBA or NBDL bench.

"(Europe has) been very good to us in the past and we feel we've got some guys that could come over next year and step in and make an impact immediately," Pritchard admitted.

soobias wrote:who's the 2nd best euro out there ?
cuz i can see us grabbing one of them and waiting a year or two for them to develope and bring them over when contracts are up or someone not working out.
maybe ricky rubio?

"(Europe has) been very good to us in the past and we feel we've got some guys that could come over next year and step in and make an impact immediately," Pritchard admitted.

Wizenheimer wrote:I'm really curious about this quote:

"(Europe has) been very good to us in the past and we feel we've got some guys that could come over next year and step in and make an impact immediately," Pritchard admitted.

Europe has been good in the past? Is he referring to Petrovic and Sabonis?

I see that portland has recently drafted and still has the rights to:

Rudy Fernandez
Joel Freeland
Federico Kammerichs
Petteri Koponen
Marcelo Nicola
Nedzad Sinanovic

they also have drafted:

Sergei Monia
Victor Khryapa

I guess Khryapa helped them land LMA, so maybe that was the "been good"

But honestly, since Sabonis, how can it really be said that euro-draft picks have been good for the Blazers, especially in light of the recent Fernandez "news"?

mojomarc wrote:The undrafted player to beat in Europe this year seems to be Danillo Gallinari.

http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profile ... inari.html

From ESPN's insider scouting report:
"Positives: All-around skills. Point-forward mentality. Beautiful passer. Excellent basketball IQ. Smooth. Excellent slasher to the basket. Good athlete, though not an exceptional one. Good shooter, especially from midrange.

Negatives: He lacks explosiveness. Although he's not slow footed, he's not exactly quick either. May be a little too unselfish. Questions about his long-range shooting."

He's the only Euro that seems to be a sure thing for the lottery at this point. Batum has slipped because of poor play for Le Mans this year.

Telfaire wrote:-= original quote snipped =-




That is why Batum could slip to our pick range...whereas Gallinari seems like the top SF prospect in this draft, though if the Bucks wont draft him, he might also slip to us.

SalemStoner wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



yeah but when you consider that Gallinari will probably be there in the range we could trade up to, and the fact that the 2 better prospects for us(Rose and Mayo) will both be gone by the 6-8th pick(the highest I see us viably moving up to) then looking at Gallinari might be a good plan. Especially when you consider he'd be an excellent fit next to Roy and would make getting a ball handler at PG much less of an issue. All our PG would need to do is occasionally help handle the ball(Gallinari and Roy would do the majority of it), play good d(paticularly stifle PG penetration) and be able to shoot decent from 18 feet out. Hell I'm pretty sure we could easily play a lineup of Roy, Rudy and Gallinari next year and have that work just fine. =)

SportsBoy wrote:What are you guys looking for ?

Yadadimean wrote:all our picks to MIA for their pick!