I’ve kind of been lying back soaking in all of the draft. I’m enjoying the praise we receive nationally, it sure is a change of pace. And I like how because KP is so good at making moves we are becoming villains in the eyes of some people. I know for a fact if we ever win a championship we are going to be hated because we have enough bandwagon type fans to fill two or three arenas.
(I mean look at the turn around we had with KP. He was not liked when he was named coach as replacement for Maurice Cheeks. I for one hated the guy. Luckily he survived the Patterson/Nash era and look at us now. You could film an ‘I Love KP’ movie and the whole city of Portland would fawn over him)
Allow me to be obvious for a second. Major props to KP for his work during the draft. However I have to pause before I praise. Us getting Bayless depended on a lot of things falling in place. It depended on Seattle passing on him, Charlotte passing on him and New Jersey passing on him. I’m assuming KP had all this info but I’m just curious as to what the backup plan would have been. Because in essence we pulled the same kind of move this year as we did with Chicago when we acquired LMA.
Onto Bayless…the kid can play. He can score and in that respect he is a major league upgrade over Jarrett Jack. I don’t see how anyone could doubt this move. Bayless, even if he does not turn out to be a world beater is just a more skilled player than J-Jack. Let’s forget his ability to penetrate and to shoot…He can actually run a fast break. With that right there he wins. If people want to complain or ‘poke holes’ about Bayless, don’t talk about his inability to play the PG. He’s not going to have to play a traditional PG here. Brandon Roy is our primary playmaker so as Coup stated yesterday Bayless will play off the ball and be put in position to score. And he’s coming in with a chip on his shoulder. In my couple personal experiences with Mr. Bayless…he’s definitely a….how do I say this…prideful athlete. After hearing about going #4 all this time, slipping to #11 and getting traded isn’t going to set well with him.
If people want to attack Bayless…attack his defense (so non-existant) and attack the fact that he might not be able to ‘buy in’. I wonder if Bayless can fit into the chemistry we have here in Portland. Just thinking out loud but we have a lot of talented people who come together as a team but are mostly humble at all the right times. Bayless has been The Man for years. High school, AAU, U of A. He’s been That Guy. Now, I wonder how he adjusts to being behind B-Roy, Oden and LMA in that regards. And even having to maybe sit behind Steve Blake for a little bit. The same Blake who I guarantee Bayless will describe to someone he loves as a ‘punk ass white boy’.
On the subject, my mind has to wonder how Nate is going to handle this year’s team. Not that he can’t coach I’m definitely not saying that after what he did this year. I am saying he doesn’t have the greatest track record playing youth. Look at what happened to Travis and Martell pre this year. In this rotation he is looking at having to play at least three of our rookies. I just wonder if he’s going to have the patience to get it done. Again…thinking out loud.
The Batum trade…it had to happen. Not in love with it but it had to happen. I see what some fans are saying about why on earth would we trade Arthur for Batum? Any other scenario we wouldn’t have done it. However, Coup said it yesterday… It makes sense for our team: there’s no way we could have added an NBA-ready player to this team. No room. We can take the risk on a guy like Batum with our current situation. Unforunately we have to bring him over immediately due to the fact that his contract overseas has no buyout option. I’m thinking KP is hoping for another Travis Outlaw situation. The best way that players develop in the NBA is by actually playing. I doubt he’ll sniff the D-League without throwing a croissant at KP and Nate. Frankly I’m just not seeing it in this guy right now. Allow me to explain. With the exception of Tony Parker, Frenchies in the NBA have been full of sizzle with little steak and no substance. Look at Boris Diaw, Pietrus, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Mickael Gelebale, Johan Petro. All perennial underachievers. I’m not putting expectations for Batum for 4 years and even then they aren’t going to be high. But the deal had to happen and in that sense we got a nice fit for our roster.
And onto the rest of the trade. We lost next to nothing in it. Greg Oden might cry about not being able to play Guitar Hero with Josh McRoberts but I’m sure he’ll get over it by October. As much as I liked Brandon Rush, we got rid of Jarrett Jack and that outweighs what he would have brought to us. Besides Rudy hated him and probably would have called him some sort of Spanish racial slur during practice. The gem of the deal: Ike Diogu. The man can play. The man can score. His biggest problem is that he keeps getting shuffled to the wrong team. A bit of Luke Jacksonitis minus the major injuries. Look up his Game Logs, when he get significant time he scores and he rebounds. He just happened to be drafted by Golden State during their transition to Nellieball and traded to Indiana just as Rick ‘I really love throwing the ball in the post’ Carlisle was getting canned. And now as he comes here, I wonder if we’ll be able to find some PT for him. We need to.
Other draft thoughts:
- Memphis GM Chris Wallace needs to get the same beating that Beatrix Kiddo got from Bill and the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. I’ve been trying to write about the Mayo/Love trade and my brain keeps getting stuck on why on earth Memphis would do that. Mayo for Love. Fine. That’s ok. Taking on the contracts of BOTH Antoine Walker and Mr. Adriana Lima. You’re losing your mind. But giving up Mike Miller on top of all that. Legally insane. I really wish Clay Bennett would have just waited and bought the Grizzlies and hijacked them to Oklahoma City. No one would have cared the way this is going. Dear lord. Chris Wallace you just got outsmarted by Kevin McHale on draft day.
- You know the one team we didn’t Pritch-slap? Houston. They slapped the shit out of us. I already explained why we had to make that deal with them and how it made perfect sense for us….but at the end of the day we actually traded Darrell Arthur and Joey Dorsey for Nicholas friggin Batum. Yucky. Houston did a good job of getting a replacement when Mutombo finally retires, and they get a much needed dose of youth and athleticism in Donte Greene. And Aaron Brooks gets to hang out with Maarty Leunen again and reform their ‘both our first names have consecutive A’s’ club.
- I really like what New Jersey did before and during the draft. They got solid and deep. They aren’t exactly good but they are solid and deep. Both things that could not have been said last year when they had 3 players and a whole lot of nothing else. I don’t think they make any noise but they are on their way for good things when LBJ comes to Brooklyn.
- Kudos to Miami. Actually just kudos to whoever stopped Pat Riley from being senile and getting Beasley. Also the Mario Chalmers move was a great one. He’s a real good prospect and he’ll be playing with a chip on his shoulder. Worst case he turns out to be the next Charlie Ward.
- Why on earth did the Suns trade away Malik Hariston?
- I love how NBA teams just openly draft players and send them overseas now.