tontoz wrote:Personally I am fine with trading up for Oubre but realistically it remains to be seen whether or not they would have been better off just staying put at 19 and drafting someone else, like Portis. I don't think the jury is in yet. I know there were a lot of people here who wanted Portis.
I am pretty sure that I have been as critical of Ernie as, or more critical of him than, anyone here. I have wanted him fired for at least 4 years, since the moves that made it clear this would be a failed rebuild (Okariza trade and '11 draft).
But on this issue, I don't agree w/ you tontoz -- tho *of course* the jury is not yet in on Oubre or any rookie for that matter. But, staying put at 19 and drafting Portis didn't seem realistic at the time. I.e. he was routinely expected to go before that.
In other words, you'd have to argue that we'd have been better off trading up -- and then drafting Portis instead of Oubre. You could make that argument, of course, but the response is kind of obvious isn't it: the jury isn't in.
On the assumption that neither Oubre nor Portis would be there at 19, a very good assumption at the time, Grunfeld was wise to trade up.
And pretty much everyone here made that assumption too. Yes, a lot of people liked Portis. And had we drafted up and picked him, they'd all have been happy. But there were also people who wanted us to take Christian Wood (recently waived out of the league) or Chris McCullough (hasn't made it to the league despite being a R1 pick).
