I.D. wrote:It's not necessarily a bad move, depending on the circumstances of the team. My main question with this kind of move is what direction are we going in? Are we planning to try and compete post Bosh? Or are we building around a budding young core?
Stop gapping with Rudy is a bit lateral, a bit redundant it seems. He doesn't bring anything especially dynamic that we are sorely missing, but he is solid enough that he upgrades our roster. He probably doesn't address any of our most pressing needs, and he isn't a huge compliment to any of our "stand out" talent. So while he might be better than Belinelli, for example, that doesn't translate into much meaningful improvement to our team. Essentially we don't have the kind of roster that makes adding a more finished product in Rudy worth it.
The other side of this is that perhaps we don't acheive any of the above with the 13th pick anyway. So why not add some talent and get roughly equal impact/potential at 22? I'm guessing that then frees up some assets for future moves. Moving Belinelli (not sure that amounts to much) perhaps Sonny and makes it that much easier to let go Wright (who played significant minutes for us last year). Again, that only holds meaning in the event we are trying to compete at least make the playoffs and I think that's unlikely.
I'm guessing some of the other rumored moves around the league could change our outlook on #13 and if all of a sudden someone we really want is not there, then this kind of move doesn't hurt, per say...
Most likely Dosey instead of Belinelli or Weems.
If we are drafting Ebanks at #22, then it makes sense to dump Dosey along, and it is a non-guarantee contract, so Portland can keep him or dump him any time they want.