# Quick Chat Recap:



## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

Media contingent at this draft is 3-4 times bigger than any he's been to.

Durant much more reserved than Oden. Oden lights up the room. Oden has everyone laughing. Basketball is Durant's world. He is 6'91/2" in socks 219lbs. Has absolutely huge hands.

Oden will be coming to Portland on June 19th. Doesn't know if Durant will be before of after Oden.

Will do agility and strength tests tomorrow. Curious to to see how many times Durant can bench 185.

Both kids seem to be great kids. 

Thinks the Blazers will pick Oden. Reports from his workouts have been awe like. 

Forgot to ask Oden how much he weighed. We will find out tomorrow at the official weigh in.

Doesn't think Pritchard puts a lot of stock in weight lifting and size. Aldridge was one of the worst last year, and now is one of the strongest Blazers

Both Oden and Durant look you straight in the eye when they answer them. 

Thinks KP's interviews will be the most important thing in deciding who to pick. Doesn't think KP can pass on Oden. Thinks Nate is firmly in the Oden camp. Thinks KP is coming around to realizing how special Oden is.

Didn't go to any of the games today, but saw most of yesterday's games. Thinks there are players here that will be picked by Portland in the second round. A lot of talent to be had.

Pritchard is getting a lot of play from GM's around the league.

Seattle, Dallas, Seattle have all wanted Pritchard. Paxson seemed to be really anxious to speak to him.

Plans to be really active, and expects them to pull something off to get into the first round again. Look to get something from 3-11 in the draft. Get something of need like Brewer of Conley.

Spoke to Conley today. Asked if they've talked about getting him with Oden. Conley said yes there have been discussions. Doesn't think Oden or Conley is putting any pressure on anyone to draft both of them. Thinks Portland wants a vet at PG. Conley is a lot like Telfair. No jumper, but lightning quick. 

Everyone loves Blake, and thinks they will make a strong play to get him. Thinks Blake will want to play with Oden.

Blazers will be more attractive because of Oden for FA's.

Really thinks the Blazers are looking for experience at the point. There is a question is some peoples mind about Jack being the long term answer at PG.

Thinks Jack is well regarded around the league. Doesn't want people to think that the Blazers are unhappy with Jack. Just not sure he is ready to handle being a starter on a good team. Biggest improvement normally for a PG is his 3rd year. Jack desperately wants to be a part of this team. 

Thinks Zach understands the talent of Aldridge. Understands the direction with the youth. Zach still thinks it can work with him. Would love to be dealt to Chicago. Always brings it up and says that he would do well in Chicago. Bugs him that he's not included in the direction of the franchise. And is never mentioned in the core talk. Sensitive about how he's viewed, but doesn't fret about it. Still thinks the team is better whar Aldridge starts at the 4. Aldridge put up 21/9 as a starting 4. comperable to Zach. Thinks the Blazers will look to deal Zach. First think he thought of when Paxson was talking to Prichard was Zach to Chicago.

Can't go another season with Aldridge coming off the bench. Doesn't think Zach would ever come off the bench in Portland. If Zach and Oden are both on this team next year Zach would start because Aldridge would more likely accept a bench role. Doesn't bode well for the chemistry of the team to have all 3 players on the roster. Other players will be divided on who should play. 

Pritchard said the only thing they are focusing on right now is the draft. Still deosn't think they have decided on who to pick. Leaning towards Durant he thinks.

Every beat writer says we should take Oden. Everyone in basketball circles thinks they'll take Oden. 

Kobe's announcement sent a ripple through the gym yesterday. Does not think Kobe fits into the culture that the Blazers are building. More of a team game rather than built around one player.

Writing a story on Durant for tomorrow. 

Will talk to Aaron Brooks this afternoon. Really notice how small Brooks is in this environment.

The early years of Greg Oden on Tuesday.

Hopes to go back to Indy and watch Oden's workouts next week. Oden said he would love to have Quick come watch him workout. Has to clear it with his camp still. From everything he has heard Oden is a differnet player than he was in college because his wrist is healed. His left hand developed a lot in college because of the injury. Watching a lot of Tim Duncan and working on a Tin Duncan Bank shot. 

