Now this is where the Project gets interesting.
This would be the first time I have ever had that “feeling” after my favorite team had a great showing at the draft. That would be because the Blazers have been THE team. And we finally hit a home run in the draft and it just felt weird. It felt like it almost wasn’t happening. It still almost feels unral especially considering KP is planning on making more moves.
Coup hit it on the head when he said that this is a draft that improved the L as a whole. I would feel safe going out on a limb and saying that every team with a draft pick got better. Whether it was by filling a need, drafting the best player on the board, a steal of a pick or simply adding depth, teams were finding ways to not mess it up on draft night. I mean honestly, after the draft it has been so easy to go with Winners and Losers or to give out grades. But I find it hard because I think everyone for the most part did a bang-up job. I for one am not worried about the regular season though. If I was able to survive this horrific season (a very crappy year due to injuries and predictability) there is no way on earth I am complaining with this class and the potential free agent moves on the table. Could it be that the strength of the college game improved the quality of the draft? This year was a great year in college basketball with several players stepping up to the plate. Those players that stepped up were rewarded on draft night. The Acie Laws, the Al Thorntons, the Aaron Brooks and Afflalo’s. In recent years guys like that have dropped to the second round. But thanks in part to he college game getting stronger and GMs getting more scared (they are still stupid, just more afraid to be stupid) it strengthens then the NBA. Perhaps teams will be drafting more and more sure things from college instead of Euro projects. Think about it the projects didn’t really start coming out until the second round now did they.
Now…onto Coup and his thoughts. The East is such a crapshoot, you and I both know it. Are the Bobcats going to all of a sudden make a run at the ECF? No. But they have enough talent to get into the playoffs and make some noise during the season. No one would have thought that Toronto would have made the playoffs in July of 06. It happened. If LeBron and a bunch of jabronis could do it then why can’t Emeka, J-Rich, Felton, Hermann and your fav Adam Morrison make a run? You argue that the Cats blew their load on Jason Richardson. The Bobcats still have 20 mil. in cap room. They would be insane to have saved everything to have Jason Richardson be “the man”. Think about this though; what is the absolute last thing that the Charlotte Bobcats need right now? More young players. They have more than enough young guys as it is. The only way that young players can reach their potential and be the best they can be is by playing. That is the main reason why Zach Randolph isn’t a Blazer anymore. If he was here LaMarcus would not have a chance to develop by playing. The Cats have enough guys to develop, why add a project who could be good down the line…but only if he gets the chance to develop, a chance he wouldn’t get in Charlotte. I swear that made sense as I was typing it.
I would say Richardson is more than a “solid” scoring option. He is a 2 man…if you haven’t noticed the Bobcats have yet to have a solid 2 man. As much as I love Matt Carroll he shouldn’t be THE option. Richardson will give them consistency, poise and BUCKETS from the perimeter. Look at the series against the Jazz…when they were constantly feeding him the ball Harpring and Giricek didn’t know what to do wih him. He is a constant threat. I remember watching those games and thinking ‘Man they can’t do anything with this guy’ He can shoot it, he can drive it, he can post up. To brush off his contributions in the playoffs is a little misguided. THe guy had three games where he hit 5 threes. He scored 20+ in six of their eleven playoff games. What they gave up for a proven scorer and a veteran was a very young, raw “potential” superstar. Brandan Wright is going to need a couple years and I think Golden State is the place for him. The trade makes sense to me because now Charlotte has another scorer, another weapon. As guys like Felton and co. develop less pressure will be put on a guy like Jason Richardson. Just like he didn’t have to be the man in Golden State, he won’t have to be the man in Charlotte. It was a good trade for both sides. Charlotte got what they needed (a veteran scorer) and Golden State got a potential superstar. Both teams were helped.
