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發表於 2007-1-25 03:29:08
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有時老板一意孤行也不一定是錯的 
Last June in the Trail Blazers draft room, the franchise found itself with a decision to make. Point guard Sergio Rodriguez, known as "Spanish Chocolate" or the "Spanish Magician" was available, and Portland, which had the No. 30 pick, wanted him.
Phoenix, on the clock and picking No. 27, offered to sell their pick to Portland for $3 million. Rodriguez might, or might not, be there three picks later. And so every person in the Blazers draft room was asked to cast a vote on whether the franchise, busy all summer crowing about fiscal responsibility, should spend the money to get him.
One by one, the scouts and team executives said, "No," and "No," and "No," and "No," and this included the votes of acting general manager Steve Patterson and player personnel director Kevin Pritchard. And then, it was owner Paul Allen's turn.
Said Allen: "Buy the pick."
You're going to hear a lot of talk in the next few years about how Pritchard and Blazers scout John Gabriel loved Rodriguez's upside, but the point guard might have ended up somewhere else had Allen, occasional acting scout and GM, not loved Rodriguez's game even more.
This is important because anyone who has seen Rodriguez in practice and in games, and talked with enough of his teammates and coaches, can see how special he is.
The franchise is building its future around Zach Randolph, but the Blazers should think hard about abandoning that plan and instead build around the 168-pound passer who someday will go down as the steal of the 2006 draft.
Brandon Roy is an ideal complement to Rodriguez. So is Martell Webster. So is LaMarcus Aldridge. Some of the important pieces are already in place, but the commitment internally to think about Rodriguez as the centerpiece, and not a peripheral player, hasn't yet happened.
That leap in progressive thinking needs to occur now if the Blazers are going to accelerate their upside. Coach Nate McMillan denies this, but his playing rotation suggests that he's being encouraged to play center Jamaal Magloire. Management is eager to shop the former All-Star before the Feb. 22 deadline, and the actions of the franchise are transparent. That's all fine, but there also should be a management push to get Rodriguez important playing time, too.
Against Denver last week, Rodriguez had 23 points and 10 assists. The next game, against Cleveland, he had nine assists and zero turnovers off the bench. And so I asked McMillan in that postgame what Rodriguez needed to do to earn a start.
The coach, who loves veterans and jokes that it takes rookies five years to shed the "rookie" label, said Rodriguez had earned backup point guard status. Which is only to say that McMillan isn't yet ready to go all in on Rodriguez.
It's going to take some real courage for the franchise, which has made some awful mistakes in the last five years, to have the gumption to view Rodriguez, who nobody in the franchise is pushing for rookie of the year, as the primary building block.
But that's just what he is.
Rodriguez, who is 6-foot-3, needs to look to score more, but is learning to take better care of the ball, which McMillan likes. His upside is that of Tony Parker or Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. And when you ask basketball people to compare him to Seattle's Luke Ridnour, they tell you Rodriguez is going to be much better.
Allen was the only one who had the guts to cast a vote for Rodriguez in June. And the irony is, with all the jocks around the Blazers' practice facility, and all the basketball people sitting in the offices poring over tapes, maybe it's going to take a firm directive from the Ivy League nerds working at Vulcan Inc. to see Rodriguez as the Trail Blazers future. |
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發表於 2007-1-25 03:05:54
發表於 2007-1-25 10:49:04