June 8th will be the start of workouts for Portland. Mostly 2nd round guys. Lottery picks won't work out for Portland because they don't think they will draft them. Pretty much evety day there will be workouts.

Nate McMillan has not been watching the workouts at all. He has been with his family spending time with them. 

Pritchard is the youngest GM in the league at 39. All of the Blazers staff is really young. Thinks it really fits the Blazers with what they are, and that's a young up and coming team. Kind of a new age front office. Tom Penn will make an impact on this franchise. Very smart with the CBA.


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## crandc (Sep 15, 2004)

Thanks, mm!

If Conley is like Telfair, not worth a #3. I don't mean the off court stuff, I mean the play.

Oden wants to model himself on Tim Duncan, sounds fine.

Did anyone mention Paul Allen's thinking on the draft? I imagine he gets the final vote. 

I've been thinking, in a very deep draft like this one, players who might in another year have gone 20-29 or so may end up in the second round. Not superstars maybe, but I can easily see getting some solid players. Remember, Duckworth, Cliffy, Kersey, Ainge were all second rounders who made contributions to this team.


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## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

No mention of PA at all.


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## The Professional Fan (Nov 5, 2003)

mediocre man said:


> Pritchard is the youngest GM in the league at 39. All of the Blazers staff is really young. Thinks it really fits the Blazers with what they are, and that's a young up and coming team. Kind of a new age front office. Tom Penn will make an impact on this franchise. Very smart with the CBA.


This is something that has resonated with me first when we hired KP, but even more so when we hired Penn. What a contrast compared to the last regime....and I mean regime in the purest sense. The feel and vibe of current Blazers management is a real breath of fresh air. The gestapo tactics have been eliminated. The face of management and their ability to communicate has taken the paranoia out of the organization and supplanted it with youth, excitement, and hopefully trust. 

I couldn't be more excited to be a Blazers fan right now.


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## graybeard (May 10, 2003)

Good job, MM.


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## ROYisR.O.Y. (Apr 1, 2007)

mediocre man said:


> Pritchard said the only thing they are focusing on right now is the draft. Still deosn't think they have decided on who to pick. Leaning towards Durant he thinks.


what? how can you lean towards durant. i know KP loves to do what isnt popular but everyone says how amazing oden is looking.


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## OntheRocks (Jun 15, 2005)

"Pritchard said the only thing they are focusing on right now is the draft. Still deosn't think they have decided on who to pick. Leaning towards Durant he thinks."


Pritchard is leaning towards durant? wait... whaaa!?


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## chris_in_pdx (Jul 11, 2004)

ROYisR.O.Y. said:


> what? how can you lean towards durant. i know KP loves to do what isnt popular but everyone says how amazing oden is looking.


It's called posturing. He's hoping that Seattle will blink, since they really want Durant. I don't believe for a second that, after all is said and done, Greg Oden won't be in a Blazer uniform.


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## NateBishop3 (Jul 22, 2003)

chris_in_pdx said:


> It's called posturing. He's hoping that Seattle will blink, since they really want Durant. I don't believe for a second that, after all is said and done, Greg Oden won't be in a Blazer uniform.


Posturing in what way though? Blink how? I don't see how any form of posturing when it comes to Durant or Oden would matter. If we want Oden, we'll draft Oden. If we want Durant, we'll draft Durant. What could Seattle offer us at this point? A trade for the #2 pick? I highly doubt it. If we draft Durant, Seattle will happily pick Oden. It's not like they would be disappointed with Oden.


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## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

ROYisR.O.Y. said:


> what? how can you lean towards durant. i know KP loves to do what isnt popular but everyone says how amazing oden is looking.




