I was just checking this out and was shocked at how many good centers (and other bigs) went low in this draft: 5 Kevin Love, Forward, UCLA (To Minnesota) 10 Brook Lopez, Center, Stanford 15 Robin Lopez, Forward, Stanford 16 Marreese Speights, Forward, Florida 17 Roy Hibbert, Center, Georgetown 18 JaVale McGee, Center, Nevada 19 J.J. Hickson, Forward, N.C. State 23 Kosta Koufos, Center, Ohio State 24 Serge Ibaka, Forward, Spain 31 Nikola Pekovic, Center, Serbia 35 DeAndre Jordan, Center, Texas A&M 36 Omer Asik, Center, Turkey A bunch of teams (including Portland) didn't scout very well or this is the all-time surprise draft team. Funny that we passed on RoLo for Bayless, but ended up with him anyway.
Bayless seemed like such a huge steal for us, and that idea seemed to be even more affirmed during summer league, but that guy just never really lived up to the hype. He certainly didn't live up to his ego.
Maybe he could have been under the right coach. Nate was not the guy to develop someone like Bayless.
Nobody has developed Bayless, which is why he's bouncing around the league as a bench player. Arguably the best ball he's played was in the PHX playoff series, where he started a few games and averaged 13.5 ppg in that series.
What's interesting for me is that there might be some centers down in the 2nd round in the upcoming draft who would be worth looking at (Blazers would need to acquire a pick of course). Guys like Mitch McGary, Isaac Austin, Patric Young and A J Hammons.
we drafted asik if I'm not mistaken and then Pritchard sent him to Chicago for future 2nd? maybe he was part of the pendagragh deal, I can't remember for sure.
I doubted Patric Patterson every year of his career until this year. Hes an incredible defensive player. Yeah, his hops are kinda shit and he's bad offensively, to the point where he probably can't play PF. But he's really turned into a tremendously impactful defensive player. Love his intensity, intelligence, instincts. Would be STOKED if my W's bought a pick to draft him.
When I complain that Olshey paid 2 #2s for Crabbe, everyone chirps back, #2s are worthless; just throw them in the garbage. That was Pritchard's thinking when he tossed Asik like a hot potato.
