今夏开拓者将利用多个选秀权进行交易？今年夏天，开拓者队总共手握4个选秀权，总经理凯文-普理查德(Kevin Pritchard)也表示，如果一次性给队里添4名年轻球员不太现实，除非他们选了4个球员后能进行较大笔的交易。“我们把这些选秀权看做是流动资产，因此他们可以用来交易。它可以让我灵活地处理很多事情。”
Blazers May Trade PicksWhen the NBA Draft rolls around, you can always count on Portland Trail Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard to keep things interesting and this year will likely be no different.
Pritchard – who has orchestrated nine trades over the past two drafts – is sitting on four draft picks to date heading into June's draft. Portland has one pick early in the first round (currently fluctuating between 12 and 14) and three selections scattered in the second round (33, 34 and 54 overall picks).
And although Pritchard's sprinkled the Blazers with the fountain of youth from Greg Oden to Brandon Roy to LaMarcus Aldridge in the past, this year youth may not be served in Portland.
Instead, Pritchard may look to move the picks.
"To add four players probably isn't realistic unless a major trade is made. And I'm not so sure getting younger is at the top of our list," Pritchard told HOOPSWORLD recently.
"We look at picks as liquid assets. But since they are liquid, they are very movable. They can be traded; you can take a couple picks and move up or move down. What I look at is it gives me the flexibility to do a lot of things.
"We probably won't add four players, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility."
The possibilities are certainly endless for one of the most surprising teams of this NBA season, a franchise that has used the draft to build – and rebuild - in a positive light. But Pritchard's blueprint is a draft success story, and one not easily duplicated.
"I look at the draft as risk assessment as much as anything," said Pritchard who is racking up the frequent flier miles on scouting trips during March. "We all like to say that we are basketball experts but in truth, it is somewhat a black box. You just don't know exactly how it is going to turn out. But you do background work, you evaluate the talent, you look at what the kid is like on and off the court, and hopefully you make good decisions.
"If you make good decisions the draft can be a wonderful thing. But no one is perfect in this business."
But in the past, Pritchard and the Blazers have been about as faultless as they come.
He traded for and drafted Roy in 2006 – the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year and a first-time All-Star this season. That was the same year he snagged Aldridge – someone head coach Nate McMillan believes "can be a Garnett one day." And last year, Pritchard landed Oden – the number one overall pick and a sleeping giant who can't wait to wake up fully healthy for Portland next season.
So why then has Pritchard been so successful when it comes to the draft?
"I think we do a good job of doing our whole page of homework, not just evaluating one thing. We look at everything about a player. We look at a player like he's a book and you have to get as many chapters as you can."
Although Pritchard said adding four new players to the Blazers roster "isn't out of the realm of possibility," you wonder what would happen if Portland's GM decides to add a player or two to the mix.
Knowing the Blazers already have a large talent pool overseas with forward/center Joel Freeland, guard Petteri Koponen and swingman Rudy Fernandez, don't think for a second drafting another Euro talent isn't out of the question.
It would simply mean one more player gaining experience and learning the game in the European League, instead of sitting at the end of an NBA or NBDL bench.
"(Europe has) been very good to us in the past and we feel we've got some guys that could come over next year and step in and make an impact immediately," Pritchard admitted.
For now, the draft selection and decision making in June is on hold. It's all about taking in March Madness and endless scouting trips; a job that truly has no offseason for Pritchard.
"It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 - or this year – 366 days a year."