That might have been my typo. I'm pretty sure he said Oden. I'm sorry. Someone can confirm that if they want


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## handclap problematic (Nov 6, 2003)

mediocre man said:


> That might have been my typo. I'm pretty sure he said Oden. I'm sorry. Someone can confirm that if they want



I had assumed that it was either a typo, or maybe old Jason being retarded for a second. It doesn't make sense when compared with the rest of what he said, which seemed to say "Oden" in big block letters. 


prunetang


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## ROYisR.O.Y. (Apr 1, 2007)

wow is durant really 215? i thought he was around 185?


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

At 6-9.5 in socks and 219lbs as a college freshman, does anyone talk about Durant being a PF? That's maybe 6-11 and 235 after a couple years working out and with shoes on, which is about prototype PF size. Most of what I've seen projects him at SF, but from that it seems like he could be one of those rare forwards who is called a "tweener" because he is actually good at playing both positions, rather than because he doesn't quite fit at either.

As for Quick's suggestion that chemistry will suffer if we keep Zach, that just doesn't sound plausible. It sounds more like his own personal feeling for Zach clouding his reporting. Why would other players not want to play with a 3-man rotation of Zach, LMA and Oden? Would anyone really rebel because LMA was coming off the bench behind Zach? Yeah right. Most of the team would love to play with a front line that good, and the only guys unhappy about it will be Raef and Joel, because they will get no PT.


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## sa1177 (Feb 18, 2005)

OntheRocks said:


> "Pritchard said the only thing they are focusing on right now is the draft. Still deosn't think they have decided on who to pick. Leaning towards Durant he thinks."
> 
> 
> Pritchard is leaning towards durant? wait... whaaa!?


Just pure speculation by clown Quick....probably saying this simply because he has got a story on Durant running tomorrow. Spin Spin Spin......


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## crowTrobot (Jun 24, 2005)

assuming deng, hinrich, and thomas are off limits, there's nobody on the bulls i would want as part of a zach for #9 deal.


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## graybeard (May 10, 2003)

ROYisR.O.Y. said:


> wow is durant really 215? i thought he was around 185?


 You're thinking of Corey Brewer, he's 185 lbs.


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## Reep (Jun 4, 2003)

Thanks MM.

I listened to the podcast, and Quick did say Oden both times. He did not say he thought KP would take Durant.


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## GOD (Jun 22, 2003)

So the Bulls, Sonics and Maverics have all been in talks with KP, sounds like there is some fighting for Zach, or at least it sounds like KP is trying to play the teams off eachother. That is the great thing about having discussions in public, the other teams see the talks and up their bids. Cool beans.


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## It's_GO_Time (Oct 13, 2005)

Does anyone else see this as Quick just throwing out a bunch of fluff and riding the wave of Blazer excitement? 

KP was seen talking to the Sonics assistant GM and being animated and counting on fingers. OK, that could mean a lot of thing the least likely to me is they are talking trades at that time. 

Talking to Dallas management during workout and Paxon trying to talk to KP while Quick was. I mean, come on now . . . that really means nothing to me. Yea it is excting to come up with ideas, but if Paxton wanted to talk trades, do you think he is going to it in that manner . . . pulling KP away from a media person to talk trade talk?

Again, I know it is fun to talk trades, but I see it more as Quick riding the wave of excitement and loving the fact that many rejunivated Blazer fans are hanging to his every article.


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## graybeard (May 10, 2003)

Kiss_My_Darius said:


> Does anyone else see this as Quick just throwing out a bunch of fluff and riding the wave of Blazer excitement?
> 
> KP was seen talking to the Sonics assistant GM and being animated and counting on fingers. OK, that could mean a lot of thing the least likely to me is they are talking trades at that time.
> 
> ...


 Hey, it's better than no information at all. I suppose it would have helped if before Quick told us this info that he fell to his knees and begged blazer fan's forgiveness for writing unfavorable articles about past blazers.


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## It's_GO_Time (Oct 13, 2005)

graybeard said:


> Hey, it's better than no information at all. I suppose it would have helped if before Quick told us this info that he fell to his knees and begged blazer fan's forgiveness for writing unfavorable articles about past blazers.



You're right, and I am sucking up the information as much as anyone else wanting to know as much as possible.

