Pritchard Is NBA’s Latest Mastermind
It should come as no surprise that Kevin Pritchard has revealed himself as one of the smartest general managers in basketball over the past few years. After all, his college career saw him play under Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich, two great basketball minds, and he got his first front office job from Spurs’ general manager R.C. Buford.
As a whole, we were wrong to ignore Pritchard’s rapid ascension through the organization. Starting as director of player personnel in 2005, Pritchard made the move to the bench by the end of the season and then jumped to assistant GM in 2006. It should have been no surprise that he was given the GM reigns in 2007. After all, Pritchard already had a prominent scouting story to his name as the man who was overruled lobbying the Blazers to select Chris Paul at number three in 2005 before they traded the pick, and had already worked for some of the best during his quick rise to the front office.
Since the 2006 offseason, Pritchard has made it no secret that he has a plan as he has traded aggressively, worked the draft masterfully, and changed the entire culture of a struggling franchise. Some of the credit is owed to previous general managers John Nash and Steve Patterson, who set the wheels in motion for the culture change by listening to Pritchard and shedding a few poor character players.
Pritchard, though, is largely to credit with the light-speed turnaround of the franchise. As assistant GM in 2006-07, Pritchard’s moves were as follows:
Draft Night 2006 - Pritchard started to work his magic on draft night 2006 when he dealt Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, and a second round pick in 2008 to Boston for Raef LaFrentz, Dan Dickau and the rights to Randy Foye. Not content to call it a night he later traded Viktor Khryapa and Tyrus Thomas to Chicago for LaMarcus Aldridge and a future second round pick and then sent James White to Indiana for Alexander Johnson and two future second round picks. Later in the evening Pritchard continued to wheel and deal when he traded Alexander Johnson to Memphis for a future second round pick. At the end of a busy night Portland also acquired Brandon Roy (by trading Randy Foye), Sergio Rodriguez, and Joel Freeland.
Offseason 2006 - Pritchard continued his overhaul alongside Patterson acquiring Jamaal Magloire from Milwaukee for Steve Blake, Brian Skinner and Ha Seung-Jin, creating long-term cap space.
2006-07 Season - In a rare inconsequential move, Pritchard acquired Fred Jones from Toronto for Juan Dixon.
Even at a quick glance, that’s an impressive haul, turning the #4, #30, and #31 picks and what were essentially spare parts into additional cap flexibility (in the short and long term), Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Sergio Rodriguez, Joel Freeland, and two additional futures second round picks.
Since he was given the official GM title, the story has been more of the same:
Draft Night 2007 - Looking to cement himself as a draft master, Pritchard selected Greg Oden, Taurean Green and Josh McRoberts via the draft. He supplemented these picks by purchasing James Jones and Rudy Fernandez from Phoenix and sending Derrick Byars and cash to Philadelphia for Petteri Koponen. In his biggest move to date, Pritchard sent Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau and Fred Jones to New York for Channing Frye and Steve Francis and then sent New York Demetris Nichols for a future second round pick.
Offseason 2007 - The Blazers signed Steve Blake, extended Travis Outlaw and bought out Steve Francis.
2007-08 Season - Pritchard waived Darius Miles and traded Taurean Green to Denver for Von Wafer in an attempt to maximize even the final roster positions on the team.
Draft Night 2008 - In his latest night of wizardry, Pritchard acquired Nicolas Batum in a three-way trade for Joey Dorsey and Darrell Arthur, who had been acquired for cash. He then picked up a pair of 2009 second round picks by sending European draft pick Omer Asik to Chicago and Mike Taylor to the Clippers. Finally, in a deal that didn’t become official until a week later, Pritchard sent Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts and the rights to Brandon Rush to Indiana for point guard Jerryd Bayless and forward Ike Diogu.
Once again, these moves in isolation don’t seem like great steals, but the amount and the intricate genius of each one should not be lost by looking at a list like that. What Pritchard has done is create a team that is competitive now and financially viable in the longer term.
Portland has an ugly $80 million cap bill for this season, well above the luxury tax, but the three largest contracts on the team (Darius Miles, Francis and LaFrentz) are all from previous regimes, totaling $39 million. Miles and Francis also come off the books this year, making 2009-10 an attractive starting point for the long-term analysis of the Blazers.
At that point, they will have Miles, Pryzbilla, Outlaw, Bayless and Fernandez under contract, totaling $23 million. They also have team options on Greg Oden ($5.3M), Aldridge ($5.8M), Roy ($3.9M) and Rodriguez ($1.8M), giving them four great young players at a total of $16.8 million.
