NBA Draft Set
The NBA Draft Lottery was tonight prior to the Lakers stumbling (Kobe Bryant exempt) to a victory in Game One over the Nuggets. Chad Ford has his first mock draft up and sees Blake Griffin going first (duh) followed by Hasheem Thabeet to Memphis and Ricky Rubio to Oklahoma City. Ford also has the Blazers grabbing Darren Collison at 24. The Blazers need an upgrade at PG, this much is clear after getting torched by Aaron Brooks in the first round of the playoffs. Dwight Jaynes has his eyes on free agent Jason Kidd. Pretty much everybody sees Sergio Rodriguez on his way out of the Rose City. I shed a tear.
If I’m a Blazer fan (I’m not) I would prefer Jason Kidd over another young player. I do like Collison. He is a good defender, can get to the rim, and is a decent jump shooter. The problem is the Blazers don’t need another young point guard unless they end up moving both Rodriguez and Jerryd Bayless this summer. Kidd will still have problems with quicker point guards but while he is known as a poor jump shooter, he actually was comparable to Steve Blake this past year in shooting the three. A two-year deal for Kidd does make some sense.
So here’s my plan, Blazer fans: Sign Jason Kidd to a two-year deal. Deal Travis Outlaw and Sergio Rodriguez/Jerryd Bayless for a consistent force at small forward. Draft Darren Collison.
Kidd starts with Blake coming off the bench playing 20-25 minutes per game. Collison is there to replace Kidd when his deal expires and can also come in and play spot minutes against quicker point guards next season.
What will actually happen? Kevin Pritchard will do something that is much much smarter than what I just outlined.
