Andrea Bargnani goes #1
Well, whoever voted for Andrea Bargnani (apparently pronounced Barn-Yanni) going #1 in my poll (all 4 of you!), you win special autographed rookie cards of past #1 draft picks Kwame Brown and Michael Olowokandi, valued at $0.60 and $0.35 respectively. Congratulations.
Now that you can pronounce his name, you can correctly tell people that he will follow in the footsteps of the two players previously mentioned. Especially if he plays defense like that! He's not even close to the ball.
By the way, the best pick in this draft (not necessarily the best player, but the best pick for a certain team) was Shannon Brown going to Cleveland at #25.
3 comments:
I will be wanting those rookie cards, as I voted for him several times. Probably all four. Anyway, forget Bargnini, Portland was actually the talk of the draft. They ended up with four first round picks after all the trading they did. Damn, the youngest team in the league just got even younger, especially since they traded away Ratliff today as well. I think the Blazers might do fairly well in the future, especially considering they now have a young player at every position on the floor. Look for the Blazers to be the Baby Bulls of the Western Conference in the next three years. It should be fun to watch at least.
PS. I think I might be the only person happy that the Blazers didn't get Adam Morrison. Can you say future bust? I sure as hell can.
Yeah, we have young players in every position, but we've had that before, and we trade them before they hit their prime (specifically Jermaine O'Neal), and we may have done that with Sebastian. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely disagreed with our choice to take him as our first pick 2 years ago, and I'm glad he's gone, but he, of all our players, had the most potential.
The single happiest moment for me in the draft last night was us trading Viktor Kryhapa. I HATED him! He was the worst basketball player in the league last year. He was garbage. I ran down the street in a fit of joy when I heard that.
It's tough to see the Rattler go, but he doesn't have much more left, he's had a hard time with injuries. What comes of all this, though, is Dan Dickau comes back to Portland, and Raef LaFrenz comes with him! "Say hello to Reaf LaFrenz!" I can't wait for that! And of course, we picked up some great talent in Brandon Roy, possibly the most complete player in the draft, and LaMarcus Aldridge, who will bring athleticism that we need. I am looking forward to this next year. This draft gives me a lot of hope, and I hope we can build this year and put together a season.
As for the "Draft the 'Stache" crap we had here in Portland, I am VERY glad we didn't take Adam Morrison. I think Brandon Roy especially will be a greater NBA player than Morrison, and I agreed with our picks. We could have had him, as we essentially had the 2nd pick, but we took Aldridge, and I think it was the right choice.
So we still have some work to do, but I think the whole team now has a lot more potential. Now, it's been a long time since I've said this, but I'm going to give it a try: Go Blazers!
You also have to look at what the Blazers did for the future at other positions. In the future they will have Jack at point, Roy at the 2 guard, Webster as a combo 2-3 player probably getting most of his time at the three once Miles is traded, Aldridge at the four and possibly the five if he puts on some weight (especially since I know the Blazers are trying to drop Randolph like a fat habit), and possibly the Big Brit in the 5 if they don't resign Pryzbilla. Not to mention Spanish Chocolate might be the next Tony Parker.
All I can say is that I agree with Kevin, and am damn excited for next year for the Blazers. They might only win 30 games, but they'll be exciting damn it. And with Nate at the helm these guys will be hardened, professional, and above all else good players before long.
Last note, and shameless plugging, www.zachfrancis.blogspot.com . The words of wisdiocy have returned. And patent pending on the word wisdiocy.
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