But it seems like Quick is trying to pass this off as some serious trade gossip. Just wondering if anyone else sees this as really nothing events being blown up . . . maybe there are no such things as nothing events when the Blazers have the number 1 pick. :biggrin:


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## rx2web (Jul 27, 2004)

Kiss_My_Darius said:


> Does anyone else see this as Quick just throwing out a bunch of fluff and riding the wave of Blazer excitement?


No, I don't think this is just throwing up a bunch of fluff and seeing what sticks. I think this is a really interesting time and any/all information that I can get about the activities etc of our blazer staff and players I can get the better.



Kiss_My_Darius said:


> KP was seen talking to the Sonics assistant GM and being animated and counting on fingers. OK, that could mean a lot of thing the least likely to me is they are talking trades at that time.
> 
> Talking to Dallas management during workout and Paxon trying to talk to KP while Quick was. I mean, come on now . . . that really means nothing to me. Yea it is excting to come up with ideas, but if Paxton wanted to talk trades, do you think he is going to it in that manner . . . pulling KP away from a media person to talk trade talk?


Just because the two GM's were talking adamantly doesn't mean a trade they are making. But it also doesn't mean that they weren't feeling the waters so to speak. You talk about many things often around the subject but not the subject to get a feel for the other person and what their direction is leaning. Of the teams mentioned, both could really use an inside presence. Blazers appear to be nearly having a surplus shortly and /might/ be willing to deal one of them. If I'm a GM I'm talking to everyone I can with players that I think will help my team.

While he was not an All-Star (he was snubbed), Zach put up numbers that cannot be denied. Teams will take a chance on a player who's got questionable off court dealings if the on court stats bear their weight. I think in the grand sceme of things, Zach falls into this category. He's a HUGE commodity and I think that teams should expect to give up quality to get a player like him. HOw many other players averaged 23/10 in this league last year?

I like what I heard in that Pritchard is going to focus on the draft. Decide who they want, then the next stage, working out how to get them comes into play. So right now for them it's listening to the skuttlebutt of the league direct from teh various GM's mouths and being ready to really move in making things happen when they have made their decision.

As last years draft shows, Pritchard isn't against making a deal or two.

Portlands tradeable assets:
Zach
Jack
Sergio
Martell
Freddy
Dan
4 second round picks

Sign and trade:
Travis
Jamaal

Trade x-Factors:
A willingness to make a deal
Our #1 Draft pick
People not wanting to help Portland further.


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## Yega1979 (Mar 22, 2003)

Great recap, thank you. I am now firmly in the Oden camp. Oden had a great year on a bad wrist, and now, he can shoot with both his right and left. It's really unlikely that KP will draft Durant.


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## Storyteller (Dec 31, 2002)

What, Quick didn't try reading lips this year while the GM was having 'secret talks'????? 

Thanks for the update *MM*. It's an exciting time to be a Blazer fan!


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## wizmentor (Nov 10, 2005)

NateBishop3 said:


> Posturing in what way though? Blink how? I don't see how any form of posturing when it comes to Durant or Oden would matter. If we want Oden, we'll draft Oden. If we want Durant, we'll draft Durant. What could Seattle offer us at this point? A trade for the #2 pick? I highly doubt it. If we draft Durant, Seattle will happily pick Oden. It's not like they would be disappointed with Oden.


Remember the Webber/Hardaway trade? Orlando got Hardaway and
THREE first round draft picks. If KP really wants Durant, I could
see him trying to get multiple future picks out of Seattle.
Personally, I would not pick Durant first. Either trade #1 for
#2 and at least 1 future pick, or draft Oden. If 3 picks were actually
offered, I'd think hard about it. But, I'd probably just take
Oden anyway.


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## Ukrainefan (Aug 1, 2003)

Great recap, MM, and I agree completely with Dudley'sghost take on Quick's ideas on chemistry.


