The 2012 NBA Draft: 6th & 11th picks, and some random 2nds.

[Fitz303]

I have a feeling Melo is going to move up the 1st rd as the workouts continue. I would bet that he goes in the late teens. I don't think he gets past Boston at 21.. 16-21 is where I would guess

[Blazinaway]

I don't know if Leonard will make it to the 20's, but Fab Melo should. I think Melo could be a really nice get for the Blazers to help their frontcourt.

I like Kyle O'quin as well for a late first or early 2nd rdr, if we works out well he'll go late first IMO

[DaVoiceMaster]

Workouts are the thing that is gonna really change the current mock drafts. Melo isn't going before 25 or 27 in current mock drafts, but we'll see how things pan out in 4 weeks!!! I'd be happy picking up another first round pick (or two).

[LOOSH]

I think Andre Drummond's issues are strictly confidence related. I don't think he's a bad guy at all or completely indifferent like a Perry Jones.

[JustBlaze52]

So draft Beal with the #6, trade the #11 and Shawne Williams for an established semi-young player (hopefully a center) and then buy a late first to take Leonard or Melo for more big man potential/help. I like the sounds of that.

After signing a PG (Dragic)

Dragic/Smith/2nd Round
Beal/Matthews/Williams
Batum/Claver/Babbitt
Aldridge/Hickson/Thomas
Trade/Melo/Freeland

That would work. Now who do we trade the pick for...

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I don't think Drummond will be a head case like Cousins.


I think he will be more like Oden mentally - which means work ethic and confidence, not character.

[DusterBuster]

I don't think Drummond will be a head case like Cousins.


I think he will be more like Oden mentally - which means work ethic and confidence, not character.

I think you're dead on. Speaking of reminding me of Oden, I was watching DX's video profile on Drummond and a lot of the highlights they showed of him reminded me quite a bit of Oden's game post-injuries. Similar strength in terms of getting deep post position and decent footwork defensively and offensively around the basketball. At least, that's what I got from a handful of SD video clips.

[Norm2953]

I'm on record as hoping Drummond goes ahead of Portland's pick which would
free up a quality BPA for Portland. I hoping against hope MKG will measure out
closer to 6-5 which might cause him to slip to 6 but I'd also be happy with
Barnes or possibly Beal ending up as a Blazer.

[Myth]

I don't think any of this year's PGs are worthy of a #6 pick. I've seen many mocks putting some on the Blazers at #6 because it fills a need, but never because the creators of the mocks seem to think the PGs are the best players available at that spot. If the team really wants to draft in order to fill a need, maybe save that for the #11 pick, but the #6 pick at least we should go for the guy who has the best chance of being an all-star player. If Blazers truly believe a PG is the best player available at #6, then fine, but for the love of God, don't draft one based on need alone.

[jhern87]

I don't think Drummond will be a head case like Cousins.


I think he will be more like Oden mentally - which means work ethic and confidence, not character.

Cousins is worlds better than Drummond.. Drummond wont be ready for consistent playing time for a year or two at the very least.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I don't think Drummond will be a head case like Cousins.


I think he will be more like Oden mentally - which means work ethic and confidence, not character.

Cousins is worlds better than Drummond.. Drummond wont be ready for consistent playing time for a year or two at the very least.

That wasn't my point. Cousins is an incredibly talented kid. He just has maturity issues, and while I think they get overblown sometimes, they have prevented him from a certain level of success.

[Norm2953]

Drummond as a player is who he is but remember U-Conn as a team underachieved
after winning the NCAA championship. Health issues with their head coach
affected that team and impending NCAA sanctions which will bar them from
the tournament caused Drummond to leave before he was ready.

I suspect Drummond will be okay but he will need a lot of patient coaching. Is
Caleb and the rest of the coaching staff up to the task?

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Norm, I'd imagine that Kaleb and the assistant coaches (whoever they end up being) would work with Drummond. The Idaho Stampede staff (also TBD), even more so.

Picking Andre Drummond would signal to the fan base that Portland is willing to go 3-4 years without contending. Neither the front office nor the fan base appears willing to endure rebuilding, however.

