2008 NBA Draft

The NBA draft happened this previous Thursday night and the Portland Trail Blazers made out like bandits since their GM, Kevin Pritchard, is awesome. In fact, he is so awesome that a new term was invented to describe how he swindles other teams out of good players and picks: Pritchslap (play on bitchslap for those who are slow). Heh.

I've been a die hard Blazers' fan since Day 1 since they are the only pro game in town. They went through a rough patch since their meltdown against the L*kers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals, but they're on the right track now.

Portland had the 13th pick and drafted Brandon Rush, a pretty good shooter out of Kansas. They traded his draft rights, Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts for the rights to Jerryd Bayless (Indiana's 11th pick) and Ike Diogu. Bayless is a skinny dude, but can shoot and might be able to play the point in the NBA. He was projected to go higher, but fell because teams aren't sure how he'll fit in. Brandon Roy runs the offense so Bayless will just need to guard the opposing team's point guard. Diogu is a power forward who brings rebounding and hustle. He's not a great player, but he'll get it done off the bench. Portland gives up a good shooter in Rush, a mediocre point guard in Jack and a benchwarmer in McRoberts. It depends on how good Bayless becomes, but this deal is low risk because Jack was never in the long term plans, McRoberts was just a warm body. Maybe if Rush turns into a 10 year All-Star, Portland will regret dealing him, but I doubt it.

Portland bought the 27th pick from New Orleans for $3M and used it to select Darrell Arthur. His rights and the rights to Joey Dorsey (Portland's first second round pick at 33) to Houston for the rights to Nicolas Batum, the 25th pick. Batum wants to come over and play for Portland next season. He's a slasher and is pretty athletic, but is young and perhaps a bit thin for the NBA. Portland's wings are pretty crowded, but they haven't found their SF of the future so perhaps Batum is it. I'm not crazy about this deal, but Paul Allen (the owner) is rich so $3M is nothing, Arthur is unknown and Dorsey's skills are replicated by Diogu.

Portland used its second second round pick, the 36th pick overall, to draft Omer Asik and then traded him to the Bulls for three future second round picks. It's unclear if Asik would've come to the NBA this year if ever given the cash in the Euroleague (tax free to boot since the team pays that) and the future picks can be packaged to move up in the draft.

Portland used its third second round pick, the 55th pick overall, to draft Mike Taylor and then traded him to the hapless Clippers for a second round pick in 2009. Taylor was unlikely to make the team so we got future help instead.

Overall, this draft is pretty solid, but we still have potentially four PG on the roster without a definite starting SF. I'm still excited since Oden will play this season and I think the team has a great plan in place to be in the playoffs next season and beyond. There might be a trade later this summer to clear up our roster glut and to take advantage of Raef LaFrentz' fat expiring contract.