The Seattle/Boston trade… Remember this about Seattle; their entire team hated that coach last year. They played basketball for about..20 games last year I would say. Blowing this team up was the best thing they can do, and to blow it up and get two guys like Kevin Durant and Jeff Green was money in the bank. This is Step 1 for Seattle. This trade doesn’t put them in a position to win right now, but I think Presti is doing a good job of setting himself up for good things to come. I would hesitate to say Lewis has been “alienated” if anything he would finally have a chance to carry the majority of the load for the Sonics. Durant and Green are too versatile to throw them in a SF box. I think Ridnour is a good PG (I’d take him in a heartbeat over J-Jack) and they have Delonte West. They have chips they can trade if they want to. Forget the progress of Robert Stiff, Mohammed Stiffer and Johan Pathetic. Their time has come and gone. Seattle didn’t quite make a leap to “contender” status but they did a phenomenal job of cleaning up all the shit and lying down a great foundation for the future. They are probably one more draft slash offseason away from really making noise. I really liked them making this trade because…what else were they going to get from Ray Allen? They made a move for the future and I applaud it.
Now your points against Boston. You say they have a 2, 3 year window to compete. You do remember that Doc Rivers’ is sitting on a seat that is hotter than hell. If they lose on Opening Night he could get fired. Danny Ainge’s seat isn’t much cooler. These guys don’t really have the time to wait and see. To keep their jobs they have to get the C’s in a position to compete and compete now. Getting a guy like Ray Allen may give you a small window but at the end of the day it gives you a window. If they hadn’t made this trade that window would be just as small as it was at the end of the season. Its not sure they would have been a playoff team with Yi or Brewer or whoever they would have drafted so I’m not buying that logic too much. You say Boston sacrificed their future…all they did was dump Wally’s contract, Delonte West and a pick they didn’t want for a multi time All-Star. Don’t forget they also got Big Baby in this deal. And they drafted Gabe Pruitt. Pruitt, not Sebastian Telfair is the backup PG in Boston. I like Rondo and Pruitt. As far as C is concerned…lets be real how many quality centers are there in the Eastern Conference? I mean we are talking Zaza Pachulia, Primoz Brezec, Jeff Foster, Andrew Bogut, Jason Collins, Mikki Moore, Rasho Nesterovic, Samuel Dalembert, Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, Brendan Haywood, Tony Battie…those are starting centers in the East. Some of those are playoff teams in there. You don’t need a good center to get into the playoffs my friend. I’m sorry but I think getting Ray Allen is a hell of a way to kick off the off-season any way you slice it.
I’ve talked about the Blazers deal a bunch…at the end of the day we got rid of Zach. Dumped him which means LaMarcus can develop and half of our cancers are gone. I get a sinking feeling that we could have gotten more. One of my bigger problems with KP leading up to the draft that I felt he was concentrating a tad too much on building a smokescreen over Oden/Durant instead of trying to get rid of Zach. I know we could have gotten more than this if he had really given it his all. It kind of feels li
ke they were in that draft war room like “Ok we really gotta get rid of Zach now that we got Oden” and they just kind of settled for this and said “Everyone will just be happy he is gone.” Agreed, but I was just hoping we would get some true value for one of the three guys who averagd 23 and 10. Call me greedy but I believe it was possible. You do make some great points about how our cap room is about to open up like a groupie after a couple drinks. I just wish there was something other than Channing Frye (a poor man’s LaMarcus) and Steve Francis (don’t get me started). I pray Francis doesn’t play for us.
NY on the other hand..this was a move Isiah had to do, I agree. Fans were excited because they think they got a steal. But let us think about this…who on earth is going to pass the ball on this New York Knick team? Who is going to be the guy who makes other people better? How are both Eddy Curry and Zach going to post up at the same time? Can Zach handle not only all of the distractions of NY, but the pressure of being a star in NYC? If he struggled here, the evidence is showing that he is going to have a hell of a time in the Big Apple. What does this do to David Lee? What about Randolph Morris? The Knicks still have the same problems they had last year, they just have a good player who probably isn’t going to work out with them. Remember how good Marbury and Francis sounded last year? Now Isiah is going to try and do it with two post guys. What happens when Zach starts wagging that left hand out and Stephon looks him off? I don’t know if I like a man who called himself “a gangster, not a Blazer” in NYC. I like the move for the Knicks because it pleased their fanbase and got them a great player, but the more I think about it the more I think it could backfire.