Then comes the issue of building a contender now, and you can count on one hand the number of players in this draft likely to make even a modest impact in their first year. This lottery is simply dreadful.

[TBpup]

Picking Andre Drummond would signal to the fan base that Portland is willing to go 3-4 years without contending.

http://www.csnnw.com/pages/landingblazers?Sources-Blazers-concerned-with-GM-finali=1&blockID=718556&feedID=5212

Multiple league sources have told CSNNW.com they don't think either of the three candidates will get the job and they say Trail Blazers' acting general manager, Chad Buchanan, “has become an option again.”

Trail Blazers interim head coach, Kaleb Canales, has come on strong as the favorite to secure their head coaching vacancy, according to a source.

The thinking is, if the Trail Blazers aren't going to be competing for a championship anytime soon and if they're going to hold on to their two lottery picks, Canales, 34, is being viewed as “the perfect guy” to take over the young Trail Blazer roster.

One of those things would be understandable but all three points to a rebuild, not a reload like has been intimated for several months. LA can't like the sound of that because another 3-4 years for a rebuild means he is 30.

As usual, the brain trust is split with some thinking a reload isn't that far fetched and others looking at a rebuild as the right way to go about it. Paul seems split between wanting to win now and loving the draft, the picks and the whole potential of young players. Remember him falling in love with players like Patty Mills.

[Wizenheimer]

Picking Andre Drummond would signal to the fan base that Portland is willing to go 3-4 years without contending.

http://www.csnnw.com/pages/landingblazers?Sources-Blazers-concerned-with-GM-finali=1&blockID=718556&feedID=5212

Multiple league sources have told CSNNW.com they don't think either of the three candidates will get the job and they say Trail Blazers' acting general manager, Chad Buchanan, “has become an option again.”

Trail Blazers interim head coach, Kaleb Canales, has come on strong as the favorite to secure their head coaching vacancy, according to a source.

The thinking is, if the Trail Blazers aren't going to be competing for a championship anytime soon and if they're going to hold on to their two lottery picks, Canales, 34, is being viewed as “the perfect guy” to take over the young Trail Blazer roster.

One of those things would be understandable but all three points to a rebuild, not a reload like has been intimated for several months. LA can't like the sound of that because another 3-4 years for a rebuild means he is 30.

As usual, the brain trust is split with some thinking a reload isn't that far fetched and others looking at a rebuild as the right way to go about it. Paul seems split between wanting to win now and loving the draft, the picks and the whole potential of young players. Remember him falling in love with players like Patty Mills.

PA has said at least two times that I recall that he didn't want to go through another rebuild. But he said that when the Blazers were a pretty obvious playoff team and still had the hope of Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. That's all gone now

Maybe now that they have already dropped down into a lottery level team with no sure quick path to contention, it's a lot easier for Allen to accept some less then stellar seasons

I'd also wonder if in the last few days Portland has been fielding offers for the draft picks and found they weren't nearly as attractive as the Blazer brain trust had hoped the offers would be

[Norm2953]

The draft workouts have not really started yet and I'm personally seeing how the
players measure out physically..

As we get closer to the draft, I strongly suspect another team will reach for
Drummond for too many reporters think he has the highest upside of anyone in
this draft (including Davis). Picks 4 and 5 will decide who get amongst the top 6
players in this draft and its going to come down to Barnes or Drummond who
will be there unless MKG really measures out to 6-5.

[sabi]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Q8RaU6-VI&feature=related[/youtube]

[Happy Trails]

If Lillard is planning on auditioning for a dancing with the stars/gladiator crossover reality show this is the best video ever!

Is he going to be a star - who really knows - how many times have we sen amazing video of point guards dribbling four balls etc - it's all kinda meaningless - even that Canadian guy could do amazing tricks with his feet and where di that get Mr Nash

[sabi]

I think he'll transition well to the nba especially because of his ability to draw fouls.

[License2Lillard]

If we do full rebuild how does that make Cho feel?