Pritch City, Baby

[June 25th, 2008]

A year ago, national press buzzed around Portland before the NBA draft because the Trail Blazers had the top pick, and were choosing between superstars-in-the making Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.

Last Friday, as the Blazers worked out three likely second-rounders at the team’s Tualatin facility, the scene was markedly more low-key: no cameras, no buffet, no oohs or ahhs.

There was one similarity, though: Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard, who watched from midcourt while glued to his BlackBerry. As the league’s most active GM the past few years, Pritchard has been responsible for choosing Oden and other fan favorites like LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy.

Those selections and others add up to soaring expectations next season as Oden returns from knee surgery, as well as decisions this Thursday, June 26 about what to do with the Blazers’ picks between the 13th and 55th selections. Since pre-draft plans are guarded more closely than Roy in the final seconds, WW quizzed Pritchard instead on what he considered some of the past decade’s biggest draft-day steals.

Our goal: To get a clue about Portland’s draft-day moves this Thursday, June 26. Pritch, you’re on the clock.

Manu Ginóbili, drafted in 1999 by San Antonio at No. 57.

“I think Ginóbili is gonna go down as one of the best draft picks ever,” says Pritchard, a onetime scout for the Spurs. “He’s a special player, and [Spurs GM] R.C. Buford and Pop [coach Gregg Popovich] had a great feel for him early and thought he was going to be good. How good? I don’t think they thought he was going to be this good, but they thought he was good.” The dominating-but-streaky Argentinian guard is also a Charles Barkley favorite.

Player who most resembles Ginobili in this year’s draft: Italian player Danilo Gallinari, who’s projected to go before the Blazers’ No. 13 pick. Portland already has two young Euro prospects in Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez. No need for a third.

Michael Redd, drafted in 2000 by Milwaukee at No. 43

“Michael Redd has been a fantastic pick, and he’s really a high-level NBA player,” Pritchard says of the sharpshooting Redd. So shouldn’t Redd, combined with the Bucks’ top pick in 2005, center Andrew Bogut, make for a winning team? “They’ve gotta be healthy,” Pritchard says. “They had a year where not everybody was healthy, and there’s a fine line between winning and losing. With a team like us that’s trying to climb up the ladder, we have to have a lot of things fall into place before we get where we want to go.”

Player who most resembles Redd in this year’s draft: O.J. Mayo, USC. Expected to go in the top five picks and not worth breaking Pritchard’s still-fresh “no head cases” rule.

Monta Ellis, drafted in 2005 by Golden State at No. 40

“He shot over 60 percent for a whole month as a guard, and that’s pretty amazing,” Pritchard says with wide eyes. Ellis won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award during the ’06-’07 season, and the speedy guard has only improved from there. Pritchard has even higher predictions for him: “He will be an All-Star, there’s no doubt about it.”

Player who most resembles Ellis in this year’s draft: Russell Westbrook, UCLA. Blazers would need to package the No. 13 pick with another player (the large, expiring contract of Raef LaFrentz being one of the more attractive pieces) in a trade to move up and draft Westbrook.

Rashard Lewis, drafted in 1998 by Seattle at No. 32

When Lewis became a free agent last summer, there was speculation Portland might land him. Then Orlando paid upward of $100 million to grab the draft sleeper: “Rashard Lewis was a big-time pick. I think he’s a perfect example of a guy that people absolutely thought highly of, but for some reason, the way the draft shook out, that no one thought he’d get to where he got,” Pritchard says. “He just kept going down the line, and people passed because they got the player they had targeted early on. That’s why you have to be very nimble in the draft.”

Player who most resembles Lewis in this year’s draft: Donte Greene, Syracuse. If the Blazers want Greene, they’ll have to use their No. 13 pick. Most mock drafts have Greene going in the mid- to late first round.