Blazers: “We didn’t pass on Morrison, honest!”
The Portland Trail Blazers pulled a fast one on their fans, passing on “Draft the ‘Stache” inspiration Adam Morrison without actually passing on him. Portland made a deal with Chicago, exchanging the draft rights to the Bulls’ #2 pick, LaMarcus Aldridge, for the draft rights of the Blazers’ #4 pick, Tyrus Thomas, along with Viktor Khryapa. The Blazers could have easily told the Bulls to draft Morrison #2 and traded Thomas for him, but they wanted Aldridge instead, and they got their man. They avoided some bad press when Charlotte took Morrison #3. That way, the Blazers never actually passed on him.
I don’t know if these details will be lost on Portland fans. Certainly anyone who was passionately hoping that Morrison would land in Portland will be able to see through the trade. The bottom line is that the Portland fans wanted him but the franchise didn’t. Morrison is certainly a capable player, and would have been a good fit in Portland, not to mention immensely popular. If I were part of the “Draft the ‘Stache” movement, I’d feel pretty slighted today.
Timberwolves: “Oops.”
I was a bit perplexed by Minnesota’s drafting Brandon Roy (#6) and trading him to Portland for Randy Foye (#7). If you’re the Wolves and you want Foye, why don’t you just draft Foye at #6? Other than a slightly cheaper rookie contract, there’s no upside at all.
The word is that after the Blazers traded away Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff for the Celtics’ #7 pick, Raef LaFrentz’ bloated contract and Dan Dickau, they got wind that the Timberwolves were going to trade Roy to Houston for Foye, who the Rockets would take at #8, along with Luther Head. So Portland took Foye, forcing the Wolves to trade Roy – a player the Blazers really liked – to them in exchange for Foye. In effect, they got Roy for Telfair (wow!) for taking on an extra year of a fat contract. (LaFrentz’ deal runs through 2008-09 while Ratliff’s runs through 2007-08.)
Rumors continue to fly that the Celtics are still trying to land Allen Iverson, and may be using Telfair in a trade to get the longtime Philadelphia star. Danny Ainge has proven to be a very capable GM, so unless he sees something in Telfair that the rest of us don’t, he’ll probably be used to get AI. Giving up the #7 pick for Telfair doesn’t seem like a good trade on the surface, but if the Sixers are a big fan of the young point guard, and are willing to give up Iverson to get him, it would give the Celtics the other superstar to play alongside Paul Pierce.
Rockets: “Damn.”
After the Blazers stole their guy (Roy), Houston was stuck with the #8 pick. They ended up taking Rudy Gay, a guy they obviously didn’t like all that much, and traded him, along with Stromile Swift, to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shane Battier. Battier is a great fit in Houston (or anywhere, really), but the Rockets gave up two players with a ton of upside to get him. I get the feeling that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place and had to take the best deal they could get.
It’s interesting that Swift ends up back in Memphis after leaving the Grizzlies for Houston last summer.
