NBA, NBA Draft / Jun 2, 2009 / 2:29 pm

NBA Draft ’09 rumor: Blazers trying to get Stephen Curry

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Stephen Curry (Davidson)

Stephen Curry (Davidson)

Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard is already on the fast track to made-man status in Portland. Having used some shrewd (and some no-brainer) moves to turn the franchise around from the “Jail Blazers” of Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson and Qyntel Woods to a media-friendly exciting playoff team featuring Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Fernandez, Pritchard has arguably done a better job than any NBA front-office exec over the last 3-4 years.

While he was able to land B-Roy, LMA and Greg Oden via the Lottery picks at his disposal, now that his team is a success, Pritchard will have to get used to making due with not-so-desirable draft positions; like this year’s 24th overall pick in the first round of what is allegedly a weak draft class. But if Pritchard pulls off the move he’s rumored to be thinking of, he may never have to pay for anything in Portland again. From Charlotte Observer writer Rick Bonnell:

The way I hear it, the Blazers (currently picking 24th) are nosing around to trade up and have Stephen Curry in their sights. Enough teams are willing to deal down that this is a real possibility. And it would be great for Curry in this regard:

A long-time NBA scout told me months ago that the ideal situation for Curry is to play point guard on a team with a shooting guard who can also handle the ball. That would allow Curry to spot up some, and maximize the impact of his shooting.

The Blazers have just such a player in Brandon Roy. Strikes me as a great match of a player and a system.

Steve Blake (11.0 ppg, 5.0 apg, 42% 3PA) wasn’t bad at point guard for the Blazers this season, but he’s not good enough for them to settle at the position; ideally he’s a backup PG on a contending team. Jerryd Bayless is the logical successor to Blake as soon as he gets more experience, but Bayless may be better suited as an off-the-bench scoring combo guard.

Besides, considering that the Knicks took a long look at Bayless in last year’s draft before deciding on Danilo Gallinari, Bayless would probably be part of the trade package for New York’s #8 pick, where Curry should be available and the Knicks are said to be coveting the Davidson star. The Wizards (5th) and Warriors (7th) may also be in the market for Curry.

If you’re Knicks GM Donnie Walsh, what would it take for Portland to get that 8th pick from you? Same question for if you were running Washington or Golden State…

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  • Ashlov

    Portland should have to take the “other” Curry as well. Not sure if that would give the Knicks enough space to re-sign David Lee and/or Nate Robinson while still having 2010 space, but that’s what it would take.

  • nic

    do it kp. give them sergio as well.

  • Big V

    Steve Blake and Bayless.

  • Scott

    Blake and Outlaw, or better yet if I’m the Knicks I’d want Blake and Webster. Curry, he’s a gamble, meanwhile Blake would anchor their second unit, and Webster’s shooting ability + athleticism would be a nice pairing at the 2 with Wilson Chandler at the 3 or 3 and 4.

  • Sheedfan87

    Bayless and Rodriguez may be enough. I know Rodriguez is a free agent and there’s been lots of rumors that he won’t be coming back. LaFrentz’s contract stays though.

  • nic

    As my roommate says….”Just another Pritchslap on the way.” Give them Sergio, Bayless, Frye, Outlaw for David Lee, Curry, $….backhanded Pritchslap

  • Yoooo

    Frye, Outlaw and Bayless for the pick, Curry, Jeffries & Hope

  • Kobeef

    Is it just me or are bayless and curry (other than hops) the same player?

    Seriously, both are 6’3 with a 6’3 wingspan, both are primarily a shooting guard yet think they can be a PG in the NBA (for some reason).

    Seems like a pointless trade for Portland

  • bab

    I love Bayless.

  • hahns

    if im walsh, i make that trade if we can get some cap relief somehow

  • Pedro

    jared jeffries would have to be envolved. but it won’t happen, Knicks need that pick.

    only way is if there is another team involved and both the Knicks and Blazers move up. i would assume that the blazers would be free to sign Nate Robinson also.