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## Fork (Jan 2, 2003)

Kiss_My_Darius said:


> Does anyone else see this as Quick just throwing out a bunch of fluff and riding the wave of Blazer excitement?
> 
> KP was seen talking to the Sonics assistant GM and being animated and counting on fingers. OK, that could mean a lot of thing the least likely to me is they are talking trades at that time.
> 
> ...


Well, they're basketball people. What else are they going to be talking about, but how to make their team better.

'Did you catch American Idol the other day?'

It's .an absolute guarantee that GMs are talking about trades at this point in the season. Maybe Pritchard wasn't...but I bet he was. At least to one of them


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## Utherhimo (Feb 20, 2005)

you take oden 


but its the 9th pick area and down that is most of interest to me in terms of blazer moves.


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

Kiss_My_Darius said:


> Does anyone else see this as Quick just throwing out a bunch of fluff and riding the wave of Blazer excitement?
> 
> KP was seen talking to the Sonics assistant GM and being animated and counting on fingers. OK, that could mean a lot of thing the least likely to me is they are talking trades at that time.
> 
> ...


Yeah like Storyteller said, this article reminded me of the time last year when Quick thought he could read lips and used it to make some kind of speculative guesses about a player being moved or something. I can't remember what it was exactly, but IIRC it turned out to be nothing. Now we have animated discussions and counting on fingers ... BFD. It's fun to think about, but I bet these guys talk to each other 100 times before any trade is consummated, and most trades talks fail at some point in that process. Ok, the GMs were talking. Cool.


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## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

dudleysghost said:


> At 6-9.5 in socks and 219lbs as a college freshman, does anyone talk about Durant being a PF? That's maybe 6-11 and 235 after a couple years working out and with shoes on, which is about prototype PF size. Most of what I've seen projects him at SF, but from that it seems like he could be one of those rare forwards who is called a "tweener" because he is actually good at playing both positions, rather than because he doesn't quite fit at either.
> 
> As for Quick's suggestion that chemistry will suffer if we keep Zach, that just doesn't sound plausible. It sounds more like his own personal feeling for Zach clouding his reporting. Why would other players not want to play with a 3-man rotation of Zach, LMA and Oden? Would anyone really rebel because LMA was coming off the bench behind Zach? Yeah right. Most of the team would love to play with a front line that good, and the only guys unhappy about it will be Raef and Joel, because they will get no PT.




He brought up the old Blazers when we had several front court people. He said that team was divided because some of the players thought different people should be getting the most minutes, and others thought other players should.


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## TheBlueDoggy (Oct 5, 2004)

Thanks for the recap MM!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Fork said:


> Well, they're basketball people. What else are they going to be talking about, but how to make their team better.
> 
> 'Did you catch American Idol the other day?'
> 
> It's .an absolute guarantee that GMs are talking about trades at this point in the season. Maybe Pritchard wasn't...but I bet he was. At least to one of them


I can read lips and they were talking about the best strip clubs around!


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## B_&_B (Feb 19, 2004)

Storyteller said:


> What, Quick didn't try reading lips this year while the GM was having 'secret talks'?????
> 
> Thanks for the update *MM*. It's an exciting time to be a Blazer fan!


or peaking thru closed mini blinds!


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## The Professional Fan (Nov 5, 2003)

Quick can't get a break on this board. Quit busting his balls. He does a fine job.


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## GOD (Jun 22, 2003)

The Professional Fan said:


> Quick can't get a break on this board. Quit busting his balls. He does a fine job.


I have had issues with him in the past, but I have to say, that over the past season Quick has been much better and adds a lot of information into the mix. :cheers:


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## dudleysghost (Mar 24, 2006)

mediocre man said:


> He brought up the old Blazers when we had several front court people. He said that team was divided because some of the players thought different people should be getting the most minutes, and others thought other players should.


If it's the SAR/Miles thing, then I wouldn't worry about it, because the present situation would be nothing like that. I don't know which other situation you could mean, but we've got 3 good big men who will be sharing 96 minutes, so it should work out fine if it comes to that.


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## It's_GO_Time (Oct 13, 2005)

The Professional Fan said:


> Quick can't get a break on this board. Quit busting his balls. He does a fine job.



