The “What If” Draft – Part One

NFL training camp has begun, and my mind is making its transition into full on football mode until early October when the NBA starts picking up steam again. Before I forget about every other sport for a couple months, I think it’s essential to leave basketball talk by playing what I like to call, the “What If” Draft. The “What If” Draft is quite simple actually, and not to mention extremely far-fetched for many different reasons that we don’t need to dive into right now, but it’s fun and can leave you wondering, “What If”, hence the name. Basically, what I will do is go through every NBA Draft since 1984 and tell you who the Portland Trail Blazers selected with their first pick, and ultimately, look back at who would have been the best possible choice at their given draft spot in my expert opinion. Finally, I will give my grade on how much any given pick effected them on a scale of -5 to 5 (-5 meaning hurt the franchise extremely bad and 5 meaning we made the right choice and it had a long lasting positive impression on the franchise as a whole, 0 meaning it had little to no effect at all), we can just call this the Effect-O-Meter. This is not necessarily an informative column, but it is something that I have found myself thinking about more times than a diehard New Orleans Saints fan has used the words, “Who Dat” in the last 5 years.

1984

The Blazers Pick (#2): Sam Bowie C, Kentucky

Best Player Available: Michael Jordan G, North Carolina (#3)

Effect-O-Meter: -10 (This needs no explanation)

1985

The Blazers Pick (#24): Terry Porter PG, Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Best Player Available: Terry Porter PG, Wisconsin-Stevens Point (We got this one right)

Effect-O-Meter: 3, Terry Porter was a long time contributor for the Portland Trail Blazers and made a lasting impact, not quite a Clyde Drexler but nonetheless he still made a big difference.

1986

The Blazers Pick (#14): Walter Berry, SF/PF, St. John’s

Best Player Available: Dennis Rodman, PF, Southeastern Oklahoma State (#27)

Effect-O-Meter: -1, I only say this because we did end up getting Arvydas Sabonis at #24 in this draft, so we got a lot of value, just would have been nice to have Rodman and Sabonis playing together at some point.

Honorable Mention: Jeff Hornacek, Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles, Dell Curry

1987

The Blazers Pick (#17): Ronny Murphy SG, Jacksonville

Best Player Available: Mark Jackson PG, St. John’s (#18)

Effect-O-Meter: -2, Mark Jackson was a great player with his best season being 17 PPG and 9 APG. The fact that he only went one spot lower than where we picked, and that we didn’t end up with much of an effective player in Ronny Murphy this one stings a little. It in no way crippled the franchise, but in hindsight things could have gone better.

1988

The Blazers Pick (#21): Mark Bryant PF, Seton Hall

Best Available Player: John Starks SG, Oklahoma State (Undrafted)

Effect-O-Meter: -1, John Starks was a great player, but we weren’t the only ones who passed on him, and although he had a very effective career, he probably wouldn’t have taken the Blazers to any crazy levels.

Honorable Mention: Steve Kerr, Brian Shaw

1989

The Blazers Pick (#22): Byron Irvin SG, Missouri

Best Available Player: Vlade Divac C, Yugoslavia (#26)

Effect-O-Meter: -2, I almost put this at a -3 because Vlade Divac went on to have a very effective career, with a good amount of years at 17 PPG and 11 RPG, but we did get Cliff Robinson later who might have made this SLIGHTLY less painful, maybe a -2.5.

1990

The Blazers Pick (#25): Alaa Abdelnaby PF, Duke

Best Available Player: Antonio Davis C, UTEP (#45)

Effect-O-Meter: -.5, not a knock on Antonio Davis, but had they picked him, it’s not like he would have taken the Blazers to new heights. Sorry Antonio.

1991

The Blazers Pick (#54): Marcus Kennedy PF, Eastern Michigan

Best Available Player: N/A

Effect-O-Meter: 0, they had the 54^th pick in the draft due to some trades, and Marcus Kennedy wasn’t anything at all, but neither was anyone drafted after him.

1992

The Blazers Pick (#26): Dave Johnson SF, Syracuse

Best Available Player: Matt Geiger C, Georgia Tech (#42)

Effect-O-Meter: 0, Sorry Geigs, no love today even with that lovely jump shot.

1993

The Blazers Pick (#21): James Robinson SG, Alabama

Best Available Player: Sam Cassell PG, Florida State (#24)

Effect-O-Meter: -1.5, Sam Cassell was a great player, putting up 19 PPG and 7.5 APG in his best season. We ended up with James Robinson, who is definitely a downgrade from good ol’ Cassell, but once again, nothing franchise crippling. You might be able to stretch this one out to a -2 but nothing further.

1994

The Blazers Pick (#17): Aaron Mckie SG, Temple

Best Available Player: No one worth mentioning

Effect-O-Meter: 0, Aaron Mckie wasn’t quite a superstar (I can’t even type that without laughing), but there was basically NO ONE worth mentioning that was picked after him. This one isn’t on you Portland.