  • George W Kush Sr

    Frye, Outlaw and Bayless for the Pick and Eddy Curry, that should work out.

  • dmitry of jersey

    WTF are you talking about Austin.

    maybe a couple years still need to go by for people to realize how much of a fuckin idiot pritchard is for passing on Durant, but it’s only a matter of time.

    point is.. he is no brilliant GM. he has made a lot of great little moves, but royally screwed up the biggest move in a way that will set back the franchise for the next decade plus.

  • nic

    dmitry of jersey…are you bitter because the nets suck?

    The blazers are going to be a premier team in years to come. BROY and LA are the cornerstones. Durant is a great player but does not fit on this team. He would take the ball away from BROY. Once Oden figures out his game and adjusts to the NBA he will be a double double guy. The Blazers aren’t looking for him to be an all star just fit the system.

    Kevin Pritchard is an elite GM. He’s taken a team that was a disgrace of the NBA and made them the one of the most promising teams in the league. Have to watched a game at the Rose Garden? it’s like a college atmosphere.

    I work at the front desk of a hotel in Portland that hosted 24 NBA teams this year and EVERYTEAM had players/coaches/staff members, say that Portland is one of the LOUDEST/hardest places to play and that in 3 years they will be contenders.

    You can take Durant on your team all day. I’ll take BROY, LA, and ODEN. Oh and Billa, Rudy, Outlaw, Martell, Bayless, aren’t that bad either. Not to mention the Raefs expiring contract.

    DMITRI, if you were my homie I’d bet you 100$ that the Blazers make it to the Finals faster that the Nets. Also name me 5 better GM’s in the league.

  • nic

    great article Austin some people’s NBA intellect doesn’t go beyond star players, and the current NBA LIVE video game.

  • Spliff 2 My Lou

    I’m with kobeef. Bayless is basically Curry. There has to be more pieces involved with this trade to make sense for Portland.

  • bballinca

    5 GM’s better than Pritchard

    Denver’s
    Colangelo
    Kupchak
    Orlando’s
    Thorn
    Ainge
    Buford
    O’Connor

  • Yoooo

    Nic ur an idiot. If youd rather have Oden than Durant I see why your destined to be stuck behind a counter at a hotel the rest of ur life. Get a clue

  • E$

    Rudy Fernandez mad – LMAO

  • T$

    I like how this thread turned into the neverending ‘Oden VS Durant.’ The Blazers drafted Oden because they needed a devensive interior presence. Durant is a high caliber scorer, and will be an allstar for many years. Oden is a shot blocker and rebounded, which is what the Blazers needed, and he might be capable of averaging around 20 ppg when he figures it all out. Pritchard made the right decision. E$, ur an idiot because you typed ‘ur’ not you’re, and then followed that up with a pointless attack on someones occupation. Dmitry, ‘ur’ and idiot because you are jealous that the Blazers are one great player away from a dynasty.

    Curry is a gamble for the Blazers, who desperately need a scoring PG, but signing Nash/Kidd/Dre Miller are gambles too because of their age and $$. The Blazers and KP are one of the most stable, profitable and well run organizations/GM’s in the league. ’nuff said

  • dmitry of jersey

    Nic,

    first of all, who the hell cares that the Nets suck? I am not fan of our front office for signing VC to that ridiculous contract or keeping LFrank for two seasons too many. that’s besides the point.

    what IS the point is that if internet blogs existed in 1986, people like you would have been telling the world how the blazers back then had a shooting guard and just needed a solid center to complete the picture. What…ever…

    with the first pick in an NBA draft, you have to draft the most talented player, PERIOD. if blazers needed a defensive minded center, they could have taken Durant and traded for Camby, who was available for absolutely nothing as the clippers showed us. or they could have taken Tyrus Thomas instead of LA.

    we have different opinions on oden. fair enough. but unless oden turns into a perennial all-star like Durant is bound to be, the writing will be on the wall that Pritchard fucked up royally.

