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What? No Jerryd Bayless salad tossing?
http://hoopsaddict.com/2008/07/24/pr...st-mastermind/
It should come as no surprise that Kevin Pritchard has revealed himself as one of the smartest general managers in basketball over the past few years. After all, his college career saw him play under Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich, two great basketball minds, and he got his first front office job from Spurs’ general manager R.C. Buford.
As a whole, we were wrong to ignore Pritchard’s rapid ascension through the organization. Starting as director of player personnel in 2005, Pritchard made the move to the bench by the end of the season and then jumped to assistant GM in 2006. It should have been no surprise that he was given the GM reigns in 2007. After all, Pritchard already had a prominent scouting story to his name as the man who was overruled lobbying the Blazers to select Chris Paul at number three in 2005 before they traded the pick, and had already worked for some of the best during his quick rise to the front office.
Since the 2006 offseason, Pritchard has made it no secret that he has a plan as he has traded aggressively, worked the draft masterfully, and changed the entire culture of a struggling franchise. Some of the credit is owed to previous general managers John Nash and Steve Patterson, who set the wheels in motion for the culture change by listening to Pritchard and shedding a few poor character players.
Pritchard, though, is largely to credit with the light-speed turnaround of the franchise. As assistant GM in 2006-07, Pritchard’s moves were as follows:
Draft Night 2006 - Pritchard started to work his magic on draft night 2006 when he dealt Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, and a second round pick in 2008 to Boston for Raef LaFrentz, Dan au and the rights to Randy Foye. Not content to call it a night he later traded Viktor Khryapa and Tyrus Thomas to Chicago for LaMarcus Aldridge and a future second round pick and then sent James White to Indiana for Alexander Johnson and two future second round picks. Later in the evening Pritchard continued to wheel and deal when he traded Alexander Johnson to Memphis for a future second round pick. At the end of a busy night Portland also acquired Brandon Roy (by trading Randy Foye), Sergio Rodriguez, and Joel Freeland.
Offseason 2006 - Pritchard continued his overhaul alongside Patterson acquiring Jamaal Magloire from Milwaukee for Steve Blake, Brian Skinner and Ha Seung-Jin, creating long-term cap space.
2006-07 Season - In a rare inconsequential move, Pritchard acquired Fred Jones from Toronto for Juan Dixon.
Even at a quick glance, that’s an impressive haul, turning the #4, #30, and #31 picks and what were essentially spare parts into additional cap flexibility (in the short and long term), Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Sergio Rodriguez, Joel Freeland, and two additional futures second round picks.
Since he was given the official GM le, the story has been more of the same:
Draft Night 2007 - Looking to cement himself as a draft master, Pritchard selected Greg Oden, Taurean Green and Josh McRoberts via the draft. He supplemented these picks by purchasing James Jones and Rudy Fernandez from Phoenix and sending Derrick Byars and cash to Philadelphia for Petteri Koponen. In his biggest move to date, Pritchard sent Zach Randolph, Dan au and Fred Jones to New York for Channing Frye and Steve Francis and then sent New York Demetris Nichols for a future second round pick.
Offseason 2007 - The Blazers signed Steve Blake, extended Travis Outlaw and bought out Steve Francis.
2007-08 Season - Pritchard waived Darius Miles and traded Taurean Green to Denver for Von Wafer in an attempt to maximize even the final roster positions on the team.
Draft Night 2008 - In his latest night of wizardry, Pritchard acquired Nicolas Batum in a three-way trade for Joey Dorsey and Darrell Arthur, who had been acquired for cash. He then picked up a pair of 2009 second round picks by sending European draft pick Omer Asik to Chicago and Mike Taylor to the Clippers. Finally, in a deal that didn’t become official until a week later, Pritchard sent Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts and the rights to Brandon Rush to Indiana for point guard Jerryd Bayless and forward Ike Diogu.
Once again, these moves in isolation don’t seem like great steals, but the amount and the intricate genius of each one should not be lost by looking at a list like that. What Pritchard has done is create a team that is compe ive now and financially viable in the longer term.
Portland has an ugly $80 million cap bill for this season, well above the luxury tax, but the three largest contracts on the team (Darius Miles, Francis and LaFrentz) are all from previous regimes, totaling $39 million. Miles and Francis also come off the books this year, making 2009-10 an attractive starting point for the long-term analysis of the Blazers.
At that point, they will have Miles, Pryzbilla, Outlaw, Bayless and Fernandez under contract, totaling $23 million. They also have team options on Greg Oden ($5.3M), Aldridge ($5.8M), Roy ($3.9M) and Rodriguez ($1.8M), giving them four great young players at a total of $16.8 million.
Additionally, Martell Webster, Channing Frye and Ike Diogu are restricted free agents with very affordable qualifying offers, only Webster of which would command significantly more money on the open market.
A quick look at the depth chart for the 2009-10 season clarifies Pritchard’s vision:
PG – Bayless, Fernandez
SG – Roy, Rodriguez
SF – Webster, Outlaw
PF – Aldridge, Frye, Diogu
C- Oden, Pryzbilla
Waived players under contract –Miles, Francis
Expiring contracts to trade – LaFrentz ($9M)
Estimated committed salary - $53.2M
At this point, I have assumed relatively cheap extensions for Webster and Frye, which may be a fault in the logic here. Even still, it seems likely that with the combination of LaFrentz’ expiring contract, three additional 2009 second round picks and two additional 2010 second round picks, plus the rights to three prominent unsigned international picks (Freeland, Koponen and Batum), the Blazers will be able to acquire additional cap space or replace said players via resources they already own.
Nobody would disagree that, even with a few subtractions or at a slightly higher price, Portland has an incredible core in place for the next several years.
You can safely expect Portland to be a compe ive playoff team in the West this year, but you can set your expectations far higher after this season, when the team is truly Kevin Pritchard’s.
What he’ll do next is anyone’s guess, but rest assured it will be yet another smart move.
What? No Jerryd Bayless salad tossing?
Send her a pm Woody and complain. If enough people do, maybe that will get something done. Long story short, as annoying as they may be, as long as they're not cluttering up the front page, it's not an issue.
That makes three Johns...
Won't Greg and Jerryd be jealous you're spending too much time on Kevin?
you know
kevin looks good now
but the blazers have proven nothing yet
Raef LaFrentz is still in league? Wow at 9 mil a year. Now thats one lucky bas !
James White!
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