Blazers point guard Armon Johnson talks championship, drafting Nolan Smith, and B-Roy

[cnik4]

“I think Nolan was the best draft pick we could have got at that point in time,” said Johnson. “I was surprised he didn't go earlier. That gives us three or four strong point guards.”

http://probasketballnews.com/story/?storyid=1452

 

[julius]

Re: Blazers point guard Armon Johnson talks championship, drafting Nolan Smith, and B

“I think Nolan was the best draft pick we could have got at that point in time,” said Johnson. “I was surprised he didn't go earlier. That gives us three or four strong point guards.”

http://probasketballnews.com/story/?storyid=1452

I'd rather have three or four GOOD point guards than three or four strong ones.

 

[Rhal]

Re: Blazers point guard Armon Johnson talks championship, drafting Nolan Smith, and B

I'd rather have three or four GOOD point guards than three or four strong ones.

I'd trade them all for CP3 or Dwill

 

[HailBlazers]

Re: Blazers point guard Armon Johnson talks championship, drafting Nolan Smith, and B

If you don't start talking Title's your never going to come close to reaching one.

Just because the Blazers have failed to get out of the first round, is no means to declare that as the goal. They need to shoot higher, I like AJ's outlook.

Furthermore, I think if he took control and played smart he could become a solid PG in this league.

“In year two, I want to improve on becoming a leader as a whole,” said Johnson. “I want to be the guard that takes the team on my shoulders when something's not going right.”

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Jay-sus.

When things go bad just bump that thread and remember that it could always be worse.

 

[Nhawz]

Hahahaha

 

[Boob-No-More]

Speaking of former Blazers PGs, I think we should sign Taurean Green to our playoff roster. That guy still owes us three wins.

I think with Dame, you can count on at least one HUGE game in a series. Combine 1 from Dame with 3 from Taurean, and we could take the Warrriors in 7!

BNM

 

[Chris Craig]

Yeah how did Nolan Smith not go sooner in that draft

 

[The Professional Fan]

I bet there were pages dedicated to hot Nolan Smith takes

Damn we sucked

 

[PDXFonz]

I bet there were pages dedicated to hot Nolan Smith takes

Damn we sucked

I was on the ESPN boards at that time, but I distinctly remember just about everyone being pissed that we did not take Faried.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Yeah how did Nolan Smith not go sooner in that draft

Because there was only one Chad Buchanan.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

I was on the ESPN boards at that time, but I distinctly remember just about everyone being pissed that we did not take Faried.

Yup, I was so pissed that we gave Andre Miller to division rival, passed on Faried, took Smith and got stuck with Felton - and that was even before Felton showed up fat and out of shape after the lockout. I pointed out at the time that Miller was way better and the only time Felton had even been slightly above average was playing for Mike D'Antoni in a system that inflates PG stats.

Grrr....

BNM

 

[The Professional Fan]

I was on the ESPN boards at that time, but I distinctly remember just about everyone being pissed that we did not take Faried.

Still am

 

[Boob-No-More]

Still am

Here's some of my comments about that trade the day it was made:

Summary: We got younger, but worse at PG and still have no decent back-up power forward, we wiffed on both counts. We would have been better off to just keep Milller and take Faried at 21. Instead, we made ourselves worse and Denver better. Lose:lose. But we seem determined to corner the market on combo guards in the desperate hope that one of them many eventually become a serviceable back-up PG.

Unless our inexperienced interim GM can pull off a huge blockbuster trade (not holding my breath) the Blazers are worse tonight than they were this morning and will win fewer games for the third straight season

Yeah, Miller is older, but he's an iron man who is still more productive than Felton, who, other than 54 games under Mike D'Antoni, is, and has always been, a below average NBA player. If the goal is to win more games next season, I don't see how that accomplishes that goal.

Can someone please explain to me how that does not make our team worse now than before this trade? If the only goal is to get younger, I'm sure we could have found an even crappier PG than Raymond Felton that's 4 or 5 years younger. At 27, Raymond Felton isn't our PG of the future, he's our PG of the present, and a very mediocre one at that. And, to land him not only did we have to give up a better player who plays the same position, we also had to give up drafting the back-up power forward this team has desperately needed for five years. We would have been so much better next season to have just kept Miller and drafted Faried at 21. But, instead, we have a worse starting PG and yet another tweener "combo" guard without an NBA position and still no back-up power forward.

We got worse at starting PG and did not address the glaring need for a back-up power forward. We could have easily fixed both those problems by simply keeping Andre Miller and drafting Faried at 21. Instead, we thought it would be better to get younger, but worse, and make Denver better in the process. An F for who we drafted becomes an F- for making Denver better in the process. It's bad enough that we didn't get better, but making a division rival better is just plain dumb. But, that's what you get when you don't have a real GM running things on draft day.

It really is amazing how quickly this team went from being so deep and stacked with talent that posters here were saying we desperately needed a consolidation trade, to a team with an extremely shallow, shitty bench. That's what wiffing on draft day two years in a row and giving away talent for no apparent reason will do for you.

BNM

 

[The Professional Fan]

Here's some of my comments about that trade the day it was made:







BNM

Was that Cho?

 

[BlazerWookee]

Fucking goddamned zombie threads...

 

[Boob-No-More]

Was that Cho?

Nope, Chad Buchanan. He had previously been in charge of college scouting (which makes choosing Nolan Smith over Kenneth Faried even worse) and was promoted to interim GM the same day Cho was fired.

BNM

 

[The Professional Fan]

Nope, Chad Buchanan. He had previously been in charge of college scouting (which makes choosing Nolan Smith over Kenneth Faried even worse) and was promoted to interim GM the same day Cho was fired.

BNM

Ah yes. I remember now. Well that was inexcusable.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Here's some of my comments about that trade the day it was made:







BNM

I'd paste some of my quotes, but I don't want this to become a 30-page thread.