Pritchard failed at everything he did.
So, you think trading the draft rights to Darrell Arthur (27th pick) and Joey Dorsey (33rd pick) to move up two spots and grab Nicolas Batum was a failure? Dorsey is out of the league and Arthur will miss the entire season with an achilles injury. Neither has been anything special when they played.
I'm glad we got Batum and I'm also glad the Spurs didn't. They would have been all over Batum at 25 if Pritchard hadn't worked his magic and worked out the three way trade with Houston and Memphis to get Batum. And the assets used in that trade were also acquired by Pritchard. We bsacially got Batum for free. Pritchard purchased the 27th pick from NOH and the 33rd pick was acquired by Pritchard by trading the draft rights to Demetris Nichols (53rd pick in the 2007 draft) for the Knicks 2008 2nd round pick. So, Pritchard turned $3 million of Paul Allen's cash and the a very low second round pick (whose entire NBA career lasted a total of 58 minutes) into Nicholas Batum. And you consider that a total failure?
And imagine how good the Spurs would be right now with Batum (PER = 19.0) as their starting SF instead of Richard Jefferson (PER = 12.1).
Yeah, what a total failure that move was. Pritchard wasn't perfect, but to say he failed at everything he did is ridiculous. The 2006 draft was an incredibly weak draft where the Blazers turned the 4th pick into the two best players in the draft. It was the best draft day in the history of the franchise. Yeah, Roy's career was cut short by injuries, but when he was healthy, he was clearly the best player from that draft. And now that Roy's gone, we STILL have the best active player from that draft. Pritchard may, or may not, deserve all the credit for those draft day moves, but he certainly deserves some of it (in spite of self-serving revisionist claims by Steve Patterson).
And then there was the Blake/Outlaw for Camby trade. Yeah boy, just look how Blake and Outlaw have flourished since. Blake has struggled to keep his PER out of the single digit range and Outlaw was amnestied by one of the worst teams in the NBA and struggles to get PT on another one of the worst teams in the league. Pritchard turned two pieces of shit into a starting center who is one of the best rebounders in the game, an excellent defender and great passer. Yeah, Camby is getting up there and misses a few games a season due to minor injuries, but he gives the Blazers MUCH more that Blake and Outlaw give their current teams. Do you also consider that trade one of Pritchard's failures?
BNM
