No, CD thought it would make more sense to just do some "last minute homework" on Gay, days before the draft, rather than properly scout him.
I don't blame JVG on this at all. Remember EG didn't work out for Houston either. The real reason is that this time, CD does not have confidence in himself in picking Gay.
Exactly. I hope all you anti-tankers can agree that a couple of extra W's in a lost season were more important than getting R(ookie)o(fthe)y(ear). How's your "character" feeling today?
I'd like to know why C.D. is informing West of his draft board, and how many players they like. That severely weakens your bargaining position. If C.D. could have kept his mouth shut we might have been able to come out of the deal with a little more.
Also this new came early Wednesday morning. Basically our team managment had a contingency plan already... http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=rotowire-haneattierntherading&prov=rotowire&type=lgns The funny thing is that no team took a bite of this offer by West save for the Rox. Heck the trade happy Blazers who needed a good character guy like Shane did note go for it. Either Paterrson is is dumb or everyone was afraid that West was going to fleece them.
Battier on the Blazers would be a terrible fit. Besides him having great character he can't create his own shot. Battier needs other star players to give him open looks. Hence he's a great fit on the Rockets.
this entire situation just keeps getting worse and worse. we trade a player (considered one of the best in this draft) w/o even giving him a look, and before he's even selected...... to a division rival who was more than willing to give up one of their most "important" players. come again??? talk about having absolutely no foresight whatsoever. i'm just as livid and baffled by this trade as i was last night.... probably moreso. i dont think i'll ever run out of negative things to say about this trade. we come out of this looking like fools, pushovers, and pu$$ies.
The Rockets did give him a look. They brought him in and didn't like what they saw, as did 7 other teams.
What a great move by Patterson. As bad as his team is, it seems like he completed outsmarted CD lastnight. I just don't see why the Rockets wouldn't demand the 24th pick, it doesn't make any sense. I'm tired of hearing CD after draft night: "We tried to get Gerald Green," "We tried to get Roy."
But Jerry West who is an infinitely better talent evaluator than all but one (Collangelo is in his league and heonly considered 2 people for the top pick Bargnani and Gay) of those guys liked what he saw. Yeah I'd take CD's GM skills over West any day.
It's a real eff'd up move if that's what Patterson did but we didn't need to compound the screw-over by sending Gay to Memphis for Battier. As much as Battier can help our team in terms of being a great role player, I think we should have kept Gay. It's one thing to get screwed over by someone. It's a whole other ballgame to screw yourself over.
So, when you get right down to it, JVG screwed us over twice: 1. He insisted on playing vets(rather than Lampe,etc) in order to win those stupid games that ended up costing the team the draft spot to get Roy, and 2. Then he insists on trading away the next potential franchise player(plus an athletic role player) for a role player with good skills and character, but a role player nonetheless. It's great to want to win now, but you don't do it when you need FAR MORE than Battier to do it and certainly not when getting Battier costs you the team's future 5 years down the line.
I think the game is passing CD by. He seems slow every year, gets shafted on draft picks all of the time, and now JVG is giving the approvals like he's Les. Just wow
No one here has a right to be mad at Portland. They did what any other team (including the Rockets) would have done given the situation. If Jerry West was in fact the one who tipped off Patterson, I'm not mad at him, either. After all, if the tables were somehow reversed, we would be applauding CD right now for being "so shrewd" and one-upping another GM to get their man. That's a good portion of what GMs are paid to do. The blame here falls squarely on the Rockets. You don't show a potential trade partner (and division rival) your hand. You just... don't. Or this happens.
[ESPN] Blame Portland and Van Dumby From today's chat with Chad Ford: Dee (Portland): What was the logic behind the Blazers and Timberwolves drafting for each other at 6 and 7? If the wolves didn't get anything in addition, why didn't each team just draft the player they wanted? Chad Ford: (12:21 PM ET ) What I was told was that the Wolves were selecting Roy for Houston and that Houston was going to take Foye and another asset (Luther Head or a future No. 1) and swap them for Roy. However, the Blazers figured it out, drafted Foye, and killed the deal. That's why the Wolves essentially swapped No. 6 for No. 7 without any compensation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt (Houston TX): Hey Chad! What about a Rockets question. Why on Earth did the Rockets trade all of their athletism in Swift and Gay for a career role player in Battier? Especially when Gay's favorite player is tmac and would flourish underneath him and has the chance to be a superstar? Chad Ford: (12:24 PM ET ) I would've kept Gay. Battier is a Jeff Van Gundy type of guy. He's a great role player. But I thought the Rockets traded away too much. Battier can help now ... but I doubt he puts them over the type.