    (and P.S. if you dont think that replacing Oden’s non-existent contribution this year against the rockets with Durant would not have propelled portland to round 2 you’re just silly)

    (P.S.2 Pritchard has a owner who lets him buy draft picks left and right. like i said, he has done a good job with a lot of small decision, but the odds haven’t exactly been stacked against him, like say the Denver front office that made their team better and cut payroll at the same time).

  • BiG ShoT BoB

    As a Warriors fan I think The Warriors should trade their pick to Portland for Kevin Pritchard.

  • dmitry of jersey

    T$

    and you’re an idiot because there is no connection between being an idiot and jealousy, especially considering it is your OPINION that the blazers need one more player to be a dynasty.

    shit, there are a lot of teams that can be a dynasty with the addition of one great player. Did you watch the Cavs-Magic series??

  • T$

    dmitry

    Did you read the article or just skip down to the comments? If you read the article, you would know that Pritchard is a brilliant GM. We went from being disgraceful with sex offenders/idiots/thugs/drug users to the darlings of the NBA pretty darn quick. Replacing Miles, Woods and Patterson with the likes of Roy, Aldrige, Rudy and Webster is outstanding. Trading the draft rights of Foye for BRoy and Tyrus Thomas for Aldridge in the same draft is outstanding. Stealing Rudy Fernandez from Phoenix through a trade exception is outstanding. Yes, getting the #1 pick was lucky, and only time will tell if KP made the right choice about that. My point is that you have to be naive or terribly misinformed to think that KP isn’t an elite GM over the last 5-6 years

  • dmitry of jersey

    T$

    you know how it can take years, even decades to build credibility, but only one dumb ass move can make it disappear? this happens in all walks of life, not just basketball.

    that’s what we have with Pritchard. he definitely made some good moves. the Foye-Roy trade in particular was damn brilliant. and there are a lot more examples of rebuilding the blazers that you surely know better than me.

    But,
    IMO, he screwed up huge by taking Oden. we will see if i’m right or blazer-fan-believers like you are right, it’s still too early. but if Oden continues to be a bust, then KP can’t be looked at as a “brilliant” GM. smart, common-sense-having, risky, yeah. but brilliant GM’s don’t screw up having the number 1 pick like that.

    please, just don’t act like you and all other blazer fans know something we dont. if you can’t admit that KP’s legacy will be shot to shit if Oden ends up being a full-blown bust, you are naive. that’s just how it works.. you don’t get forgiven for 1 big mistake even if you make 100 right decision before it.

  • blah

    bayless is gonna be better anyway. if i’m the knicks, i say bayless, sergio and a future #1.

  • http://edthesportsfan.com SoulOnIce

    @ KDizzle

    I’m witcha, mane. They already have Bayless. Why would Portland move up to take Curry, if they already seem like the same type of player? I’m surprised this point isn’t getting more attention.

  • Bron42 aka Had springs before slam ball

    curry is a better shooter than bayless which would create space for the bigs and roy to operate. Bayless is more athletic but in the iverson mold where he mostly has to have the ball in his hands to be effective.

  • hater

    pretty much every GM in the league would have taken oden over durant. he was the consensus top pick. KP wasn’t the only one who made the (so far apparently) wrong choice – he just happened to be the guy in a position to do it officially. he whiffed on a 90/10 call – so that makes him a bad gm?

    as far as curry being available at #8 – the way he is apparently coveted by so many teams(according to all the draft websites out there) how could he last past the 5th pick?

  • Ekstor

    Bayless actually has greater upside and is the superior athlete.

    @ Dmitri,

    I’m with you in believing that Durant may prove to be a better player than Oden, but let’s not forget the fact that just about every single GM would have selected Oden first. He was a lock, no matter who was selecting first. It’s just unfortunate that Oden appears to be an injury-prone player.

    Similar to the year Jordan came out… while Blazers are often roasted for going after Bowie that year, no one faulted Rockets for getting Olajuwon even though Jordan is the greatest ever… b/c dominant big men are just hard to come by.

