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The youngest team in the NBA needs more experience, and growth, and some patience with itself, and maybe a uniform re-design. But what the Portland Trail Blazers absolutely do not need is to get younger.
Which is why Tuesday's draft lottery is a formality for the Blazers.
Portland needs to trade its 2008 draft pick.
The Blazers have a 97.82 percent chance of ending up with the No. 13 or No. 14 pick, and since there are only two impact players in this draft (Memphis' Derrick Rose and Kansas State's Michael Beasley), the decision-makers at One Center Court should be plotting a manner in which to avoid adding another guaranteed contract to the roster.
It's in General Manager Kevin Pritchard's nature to be active. This is a guy who tied the NBA record for trades in a single day (six) during his first few months on the job. And so now he's charged with getting rid of what will probably be a marginal pick in the first round.
I keep hearing that former Lake Oswego High School star Kevin Love (of UCLA) would look great in black and red as a professional, but sentimental wishes aside, every Blazers fan understands that what the franchise needs most right now is to get older.
Understand, you can make a case that the team's most valuable presence last season was small forward James Jones. Brandon Roy was the All-Star, but what Jones brought was wisdom, experience, game savvy, and a calming, veteran presence when things felt like they were crumbling all around.
Coach Nate McMillan said, over and over, that having Jones available was like "having an assistant on the floor." And if you cared to watch the Blazers bench during games, especially when Jones was out with an injury, you'd have seen him cupping his hands around his mouth, shouting instructions.
Jones stabilized things. He taught the young players how to respond, and react, when things weren't going well. He became a mentor, too.
The Blazers aren't going to get that from a 2008 draft pick.
Pritchard told local reporters Thursday that the team would wait for the draft lottery, and then, explore "all options." But aside from landing either Beasley or Rose, the only good option is to trade out of the first round and not take a player till the second round, when selections receive non-guaranteed contracts.
I know what you're thinking, the Blazers plucked a serviceable Zach Randolph with the No. 19 pick in 2001. San Antonio's Tony Parker was the No. 28 pick in the same draft. There are good values in the late lottery all over the league, but the Blazers are already adding a healthier Greg Oden, and by all accounts, they'll get European star Rudy Fernandez as well.
The last thing Portland needs is a first-round project that will eat up roster space, take away salary-cap flexibility and inhibit the important moves Pritchard needs to make in the summer of 2009. The Blazers keep talking about their window of opportunity as it relates to Roy and Oden, and maybe, too, LaMarcus Aldridge. So the real need now becomes one of chemistry, and growth, and patience.
I suppose the temptation will be for the Blazers' scouting staff to believe they've done their homework and funneled all the data into the computer software they're using, and that they're confident they can identify 10-15 players in this draft who will have productive NBA careers. But if the franchise wants to maintain maximum flexibility, and promote maximum growth, the front office should resist the urge to prove how smart it is when it comes to identifying personnel and instead trade the pick.
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregon ... amp;coll=7 |
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