FORD; POR turns down #4 for Batum?

[dunkonu21]

I'm starting to like Chad Ford a little more.

[BrooklynBulls]

Cmon Brooklyn, that's uncalled for.

Seriously? Did you pay no attention to the tenor of my post? I said the report isn't to be believed in the first place. The Portland joke was just made...to bother YOU.

[andyhop]

Maybe I am just overly suspicious but:

KP needs a home run trade by the time the draft is over to save his job.
Nothing looks like working out for him at the moment.
Batum is probably their best Talent/Potential/Cost trade piece.
Ford comes out with a rumor that nobody anywhere else seems to have heard pimping up Batum's value.

Coincidence?

[Tirion]

Houston traded Gay for Battier and it didn't turn out well for them value-wise.

[Tirion]

Cmon Brooklyn, that's uncalled for.

From Portland's PoV, if they accepted this trade, there's some big issues. If we had the number 4, and Johnson was our guy, we have a 50% chance of getting him in the first place. Then, say you do get him, you have whatever chance that he's better than Batum, and whatever chance that he's worse than Batum, plus the time it takes for him to develop into whatever it is he'll become cutting in to the fact that Roy is about to be entering his prime.

Then say he's not available, and you take Cousins. Now you're faced with a center position of Camby, Oden, Cousins, and maybe/possibly Przybilla. Would mean they'd need to take a PR hit and trade Oden while his value is low, piss of a recently resigned Camby, making it also seem like your team isn't loyal at all (see Wade saying the Bulls aren't loyal as a reason he won't go there, and Portland already has a hard time finding free agents), and then you still have to hope that he develops quickly so that you're not taking steps back while the other Western teams are getting better.

You weigh all of those risks against Batum's upside / chemistry and it's not hard to see why they turned it down. I'm not saying it's bad value, or that Batum is worth more. Not at all. I'm saying it's not the right timing. If it were a top 2 pick, obviously it'd be over paying and be a slam dunk for the Blazers.

That being said, I absolutely understand Minny not wanting to do the deal either. 2 years off his rookie contract doesn't matter to the Blazers who are already over the cap and have a rich owner. It would matter to a team who actually has capspace that they'll need in order to continue their rebuilding, plus the fact that they could really use Cousins as they don't have a center, or Johnson since they don't already have Batum.

If Wes in not available at #4, then either Favors/Cousins or Turner/Cousins or (gasp!) Favors/Turner are there for the taking. #4 > Batum value-wise. If you don't like the players available, you can always trade the pick.

[Dewey]

this batum thing makes no sense ... why burn a pick on a role player when Johnson may be there (amongst many other prospects that appear better already?

Star Tribune
"Scottie Pippen," Johnson said of the former Chicago Bulls star who won just as many NBA titles as Michael Jordan (six). "I grew up loving Scottie Pippen. Everybody loved Mike. I loved Mike, but Scottie was a player I looked like and saw myself being like."

[farzi]

Haha Batum said almost the exact same thing, that's kind of funny. MJ also compared Nic to Pip which is neat.

[shrink]

.. cementing him on the list of the top 250 players that have been compared to Scottie Pippen.

[farzi]

Any SF with slightly above average defense has been. I've seen Rudy Gay get compared on the PC board

[Tirion]

Comparisions to Pippen are ludicrous in both cases anyway. Scottie had elite handles. Those two would be happy with average.