Buchanan is valued for his consistent, always-positive demeanor, keen eye for talent and a strong ability to build relationships with college coaches and players. Buchanan met and started logging files on many of the prospects in this year's draft years ago when he was a domestic scout for the Blazers. He's also the biggest "feeler" of the group.
As the team debates the merit of, perhaps, trading Travis Outlaw, Buchanan might be the voice in the room saying, "Wait a minute. This guy is a glue guy in the locker room. How's this going to affect our chemistry?"
"Chad is a very, very thorough, diligent, hard-working guy who has a great eye for talent and understands basketball overall," Penn said. "He's also the biggest feeler of the group in that he has a constant eye on the team dynamic, the chemistry dynamic, and how a move is going to play among the feelings of a team. He reminds us of that all the time."
Born, like Buchanan, has a sharp eye for talent and for building relationships. With a background that includes coaching, front office work and playing at multiple levels, he has an innate understanding of basketball. Penn said he's a human "encyclopedia" of information about NBA players across the league. There's also this:
"Born is ultra competitive," Pritchard said. "It doesn't matter if you're playing Tiddlywinks, he's going to try to kill you. He brings that competitiveness every single day to the process."
