Checking up on Portland... rumor has it they are looking to land a second #1 pick in this year's draft. According to Empty The Bench, they may have already
succeed - Jarrett Jack may be traded to the Hawks on a draft day deal for the #11 overall pick.
Keep in mind that the Blazers have four 2nd round picks, which is too many to
fit on the roster; they also have trade ammo in Jarrett Jack (with Brandon Roy and Sergio Rodriguez the likely guards next season), and in Zach Randolph (expendable if Greg Oden is taken with the #1, and added to LaMarcus Aldridge).
This You Tube video clip is a little long at 5:30, but it ends with Blazer GM Kevin Pritchard talking about the difficulties of getting guys in the #10 pick range to work out for the Blazers, since they know the Blazers aren't picking them with their #1 overall.
But the Blazers are never the less trying to schedule some individual workouts with those types of players, most notably with Al Thornton (a reach at #11, but perhaps the Blazers can get into the top ten). The other guys they have brought to this point - including Daequan Cook, Demetris Nichols, Nick Young, etc. - are late first round, early second round types (the same guys the Knicks are looking at).
Chad Ford mentioned in his blog that the Blazers might be looking to trade Zach Randolph to the Bulls, then use the Bulls' #9 pick to take Yi Jianlian:
"Another dark horse in the Yi sweepstakes might be Portland, which is trying to get another top 10 draft pick. As I've mentioned before, the Bulls seem like a possible trading partner, with Zach Randolph involved. Can you imagine the huge front line of Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Yi? Wow."
How quickly are we going to debunk this? First off, I doubt Yi will drop that far, though I do personally believe he's overrated. Overrated as he may be, I still can't see him falling to #9. Secondly, you are trying to tell me that the Blazers are looking to trade Randolph essentially for Yi? "Can you imagine a huge front line of Oden, Aldridge and Yi?" I'll prefer to imagine a huge front line of Oden, Randolph and Aldridge.
Interesting sidenote on the Bulls we found while surveying this Oregon newspaper article on the Blazers:
This reader wrote in to Sam Smith (Chicago): "And what exactly was the reason Viktor Khryapa has not gotten much playing time?"
Sam Smith's response: "I don't fully know what happened with Khryapa, but he got on Skiles' bad side and never recovered. I do respect him for his professionalism all during the frustrating period. Vince is a free agent and while there can be a sign and trade, I doubt Utah is his choice destination. He could be going to Orlando as he's from Daytona Beach."
Portland beat writer Casey Holdahl's response: "As far as Khryapa goes, if Skiles has beef with Viktor then that's on Skiles. It's not like he's a great player or anything, but he always plays hard, unselfishly and never complains. And it's not like Vik asked to go to Chicago, Chicago asked for Vik. If Skiles has a problem with that, he should take it up with Paxson."
Nice to see that even beatwriters from across the country can sniff out Skiles' bull sh*t.
Also, Jason Quick thinks the Blazers are possibly looking into signing free agent Steve Blake this offseason:
"It's no secret that I like Portland,'' Blake said. "If they are interested in me, of course I would be willing to listen to them.''
"Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard and Blake are close. Signing Blake was Pritchard's first significant player personnel move two years ago, and Pritchard was sick to his stomach last summer when Blake was traded to Milwaukee for Jamaal Magloire."
I'm a huge Steve Blake fan, and think Blake would be the perfect point for the team with Roy at the 2, Oden, Aldridge and Webster down low.
Finally, reading Greg Oden's blog is fun. You can pretty much tell he's writing most of his stuff - it's sounds real, anyway. On the combine in Orlando:
"The hotel everyone is staying at is crazy big. I thought it was Disneyland when I saw it from the highway. It is very nice. I get lost just about everytime I step out my room. The crazy thing was when Michael Conley Jr. and I got here there was no one to tell us where to go. I guess now that I declared people are not gonna look after me, I'm supposed to be a man now. I gotta get use to that aspect."
On trhe testing, particularly of his jumper:
"After the testing we had a light work out, which involved a lot of turn around, off the block jump shots, which was ok. I usually shoot hooks, but it's good to learn something new. At the end of the workout we had to shoot an NBA three-point shot. I definitely air-balled mine."
But my favorite line is this line on the results of the NBA Lottery:
"I was on the plane when it happened, but as soon as I landed I had 22 messages that all said "Portland 1 Seattle 2." It was a total shock to me not to be funny, but I forgot those two teams where even in the lottery."
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