Blazers + The Draft

“The draft’s in 11 days and you haven’t said one word about the Blazers yet, what’s the matter with you!”

This is a true fact. The easy way out would be to blame the playoffs, Finals, Donaghy and Paul Pierce’s theatrics. However…I’m going to be completely honest with you: I have not given it much thought. Going into the 2008 Draft as a Blazer fan is a great feeling. I’d say it’s like being a horribly looking rich man with a beautiful girlfriend. Regardless of what you say or do to him he still has money and he’s still going home to a smoking hot woman. Just like regardless of what we do with the #13 pick we’re getting a positive either way. Whether we draft a player or trade the pick a positive will come of it. I’m not sure you understand how great of a feeling this. A stress-free Draft as a Blazer fan? Are you kidding me? Did not think it was possible. I know a few of you are saying “WTF you had the #1 pick last year what are you talking about finally a stress free draft?” Well, last year I was in a state of mental chaos as my brain was playing tricks on me. I knew we should draft Oden, yet kept arguing Durant in my head and the image of Sam Bowie popped in my head. It was no fun. Also, I was still freaking out because we still had Zach Randolph and we all know that if Z-Bo had been around Oden for any part of life, Oden probably would have gotten shot. (laughter)

Why does it not matter what we do at #13? We have two lottery caliber players coming in. And even if Rudy Fernandez turns out to be the next Marco Belinelli (or even worse the next Tskitishvili) we still have Greg freakin’ Oden coming in. And as much as I love Big Joel…that’s an upgrade right there. Blazer fans we’ve been waiting for a year, convincing ourselves that everything would be alright because of these two. So we’ve got that going for us. Seriously, the worst case scenario of this draft is we draft some 7’3 kid from Africa or Europe. And I don’t see that happening. But in case you were thinking of it KP, I have a lead pipe and I know where you work. Let’s leave it at that I don’t want to have to go all Beatrix Kiddo on you.

Many talk as if we’re going to trade the pick…many talk as if we’re going to keep it. It’s kind of like a see-saw. The rumors around June are about as unreliable as your stoner friend. Or Qyntel Woods. Wasn’t Melo just about to get traded to the Nets? Exactly. The word out there (instead of on the street for once) is that we definitely need veteran leadership, thus we should trade the #13 pick. I don’t buy that logic. I’ve never actually bought the logic of bringing in a player solely based on the fact that he’s old and has played basketball longer then some of Hannah Montana fans have been alive. What are we just going to sing Jeff McInnis again because he’s old? That worked so well for the Bobcats. Besides we aren’t the Clippers with Odom and co..we’ve got Brandon Roy who has the mind of a 12-year veteran. I’m all for trading the pick if we’re going to upgrade and get a player that can really help us. Not just to get a veteran. Hear me Pritchard? *taps lead pipe*

Now if we keep it we are in a bit of a pickle. A good pickle. On one hand we have the “luxury” of being able to draft a “project” player, someone we can develop for a couple years before playing. Two problems with this. One, our roster is quite stacked and two, the best way that rookies develop in the NBA is by actually playing. Those two go together as well as Cherry Blossom and zombies. On the other hand we can draft an NBA-ready player and suffer the consequences of having to sit him or sit someone else and hopefully not trade him away and watch him pull a Jermaine on us. Another solution: trade away Jarrett Jack. I don’t know about you but that would ease all my pain. I can’t watch him botch another fast-break. I have nightmares of him throwing an Alley-Oop from half-court to Oden on a fast break that goes over the backboard and Oden hurts himself trying to jump and get it. That’s neither here nor there.

Assuming we keep the pick….who do we draft? Obviously we don’t need a big man, so no Centers or Power Forwards coming here. We’ve got Oden, LMA, Channing and Big Joel. Absolutely no need for a big man. So I’m sorry NBC Sports and Collegehoops.net but Kevin Love is definitely not coming here. And if he does I’ll probably be highly upset for personal reasons. Moving on, we obviously cannot draft a point guard unless we plan on moving one. Which I really wouldn’t mind to be honest with you. The problem with this is…we can’t really move Sergio because Rudy will just bolt back to Spain. (By the way poor Sergio…no PT here…demoted from Spanish team…maybe the main reason why he is still with the Blazers is to keep Rudy. Not a good situation.) The other problem with this is that Bayless, Augustin and Westbrook will be gone by the time we draft. No need to bring in Mario Chalmers or Ty Lawson at #13 to this situation. If we’re going to draft someone it’s going to be someone who can play the 2 or the 3. And here are the four people I’m high on us drafting.

Russell Westbrook: I know…I know…I just said he won’t be available. We all know he’s not going to be on the board by #13 because of his workouts, but damn if we could get him. Seriously damn him for not being a sleeper anymore and you know trying to impress people. We should have just promised we would pick him and then had him sit out the rest of the year. Westbrook on the Blazers makes me giggle. We’d have a lockup perimeter defender and another slasher who is improving on his jumper. I hate talking about him because I know he’s not falling to us…but a boy can dream right. If Van Wilder can get engaged to Scarlett, we can freakin get Westbrook.
Joe Alexander: This is the guy everyone and their mom says we’re going to draft. And I would not mind at all. Come on he’s a white guy being compared to Shawn Marion! Then again…he’s being compared to Shawn Marion, which if you think about it for more than 2 minutes you will figure out is not the best thing exactly. His length, athleticism, height and ability to score…he just seems so….you know…versatile. Plus we can get him a shot by locking him at the practice facility his entire rookie season until he makes 1,000,000 threes. If they can re-make the Incredible Hulk twice in 5 years then I can say that.
Brandon Rush: Hear me out. He’s athletic, long and he can shoot the heck out of the ball. Over 40% from behind the arc in his three years of college. Also he’s unselfish. I would not mind seeing Brandon Rush in a Blazers uniform, although he could be the next Martell Webster. And I don’t think I mean that in a good way.
Donte Green: Now this…this is a talented guy. I would not mind drafting him. He’s almost like Alexander except with a greater….I hate this word…upside. The more I think about it, the more I like drafting him because we can sit on him for about a year or so and help him raise his Basketball IQ and mold him into a player.

And that’s it. Those are the 4 guys I would draft if I was the Blazers. I swear if they draft a Slovenian guy I’m sending Latarian Milton to KP’s house and then I’m having him take Oden’s dog.

(And yes that was just an excuse for you to go YouTube Latarian Milton)