With the draft being the next big thing on the horizon for the Blazers, it’s hard not to think about the past woes this team has had during the draft. The names that first come to mind are Sam Bowie and Greg Oden. Those were the obvious misfortunate draft mistakes from this team. Missing the opportunities to draft Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant really stings as a Blazer fan.
Even more recently there have been some head scratchers when it comes to draft day. This franchise has just seemed to struggle to pull everything together and pick the best player for the future of this team.
In the last draft the Blazers selected Nolan Smith and Jon Diebler. Diebler ended up overseas and Smith was a spotty rotation player. I really enjoy Smith as a person and I believe he does have potential to be a solid back up point guard in this league. His work ethic is fantastic and he has a solid core of values. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he was under Coach K’s wing for four years at Duke.
The Smith pick at number 21 in the first round last year may work out long term. But one pick later the Nuggets drafted Kenneth Faried, a prospect that a lot of Blazer insiders pointed to as a fit for this team. Faried broke out half way through this season. After starting 39 games, he averaged 10.2 points per game and 7.7 rebounds. And even more impressive, through three games of their playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, he is averaging 12 points and 11 rebounds a game.
You can’t always get every pick right, and the Blazers at the time had Nic Batum and Gerald Wallace at small forward. It’s much easier to look back and see that it would have been nice to have a player like Faried. Smith may still work out for the Blazers but to look at last years draft and seeing players like Faried, MarShon Brooks, Chandler Parsons, and Isaiah Thomas get drafted later and become players, isn’t the easiest to watch.
This year’s draft has a ton of questions around it. Will the team trade the picks? Will they be bringing 4 rookies into training camp? Will the team have a GM before the draft? All of this will unfold before our eyes in the next couple months. The Draft Lottery is at the end of May and the Draft is in June.
Anyway it works out, it will be interesting to watch from the outside, but I would give anything to also be in the “war room” on draft day.
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