Because we know Quick would often give Blazer players a break and not bust thier balls.


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## loyalty4life (Sep 17, 2002)

GREAT recap, MM. Many thanks to you.


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## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

You are all more than welcome. I do it live...(which is why there are more typo's than I'd like) while I'm at work. It's always the best 1/2 hour of my week.....Well at work anyway.


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## Fork (Jan 2, 2003)

Kiss_My_Darius said:


> Because we know Quick would often give Blazer players a break and not bust thier balls.


He busted their balls because they kept doing stupid ****.

People denounce Jason Quick for the most inane stuff imaginable.


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## HOWIE (Dec 30, 2002)

NateBishop3 said:


> Posturing in what way though? Blink how? I don't see how any form of posturing when it comes to Durant or Oden would matter. If we want Oden, we'll draft Oden. If we want Durant, we'll draft Durant. What could Seattle offer us at this point? A trade for the #2 pick? I highly doubt it. If we draft Durant, Seattle will happily pick Oden. It's not like they would be disappointed with Oden.


Totally agree with you Nate, he might be looking to get people to come to the draft party at the Garden, that is the only thing I can think. Well that and the fact that he wants to put pressure on Atlanta, if Portland took Durant would they still move Randolph, does this cause Atlanta problems and makes them also talk with Seattle, just in case?

Pritchard is in the drivers seat and I think he really likes it. :biggrin:


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## BBert (Dec 30, 2004)

My complaint with Quick was always that he was not doing his job (reporting on basketball games) the way I, in my infinite wisdom, determined he should be. :biggrin: 

To wit: his game articles were exceedingly biased against players he seemed to personally dislike and in favor of players he seemed to personally like. I don't need to name names with this group, but his love affair with $amon and hatred for Sheed were particularly transparent, and made it impossible for him to be objective. 

His game summaries were almost never game summaries, but rather biased editorials. If the Faux News Network had a sports department, he'd fit right in. Also, he seemed more interested in writing for Soap Opera Digest than telling his readers what happened in the stinking basketball game. And he's never demonstrated much basketball knowledge, IMO. 

If he's going ga-ga over the New, Improved, Soft and Cuddly, Talented and Upwardly Mobile Blazers like so many other fans, that's great. But I'd still like an objective game report without the slanted, soap opera editorializing. If he does that, I got no beef.


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## mook (Dec 31, 2002)

> Posturing in what way though? Blink how? I don't see how any form of posturing when it comes to Durant or Oden would matter.


even a small amount of uncertainty about whom we choose gives us a little advantage. if we hint that we like Durant, we'll still need a power forward. therefore we'll be perceived to set the bar a little higher for trading Zach, assuming such a trade could be worked out before the draft. 

it's not much of an advantage, I'll admit. most teams are 90% certain we'll take Oden no matter what we say. but in this kind of high stakes poker, you want to keep as much information about your plans as close as possible. 

after all, Chicago was able to extract Khryapa from us last year because we weren't 100% certain they'd pass on Aldridge.


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## blakeback (Jun 29, 2006)

Quick said:


> Everyone loves Blake, and thinks they will make a strong play to get him. Thinks Blake will want to play with Oden.
> 
> Blazers will be more attractive because of Oden for FA's.
> 
> Really thinks the Blazers are looking for experience at the point. There is a question is some peoples mind about Jack being the long term answer at PG.


As much as I like Blake, I don't see him as a potential starter given the team we look to have next year (meaning Oden, Roy, Zach and/or LA). My expectations are higher. I don't think the Blazers think Blake is the ideal starter for us now either. 

So that tells me that Blake is considered the backup to the new FA PG, but also the top starter for the multi-point guard rotation () if we don't get a good PG. 

Part of me still thinks that Blake could be a top point guard if given a good opportunity (meaning Oden), but I think everyone expects more than potential from next year's PG. Blake/Jack/Sergio/Dickau is not the point lineup I had in mind for next year. 

So I can't wait to hear who we get. :gopray:


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