For the life of me, I just don’t get this.
The Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to a deal with the New Orleans Hornets to acquire the 27th pick in Thursday’s NBA draft for cash considerations, a Blazers source told ESPN.com.
The deal was agreed to verbally between the two teams on Tuesday night, according to the source. The teams have scheduled a trade call with the league in the morning to make the deal official.
Why does a young team like the Hornets decide to sell off a late first round pick? They aren’t in luxury tax territory and they won’t be well over the cap until the 2010 season and even then, they’ll be able to look forward to the following summer when Peja Stojakovic’s monster salary comes off the books. The team has Morris Peterson starting at the two and Peja at the three – don’t they realize they need another young wing to complement Julian Wright in a couple of years? I would understand selling the pick if they were in dire need of a big man, but they need a wing and there are always gems available at that position late in the first round.
Chris Douglas-Roberts was the leading scorer on one of the best teams in the nation and for the last month or so, he was projected to be the Hornets’ pick. He’s a dynamic scorer, but the word is that he’s not impressing in workouts. But since he’s such a crafty scorer, his game won’t translate well to workouts. He’s not going to wow anyone with the form on his jumper, but he’ll drop 20 on you in a cocaine heartbeat.
There are several other prospects that could be available at #27 – Donte Greene, Nicolas Batum, Jamont Gordon, Courtney Lee, Bill Walker, Kyle Weaver and Gary Forbes.
This strategy befuddles me.