  • Baby Huey

    I’m so sick of this Oden/Durant crap, someone wake me up when Durant becomes this superstar and not just a very good scorer on a very bad team in the mold of Kevin Martin, Zach Randolph, Nate Robinson, Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Michael Redd, Jamal Crawford, etc.

  • Kodak

    The lottery is just that, a LOTERRY, a gamble. GMs take a chance with any pick. The draft history is full of Number One and Top 5 overall picks that just dont pan out. Kwame Brown, Andrea Bargnani, Derrick Coleman, Andrew Bogut… the list goes on. Sometimes players just arent great, not matter how big the hype. The true measure of a GM is championships and playoff berths. Great owners win championships despite the mistakes, they dont lose because of them. Hell, Joe Dumars took Darko, with carmelo, bosh and wade on the board, yet we call him a good GM. Winning fixes everything.

  • Marcy

    Let get greedy like the other teams.
    Oden, Bayless & #24 for Jeffries and #8, deal!!!!

  • Blazermark

    I doubt the Blazers do this. Everyone thinks we would just give half of our roster for some rookie. We already have Bayless, we do not need this young PG. It is just talk. Not going to happen.

  • http://nbaroundtable.wordpress.com/ Dave

    Curry sounds like a great fit for the Blazers, and I can see why Pritchard is interested in him.

    But I do not see what they have to offer? Why trade Curry for younger players with less potential?

    Bayless didn’t prove enough in his rookie season for on of those lottery teams to pass on Curry in order to get Bayless.

  • http://dimemag.com Melo2TDot

    anyone sayin Bayless and Curry are the same player has obviously never watched either of them play. Bayless is a slashing, shoot first pointguard with derrick rose athletisism. while curry isn’t nearly as athletic, he has one of the purest shots I’ve ever seen and is a bonafide, crunch time player

  • carmikal

    Stephen Curry going to the Knicks has been rumored for weeks. There is no way that they part with the 8th pick.

  • Daniel Bui

    I don’t know about Donnie Walsh, but if I was Isaiah Thomas and I was GM for the Knicks, I’d be stupid, so I would trade the number 8 pick for Outlaw and leave it at that.

  • http://www.nbadraftdaycountdown.com NBADRAFTDAYCOUNTDOWN

    At this point, who isnt taking Stephen Curry?

    http://www.nbadraftdaycountdown.com

  • youarewack

    dmitry of jersey

    you are fuckin wack. you dont know shit. get a life.
    a dominate center or a scorer. you make the choice.

  • youarewack

    dmitry of jersey

    you are wack. your a stupid prick that doesnt know shit. get a life.
    a dominate center or a scorer. you make the choice.

  • http://dimemag.com/2009/06/nba-draft-09-rumor-blazers-trying-to-get-stephen-curry/ basketball fan

    youarewack,
    how is oden a dominate center? after reading this blog, I’d have to say that many of you are getting this all wrong… KP has made some great moves and is getting praise for those, but lets not forget that drafting Oden wasn’t as much as a lock as all of you are pointing out. There was actually a lot of discussion from your team, the blazers, about possibly taking Durant instead of Oden. Oden proved in college that he was a large man, but lacked a lot of the intangibles to be a great player. Where Durant dominated in college, and was already considered a scoring machine that would translate in the pros (he’s a 6ft 10in wing for gods sakes, not a 7ft 1in old man with terrible joints, oh and by the way Oden was injury prone in college, missed his first 15 games or so). As many of you also mentioned that there are busts, it seems that the bust factor always seems to be higher with bigs. If you look at the more recent drafts, teams will take gambles on the bigs because there are so few of them around. If the blazers were only looking for a rebounder and shot blocker, then they also shouldnt of drafted oden #1. They could get that out of a second rounder…? With a top ten pick, you don’t base that on need, you get the best available player. If that means that your team is heavy on a certain position, you trade away your talent to acquire more pieces. As a matter of fact, the blazers have done exactly that with the likes of Fernandez and others. When you get the best player, it doesn’t matter where they fit on the team, bc if they’re good, you’ll be able to trade them away for some type of asset. Lastly, if the Blazers were only looking for rebounds and blocks, you already had that in Prizbilla. What you were hoping for, was that Oden would be better than Prizbilla right away, which didn’t happen. If that would’ve happened, then Prizbilla would’ve gotten traded away for a cheaper back up and some more pieces.

