cokeplease

I know its early, but here is a few thoughts that have crossed my mind as of late...

How can the blazers get the last piece to the puzzle?

I know alot of folks think the rebuilding is stopping at Roy, but i think different.

Roy is a huge asset. But not the final piece.

Now... Lets set the stage for draft day.

Kevin Durant, and Greg Oden are both declaring NBA draft eligibility...

Assuming the blazers are going to be somewhere in the 5-13 range lottery pick, why not try to trade up to the 2 spot and be guranteed to get one of the two college standouts?

in a perfect world (in my opinion), Kevin Durant is the best player in the draft for the blazers.

Obviously, Oden isnt needed as much since randolph and Aldridge are already filling the PF role.

With Outlaw potentially leaving at the end of the year, Durant could take over starting for Udoka and Udoka could be bumped down to the bench.

Or even better...

in the trade to acquire the 1 or 2 pick, why not dish outlaw, udoka, magloire, dixon, even webster for the pick. You could even throw in the lottery pick.

Imagine this:

Any combination of player(s) and the lottery pick

for

1st or 2nd pick (and something else?)

draft Durant or Oden.


Blazers have Roy, randolph, aldridge; all extremely important role players. But in my opinion they are not superstars.

Durant is the next big cheese. Take a chance on him. I have a feeling he wont dissapoint.

Samuel

Whoever gets those picks won't be moving them for anyone, period.

Let's get that idea out of our heads right away.

wastro

Exactly.

Last year, the Blazers were able to make moves in the lottery. That's not happening this year.

It's not like Portland's out of contention for a top pick, though. Last year, Toronto got the first pick with 27 wins. The year before, Milwaukee got the first pick with 30 wins.

At its current pace, Portland would wind up with 33 wins. That doesn't mean getting Oden or Durant is impossible, just extremely difficult.

Just think, though -- we have good karma coming to us after the NBA gods foiled us in last year's lottery!

ThatBlazerGuy

If you get a top 2 pick in this draft, you dont deal it. I would not trade a top 2 pick in 07' for Brandon.

Fork

Great idea.

But...when has a team EVER traded for a clear-cut #1 pick? (which is basically my assumption of both Durant and Oden. If either one would NOT declare, the other would be a clear #1 choice.)

It's great to say 'We should trade up and draft a great player.' but it's evidently not that easy, since it's never been done. Unless you're willing to give up a Lebron James, Dwayne Wade or other young SUPERstar, it's not going to happen. Since we don't have a player like that...it's not going to happen for us.

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wastro

The great thing about this draft is that, even if Portland drafts 5-8, they're still going to get a really solid pick.

Look at the impressive mock at NBADraft.net, and add another 2-3 players whose stock will rise due to an inevitable strong showing during March Madness ... and you have an incredible lottery, wherever you land in there.

ehizzy3

corey corey corey corey

Samuel

That's a great (an oft overlooked) point, wastro.

Draft project at this time, last year

Granted, last years' draft was abnormally unpredictable, but still.

The likely rookie of the year is sitting perched atop the second round.

Noah, O'Bryant, Sene are nowhere to be found.

You could probably bump down everyone about 3 spots in terms of availability when you start to enter Portland's drafting range.

Verro

I really hope Budinger declares this year, he's the only player outside of the top 3 Oden/Durrant/BWright who seems to have superstar potential and could be in our range come draft night. A slashing uber athletic SF who can hit the 3 is exactly what we need.

Blazed

So if Charlotte winds up with the 2nd pick, you really don't think they'll move the pick? Do you think they'll give up on Morrison after one year? Neither player is going to succeed away from the SF position.

OntheRocks

holy hell BRoy was #33 back then at this time last year. Nuts.

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2008 - HERE COMES ODEN+RUDY+BAYLESS!!!!!

HispanicCausinPanic

That is amazing! B Roy @ #33! Those things are purely speculation, guesses. Bring on Durant!

darkhelmit54

If we end up dealing Zach (i don't want to for crap, but I like the thought of a Sergio led running team) or we decide Aldridge is a center:

After reading up on Horford and watching some clips, I'd much much much rather have him than the yuppie arrogant ***** Noah. Toughness and smarts sounds real nice, and Florida's coach said Horford is the smartest player he's ever coached and one of the most easy to coach. I like Horford a lot is because I think he's the type of player that's maybe not a big scorer, but an excellent complimentary type of strong forward who can play tough, defend, rebound, handle the ball, and run decently. A perfect compliment for Aldridge and a running style.

Utherhimo

there are plenty of good players to pick but we win 30 to 35 games and will sneak into the top 3!

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mediocre man

No one is going to part with picks 1 or 2, so unless we get fortunate enough to get one of them there is no way either of those players land on the Blazers.

Here is what I would like to see, and something I think is fairly realistic.

Let's say we end up at 7

I'd like to trade Zach for Nocionni and Brown. That gives us a SF/PF allowing us to be more veristile and some serious cap relief.

Trade Jack for Childress

Let Magloire walk

Sign Blake

With the 7th pick I'd like to see us draft Yi Jianlian, or Hawes if he comes out.

That should give us a line up going forward of

Sergio/Blake
Roy/Childress/Webster
Nocioni/Childress/Webster
Aldridge/Outlaw/Nocioni
Joel/Yi or Hawes

With Freeland, Dixon, Raef as the fillers. That's a pretty athletic team, and one that has only one real weakness....shooting. I'd love to see Portland sign a couple of veteran shooters to fill out the 15 man roster.