KP was also one of those GMs who doesn't want to trade "his guys." Let the cake bake will be put on his tomb stone.
Be interesting to rank the GM's since Paul Allen owned the team; TraderBob Petrie Pritchard Cho Olshey Cronin Miller Patterson Chad Buchanon Nash Actually a very sad list after those first 3.
I always thought it was Pritchard who wanted Durant but I'm pretty sure i read years later that it was Allen who wanted him. Can't find a link but I'm sure I read it because it so contadicted what I had thought for years. Here is the only thing I could find that just hints at it but I know I read something much stronger. Allen said "hindsight is 20/20" when asked about drafting Greg Oden over Kevin Durant and said "the basketball staff was very much in favor of Greg,"
was Buchanan ever officially named GM. or just interim/acting GM? in any event, he was the guy, as interim GM, who converted a fading Gerald Wallace into Damian Lillard. That move alone should vault him up into the top-3 and I'm trying to recall what Petrie did to put him 2nd on the list. Drexler-Porter-Kersey-Buck-Duck-Robinson-Drazen...they were all on the roster before Petrie became GM, and Adelman was already coach. He did trade for Danny Ainge, but a few months later traded Drazen Petrovich and a 2nd round pick for 36 year old Walter Davis who only played 32 games for Portland. He signed Rod Stickland but that was when PA was willing to spend like a drunken sailor and there weren't the CBA restrictions there were when Buchanan was in charge. He traded Duckworth for Harvey Grant the Blazers won 59 games the season before Petrie, and in the 4 years he was GM they won 63-->57-->51-->47. That's not a good trend-line for a GM, especially when he had little to do with the 63 win season so I'd bump Petrie down to make room for Buchanan. I'd also question KP's place on the list since it came out later that he was the one who ignored all the red-flags about the injury potential of Roy and Oden
Buchanan absolutely should get an A+ for the Wallace trade. Everything else he did though, trading for Felton, singing Kurt Thomas, signing Crawford, etc sucked. I thought of the list more as who I feel was the most competent GM with the best process and best decisions at the time - not necessarily the best results of their moves as GM. In terms of result yes his brief time and getting Dame might make him #1. But in terms of ability to communicate what free agents roles will be, acquire the best guys, and exclude the luck factor (which IMO was a massive component of the eventual Dame acquisition) I'd rank him low. Just didn't seem competent as a GM. He was just too inexperienced and young to be the lead decision maker at that time, maybe he would be much better now. Yeah he was only an interim so perhaps he could just be removed from the list. Fair points on Petrie - I honestly didn't follow details of moves back then (think I was 10 when he was hired), so more it just seemed like a well run period of the team with a lot of good players. Still think I'd have Pritchard up high on that list at #2 or #3, obviously the Aldridge Roy draft which I give him the bulk of the credit for was great. But he also got Rudy, signed James Jones, Przybilla, there were tons of players that provide huge benefits. Drafting Roy with flagged medicals was totally fine, even with injuries it was a great pick. The contract extension, or more his process and role in it - is something to fairly criticize him for though. Oden selection I have always been ok with and again think its people just evaluating results not the process, basically every team but Orlando with Dwight Howard would've taken Oden. Its more that this is a very sad list though - outside Trader Bob and Pritchard I wouldn't want any of these guys to be the GM. So thats 80% basically not good hires. That was part of the reason I was never strongly in the fire Olshey camp - just was concerned a change was more likely to be worse than better. Cronin we'll just have to see... I loved his return and process on the Dame trade, as well as Scoot/Sharpe selections. Most everything else that he has done or times he has sat back and not done anything I have been mildly to massively disappointed with.
good point about the Felton trade...forgot about that. Of course, Andre was 36 and had faded quite a bit by then; and Buchanan was right to cash in on Rudy. Might have been able to get a little more but I think it was a given Rudy was headed back to Europe after his rookie scale expired the roster he inherited was a mess...not much to salvage KP started off hot...he wasn't the GM during the 2006 draft but he made damn sure he got credit for Aldridge/Roy. But other than that, I have trouble finding a lot to commend his tenure other than the Batum selection. I'm trying to remember who was the acting GM a couple of months after KP was fired who was able to sign Wesley Matthews. Pretty sure that was Buchanan, or at least he was given a lot of credit for that front-loaded offer the Jazz wouldn't match. So that that's another positive mark in his ledger...assuming interim GM's count
GM-talk used to be my specialty, but I lack time now. This will help you make your lists complete. In increasing detail: https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/executives.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Portland_Trail_Blazers_executives#cite_ref-21 https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Portland-Trail-Blazers/24/staff-members https://prosportstransactions.com/basketball/GMs/team.htm
