tha supes

I've been getting used to the idea for awhile, but now it's official. No more Sonics. There's only one Northwest team now. I as a Northwest basketball fan am going to root for Portland. I never thought it would happen. I never actually hated Portland though, we never had any hard losses from your team. Just a nice friendly rivalry. I can get used to watching you guys though. I really like the team, have for awhile. I wanted Roy to fall to us when he was drafted in 06 so badly. nice homegrown talent, what a great player's he's become already. Aldridge & Oden is going to be good. I like Frye a lot if you use him correctly. Bayless was an interesting pickup, i thought he was going to the Sonics for sure. mcMillan, a great and true Sonic. His coaching can be eh, but I support him most of the time. Anyway, yeah. I've gotten more and more used to the idea of this day happening, but I've officially accepted it. I want to see the Blazers win.

I'm putting down the green and gold and picking up the black and red.

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Looking for the end of the Championship drought: Seattle Seahawks (Never,Formed 1976), Seattle Mariners (Never,Formed 1977) -- 63 composite seasons since last championship.]

LameR

Welcome to the dark side. You could always keep the green and gold and root for the Ducks =]

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The LameR has spoken. C^2

KingSpeed

Welcome. It's gonna be a real fun year this year. Enjoy.

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Darkwebs

Sweet, one of the first converts.

Welcome aboard, man. Sorry to hear about your loss, but I know you will enjoy rooting for this team. I know I sure have. Terrific character guys with great work ethic and talent.

Thanks for choosing the Blazers.

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Portland Trail Blazers

KingSpeed

speaking of character guys, how does Pritchard go about determing who is a good character guy? what is his criteia and how does he find it out? how did he know Diogu is a good kid? And Bayless too?

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Darkwebs

I've listened to interviews where either Pritchard or his staff (e.g. scouts) state that they interview people that know these players (like coaches, teachers, friends, relatives). So they not only study the draft prospect's game, but how they behave off-court, too. They gather all the on and off court info and compile a book about each of the prospects, so I've heard.

I don't know if they consider Diogu as a good kid. He was probably just filler in that trade for the 11th pick for Jack and 13th.

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Portland Trail Blazers

JAFO

Welcome ! First, my sympathies to you and the other Sonic fans on your loss. I know it just won't be the same without a b-ball team in Seattle. I hope Seattle acquires another team before long to pick up the Sonic banner because I, too, think the Portland - Seattle rivalry was a good one. However, I think you made a good choice in picking a new team to to support. Hope to see your posts on the board.

JAFO

JAFO

"It's hard to define, but I know it when I see it!"

Darkwebs

Exactly. That's Pritchard's quote on the "it" factor when deciding on a prospect.

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Portland Trail Blazers

Darkwebs

tha supes, I forgot to bring our welcoming committee. Here you go.

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Portland Trail Blazers

PorterIn2004

Hello Supes --

It's gotta be weird having the Sonics finally actually leaving. I don't know what I'd do in your shoes, but you're certainly welcome aboard this wagon as far as I'm concerned -- the more the merrier. And I think you're right that this team has a chance to be pretty special, presuming good health, etc.

As for the character question, I think Darkwebs nailed it -- they really do their homework. Sometimes, as with Roy, Aldridge, and Oden, they could do it a bit more overtly, openly talking with with the players, etc. Some guys, such as Rodriguez, were probably simply harder to track down and/or harder for us to hear about whatever conversations took place because the workout didn't happen. With Bayless, though, I think they were very intentionally masking their interest and again, as Darkwebs suggested, probably sent scouts to chat up teachers and the like as if they were doing that for all of the top picks (and likely enough, they were).

Entity

Welcome to the Trail Blazer board. I hope it's only temporary and you guys get a new SuperSonics franchise in the future.

NateBishop3

Welcome!

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Driew