He isn’t paid to pass … lol
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I really wish this were a feasible option. Unfortunately as you say we’ll never go to 3 and 4 because it would totally mess up the record books, and we’ll never change to 2.5 because that decimal will freak everyone out (though it shouldn’t). But this is the right solution. The line is fine where it is, we’re just overvaluing a shot that’s really not very hard for these guys to make.
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Pros, NBA pros, NBA all stars and then this level … sheesh:
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Dame is putting on a show this season, not that he’s had a bad year previously, but yea that’s a bad man.
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Love Lillard. Too bad he’ll never win anything in Portland. Blazers have had some great players like B. Roy and now Lillard, but the timing never seems to work out with the rest of the team for them to actually compete.
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Yep - unfortunate for him
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Almost posted that in my post but didn’t want to trash on Dame. It’s a shame how Portland has failed him in building a team.
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They also have had some horrible luck. When they drafted Oden number 1 and then he crashed out with the injury it really set them back. It was always hard trying to get free agents up there also. McCollum and Dame were great together but they could never pull any other pieces together, really. Blazers fans LOVE that team and the city supports it really well. I’d love to see them win sometime, but probably not going to happen.
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For sure the city loves them and its honestly a team with a great tradition. The Oden thing was horrendous and I know hindsight is 20/20 but really he was injured in college, they had to see at least some of that coming. That team with Sheed and co. was so close another missed opportunity for them.
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Yeah for the team that picked Bowie over Jordan and then Oden over Durant…I think that’s plumb dumb.
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Bowie over Jordan wasn’t as crazy as it seemed at the time. Michael Jordan was a very good player, but no one was predicting him to be the best ever at that point, and it was an era when a good big man was more valuable than a shooting guard.
I think ACC fans had a clearer idea of Jordan’s potential. I was arguing at the time that the Rockets should have drafted him No. 1. You can’t argue with Olajuwon as the pick – he had a pretty good career. But the Rockets already had Ralph, and I thought Ralph-plus-Jordan was a better combination than Ralph-plus-Akeem.
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Don’t know how legitimate it is, but have also heard some conversation that Oden just had unfortunate timing - if he’d come along 10 years later, there might have been a better chance they would have corrected the issues that caused his injuries early and prevented at least some of what he suffered. I think he might be one of those people who has one leg longer than the other, or something like that, which we can identify and help work around using gate analysis and stuff these days. But at the time it was more just operating after something went wrong.
Don’t know if that’s true, but have heard it said. He still probably never would have approached Durant, but maybe he could have had a better career.
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I actually don’t think it’s dumb, its just based on “consensus” and then hindsight being 20/20. Another example is that Zion is out AGAIN for another prolonged period and Ja Morant is still cooking in the league. There is no way that New Orleans would have lived down picking Ja Morant over Zion during that draft class until recently.
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I think sometimes teams get caught in tough positions with these guys. The consensus is that player X is “the guy” even if the medicals don’t add up. It’s almost too sure-fire to pass up on.
It’s fascinating to me that with guys like Oden and Zion the truth is right in front of us, yes they are talented, but if they struggle to complete a single college season, especially at that size and weight chances are they are gonna have some lingering issues.
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I think it’s easy to talk yourself into though. “We’ve got a better medical staff,” “we can put together a good injury prevention plan and dial in the nutrition,” etc. For Zion specifically, he’s been so productive when he has played that you can see the vision. Embiid had a ton of early injuries and questions about his conditioning, but it’s mostly worked out for him, so I understand why teams take the shot on the guy they think will be transformative.
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Great point. Every team thinks they have the medical staff that can make it work. And if you can strike the mix to keep the guy healthy enough/around enough it could work. Embiid is a good example.
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At the time, however, I was psyched. With Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and serviceable others, getting a big like Oden would have been huge! When he played he was really good, and I remember thinking that he was the last piece. Nobody in Portland wanted Durant, we all thought Oden was going to bring championships down the line. I think sometimes it seems like an obvious win due to team needs, but turns out differently.
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The thing with Zion is that you’re faced with a dilemma. If we pass on him and he avoids injury, he’s an all-star and we look stupid. If we draft him and he’s injured, we look bad, but we don’t look stupid, because it’s a reasonable risk to take.
And it’s not like Ja was a sure thing when he was drafted.
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I think this is exactly right. Called FOMO nowadays man. You are always worried some crazy talent will be successful somewhere else after you passed on them
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