  • Don

    Nobody…nobody, including Pritch, has a real idea of what Oden is going to become. He could end up being one of the top 2 centers in the NBA for years, or he could end up as an adequate backup. Personally I believe he is going to be a dominating center on defense and a 14 + 11 guy on offense. If that happens, Portland will be a contendor for years to come.

    About Bayless and Curry being the same player…that’s just wrong. Curry has a great shot and can hit from anywhere. Bayless is a better athlete, but couldn’t hit a rat with a mafia don. They are completely different players with very similar builds.

  • Don

    Nobody…nobody, including Pritch, has a real idea of what Oden is going to become. He could end up being one of the top 2 centers in the NBA for years, or he could end up as an adequate backup. Personally I believe he is going to be a dominating center on defense and a 14 + 11 guy on offense. If that happens, Portland will be a contendor for years to come. But I don’t know and neither does anyone else. The first 50 games of next year are going to be huge. Will he have improved his short game? Can he stay out of perpetual foul trouble? Will he be able to play a full season?

    About Bayless and Curry being the same player…that’s just wrong. Curry has a great shot and can hit from anywhere. Bayless is a better athlete, but couldn’t hit a rat with a mafia don. They are completely different players with very similar builds.

  • http://dimemag.com/2009/06/nba-draft-09-rumor-blazers-trying-to-get-stephen-curry/ basketball fan

    Don,
    Your correct about both, but again, Oden’s past is a clear indicator that he won’t be anything more than a back up because of injuries. He is the type of big man you’ll love to hate. Since going to Ohio State, he has missed more games than he has played (in college and the NBA). That should tell you something. I also agree that Bayless and Curry are completely different players, but lets be real, their builds aren’t close to the same. Like you said, Bayless is a freak athlete with a lot more muscle than Curry has. Curry actually reminds a lot of BG, but might have a little better handle (Curry’s build is also no where near BG, but BG has been in the league for several yrs). He still needs to do a lot to be a complete player. Too bad he can’t grow 4 or 5 inches, just like BG. If he did, he’d be a top 4 pick. If he gets drafted in the first 10 picks, which ever team takes him will understand that he is a project, will be a player in 2 or 3 years, once he develops a NBA body. Bayless already has an NBA body, and is more of a point than Curry. Which is funny because Bayless isn’t that great of a point. It just shows you that neither is really a point, but because both are little they have to play that position. It works well for Portland bc they’ve got a 2 that could really play the point. It would be smarter for KP if he went after Hinrich. Portland also needs a shot blocker. I am a Bulls fan, so that’s why I’m throwing these ideas out here, but Hinrich and Ty Thomas to Portland for Webster or Outlaw and a third team could get involved so the bulls could take back a big. Maybe the clips, they could give you guys something and the bulls would get Kaman.

  • getadog

    Anyone who says Oden will not be a dominant center hasn’t seen him play. The main thing wrong with him this year was his inability to stay on the floor due to foul trouble. That will change. First of all, NBA refs are notoriously hard on rookie bigs. It takes time to adjust to playing against so many strong, agile big men. Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, Andrew Bynum and many others all had to play at least a year before they developed into strong players. Add to this the fact that Oden got exactly zero minutes of preparation before training camp and it is easy to predict a big improvement for him this year. He will have a full offseason of conditioning (it has already been reported that he has lost 10 lbs. since the end of the season) , another year of healing for his knee (it takes two years to recover from microfracture), and months to work with coaches on his offensive game. I see 15 and 10 as realistic numbers for next season and more improvement on the defensive end. Oden will be the anchor on a team that should contend for the next decade.

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