Blazer Draft Recap

A lot of action, lotta action. Of course the big news is that the Blazers surprised absolutely no one by taking Ohio State center and Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year, Greg Oden. Personally I was hoping for Durant, but I'm certainly not complaining about getting Oden. He's got the ability to be a franchise center and he can make an immediate impact on both ends of the court, and by adding another young, extremely talented player with excellent character, the Blazers have set themselves up to be a serious contender in the west for alot of years.

After that, things got busy for the Blazers. The proposed Randolph trade with the Knicks still took place, bringing in Steve Francis and Channing Frye for Z-bo, Dan Dickau, and Freddie Jones. We knew the Blazers were trying to get rid of Randolph, but I think you could've done better than this. You've spent the last two years trying to bring in high-character guys like Roy and Aldridge, and then you go out and bring in a locker room liability like Steve Francis. Channing Frye could work out playing alongside Aldridge, and by getting rid of Randolph you open up the inside for Aldridge, Oden, and now Frye. I'm not sure he was worth giving up a 23 point, 10 rebound guy to get though. Hopefully Frye, the 8th overall pick in the 2005 draft and 2006 first-team All-Rookie selection, will overcome last years sophomore slump when he only averaged 9.5 points. On the plus side of this trade, the Blazers saved somewhere around $30 million in long term salaries, and you ensure Randolph doesn't introduce Oden to any of Portland back alley strip clubs.

Other first round action saw Portland purchasing the rights to Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez. I don't know much about this guy, except that it sounds like he'll have to stay at least another year in Spain to finish up his contract there.

Portland then picked up Duke forward Josh McRoberts in the second round. No surprise McRoberts slipped in the draft, after a mediocre year last year. I'm not all that excited about him, even in the second round, but maybe he'll develop into a solid player to provide rest for Aldridge and Frye.

With the 42nd pick, Portland got Vandy guard Derrick Byars and traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for another European guy, point guard Petteri Koponen out of Finland, who might also stay in Europe another year. Don't know anything about this guy, but we're definitely building up a stash of guards.

Then the Blazers got point guard(another one?!?!) Taureen Green, the last of the loaded Florida team in this years draft. Green is a pretty solid point guard, especially this late in the draft. He has the experience of running a championship team and is a great defender and a solid scorer with some good perimeter shooting.

Finally Syracuse forward Demetris Nichols was taken at number 53 and traded to New York for a 2008 second round draft pick.

If they had done nothing but draft Oden, the Blazers would've been winners in this draft, but Paul Allen and Kevin Pritchard have never been ones to sit back and see what happens on draft day, and like last year were one of the most active teams in the draft. I'm curious as to the need of another 3 guards(with the current roster, we now have Francis, Koponen, Green, Sergio Rodriguez, and Jarrett Jack), and now over the last two years they've spent big money to get a couple European point guards in Koponen and Rodriguez. They might try to deal some of them for a veteran small forward, or if Fernandez has to stay in Spain, another shooting guard to help Brandon Roy.

My projected line up for next year looks something like this:

Point Guard: Sergio Rodriguez with Jarrett Jack and Koponen on the bench. Jarrett Jack may hang onto the starting spot, but I really liked what I saw from Rodriguez last year.
Shooting Guard: Brandon Roy with Martell Webster and possibly Rudy Fernandez on the bench
Forwards: LaMarcus Aldridge and Ime Udoka with Channing Frye, Travis Outlaw, and possibly Josh McRoberts riding pine. Channing Frye could very well earn the start here over Udoka.
Center: Greg Oden with Jamaal Magloire/Joel Przybilla providing relief.