Because Portland's owner is worth $17 billion, which means being able to buy draft picks and having Brangelina over as guests at his fancy mansion and yacht.
A few weeks back a friend of mine has a died that is good friends with the Gm Pritchards, and he told me that Portland was looking strongly at trading the 13th pick for Barbosa, well today he updated that to the 13th pick and Martell Webster for Barbosa. We will see how this turns out.
[ESPN] Source: Blazers agree to deal with Hornets for 27th pick The Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to a deal with the New Orleans Hornets to acquire the 27th pick in the draft for cash considerations, a Blazers source told ESPN.com. The deal was agreed to verbally between the two teams on Tuesday night, according to the source. The teams have scheduled a trade call with the league in the morning to make the deal official. Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard has been very active in the past few drafts acquiring picks. Armed with the financial might of owner Paul Allen, the Blazers acquired the 23rd pick in the draft last year and drafted Rudy Fernandez. They also used cash to acquire Sergio Rodriguez in 2006. It's unclear who the Blazers are eyeing at No. 27. One possibility is Croatian big man Ante Tomic, who the Blazers have coveted for years. Other potential targets are French swingman Nicolas Batum, who has slipped in the draft because of concerns about his heart, and Memphis swingman Chris Douglas-Roberts. Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider. Link
I figured they would grab the 24th pick to block us for the third straight time. Maybe something is up with their 13th pick getting traded?? HMMM
I am not the biggest Outlaw fan in the world. I think the Blazers should trade him instead of Webster, who I think can grow up and fill their need at SF. Call me crazy, but I think Outlaw's IQ is in the bottom 10% of the league. I saw a bunch of Blazers games early last season during their roll and saw how clutch Outlaw was, but there is something about him that says he will never be a solid starter in the NBA. I think Webster has a breakout season within him.
I thought there was a limit on how much a draft pick was worth anyway. Didn't the Rockets buy the Sonics pick last year for $1 mil? I may have misremembered though.
the deal was: Carl Landry(31st pick overall) for 2010(?) second rounder 1 million cash so we didn't quite buy it like Prichard is doing but it was a pretty damn good trade for us in hindsight.
Trades and Cash Considerations 82. Can cash be included as part of a trade package? Players can be traded for cash, and cash can be included in trade packages. The amount of cash is limited to $3 million. The cash is NOT considered when matching salaries under the Traded Player exception. In a sign-and-trade arrangement, if the contract contains a signing bonus, then any amount of this bonus paid by the signing team counts toward the $3 million limit (see question number 76). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am surprised that Cuban isn't active in buying a Pick.
I think theyre gathering all these picks for a draft day trade so that they can trade their #13 to a team (possibly us) and that they still have a first round pick to go after somebody
I imagine the Rockets can't pull off these deals because they won 55 games last year with Yao and TMac at less than full-strength, only one less game than New Orleans. Portland only won 41. Which team would the Hornets prefer to make stronger? Probably not Houston, a division rival. Who else sold their picks last year? Phoenix? I know we bought one from Seattle.
Mack That makes sense about NO not helping the Rockets. Portland has several picks in the second round and perhaps Houston will acquire one of those.
Or look at this way... Deal with Houston because they're going to end up injured anyway. Portland has been awesome in the draft lately, so it will likely make them stronger again this year. Deal with them and you are arming a hell of an up and coming team. A team that is already adding last year's #1 pick in their rotation.
Actually, I think Pritchard started only 2 years ago instead of 1. I believe Nash was the GM all them other years.
I'm getting annoyed by this Portland team. They messed with the Rockets draft one too many times and I'll be pissed if Brandon Roy gets a ring before Yao. At the very least, they bought the pick from the Hornets.
The price for a pick is capped. I believe Morey said they did try to buy a pick. If the price is capped, then money isn't an issue with the seller. They can sell it to the worst team instead of the playoff team. No need to give a playoff team the missing pieces that they need.
The Blazers now has the 13th, the 27th and 2 2nd rounders. Last time a team packaged the 13th pick and multiple lower picks to move up is.. when?