Everyone and their brother thinks the Blazers had a horrible draft night. I am not everyone and am certainly not his brother.
The Blazers had 4 major problems, the order is debatable, but I feel these are agreed upon
lack of frontcourt depth
lack of pg depth
lack of shooting
lack of a point guard of the future
The Blazers had three ways to deal with these problems: the draft, trades and free agency.
The draft is over, and I feel the Blazers have solved 2, improved in another and solved the smaller problem of a log jam at the 2.
Raymond Felton is only 26 years old, so he is eliglble to be a PGOTF.
In New York, he averaged 17 points and 9 assists a game, and was great with Amara' in the pick and roll.
In Denver off the bench, he scored 11 points, dished 6 assists a game, and shot and amazing 46% from downtown. While one cannot expect that shooting clip to continue, 35% is reasonable to expect
Defensivly, he is better than Andre. Andre was a smart, underrated defender--but I feel Felton has the quickness and size to matchup defensily against other point guards in this league. I know people will say Andre won the head to head matchups with Felton this season--well, Andre won it against Rose in the Rose Garden, and I doubt many would take Miller over Rose, despite Miller being underrated and Rose being overrated.
Plus, Felton was a teamate of Gerald for a number of years.
I believe this solves the PGOTF problem as well as improving our three point shooting.
Drafting the Ohio State guy also helps the shooting, but as he probably won't be a rotation guy, I only put that problem as "getting better."
Drafting Nolan Smith improves our back up poing guard position. Defensively he is better than Patty, and while his turnovers are a problem, his off ball catch and shoot skill would work well with Roy in the second unit.
I know many people will say that the front court depth issue is still unresolved--I say trades can still be made and these is free agency. Drafting Faried would have been nice, but maybe drafting Nolan instead is our front office saying that they believe front court depth is easier to acquire in free agency and trades than a backup poing guard.
I am not denying the Blazers need help in the front cout, but the offseason is far from over. Here is list of bigs avaliabe in free agency:
Unrestricted:
Josh Powel
Nenad Kristic
Carl Laundry
D.J. Mbenga
Jarred Jeffries
Yi Jainlain
Player Options:
Ronnie Turiaf
Team Option:
(none)
Early Termination Clause (not sure how this is diferent than a player option):
Nene
Tim Duncan (can you even imagine)
Restricted:
Brandon Wright
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Obviously, many of these players won't opt out of their contracts (ahem, Tim Duncan) nor will be avaliable for the MLE (Marc Gasol, others), assuming there still is a MLE.
I really like Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, but I know the Bucks really value him, and would most likely match any off we could afford to make.
How about a guy like Jeff Foster, cheap, but serviceable.
Other guys I like on that list: Carl Laundry, Chuck Hayes, Jason Smith, Jarred Jeffries.
In the comment section, say who you like as a potential free agent target, as well as possible bigs on the trade market.
Also, I already miss Andre, hope it is not the last time we see him in a Blazer uniform.
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