Additionally, Martell Webster, Channing Frye and Ike Diogu are restricted free agents with very affordable qualifying offers, only Webster of which would command significantly more money on the open market.
A quick look at the depth chart for the 2009-10 season clarifies Pritchard’s vision:
PG – Bayless, Fernandez
SG – Roy, Rodriguez
SF – Webster, Outlaw
PF – Aldridge, Frye, Diogu
C- Oden, Pryzbilla
Waived players under contract –Miles, Francis
Expiring contracts to trade – LaFrentz ($9M)
Estimated committed salary - $53.2M
At this point, I have assumed relatively cheap extensions for Webster and Frye, which may be a fault in the logic here. Even still, it seems likely that with the combination of LaFrentz’ expiring contract, three additional 2009 second round picks and two additional 2010 second round picks, plus the rights to three prominent unsigned international picks (Freeland, Koponen and Batum), the Blazers will be able to acquire additional cap space or replace said players via resources they already own.
Nobody would disagree that, even with a few subtractions or at a slightly higher price, Portland has an incredible core in place for the next several years.
You can safely expect Portland to be a competitive playoff team in the West this year, but you can set your expectations far higher after this season, when the team is truly Kevin Pritchard’s.
What he’ll do next is anyone’s guess, but rest assured it will be yet another smart move.
Photo Credit: Icon Sports Media
This article was written by:
Blake Murphy - who has written 21 posts on Hoops Addict.
Blake Murphy is a Queen's University Business graduate and broadcast journalism hopeful. He uses his business background often to analyze basketball from a management perspective more so than a fan perspective.
Comments
By rashad on July 24th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Good article. The Blazers are going sneak up on some people this year. That Bayless/Roy/Oden trio is going to be fierce.
By Jeff on July 24th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Nice job on this. I enjoyed reading through a summary of the moves he’s made. He got lucky with Oden, but the rest just seems to be savvy moves.
By hoopinion on July 24th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Nice summary.
One note: Pritchard was at Kansas from the 86-87 to 89-90 seasons so he wasn’t around during the season Popovich spent there though they certainly might have crossed paths during Pritchard’s recruitment.
By Dean on July 24th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Great rundown of the moves. The only thing that worries me for next season is the loss of James Jones, who did a great job providing spacing last season. It’ll be interesting over the next few seasons to see how Pritchard deals depth to upgrade a shorter rotation when they start making playoff noise.
By billy on July 24th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Good article, except for numerous factual errors:
Miles is already of the team, and off the cap.
Steve Blake has a team option after this year. You’re assuming they let a 3-4M year player go in favor of extending Martell AND channing?
Also, you should switch Fernandez and Sergio, as you have Sergio at the 2 and fernandez at the 1, which isn’t correct. Also, Sergio is basically the 5th best PG right now, so I doubt he will be on the team past this year’s deadline, or even this year’s training camp.
By McSwollenvich on July 24th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
rashad, I don’t think the Blazers are sneaking up on anyone this year. Almost everyone is expecting them to be good, probably in around 5-8 seed in the playoffs next season.
By johnson on July 24th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Quote:
rashad Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Good article. The Blazers are going sneak up on some people this year. That Bayless/Roy/Oden trio is going to be fierce.
Why would it be referred to as the Bayles/Roy/Oden trio? the more significant three is Roy/Aldridge/Oden.
By lance on July 24th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Great article. It is nice to see KP get credit for where credit is due. I might add two points. First, Paul Allen deserves a lot of credit for recent moves to buy the arena, get rid of the “jail blazers”, and for funding KP’s moves.
Lastly, on your depth chart you need to switch Rodriguez and Fernandez. Rod is the 1 and Fernandez is the 2.
By Shawno on July 24th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Nice article on the whole. There’s no mention of Miles’ I believe *currently* being off the books due to his “career-ending injury” and the depth chart isn’t as accurate as it could be — Fernandez is a SG while Rodriguez (who’s unlikely to still be on the team at that point) is a PG. (Blake and/or Koponen are more likely the long-term back-ups to Bayless.)
Finally, Pritchard as been saying (basically since becoming GM) that he’s aiming to net a “big free agent” in the summer of 2009. *If* he manages to do so, said player will almost certainly be either a SF or a PG/combo guard.
That said, most of those points are pretty small — again, nice article!
By Laurel on July 24th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Nice article. A few notes.
Miles was waived after being declared to have a ‘career ending injury’ by the league and NBPA doctor.
Unless Miles is signed and after serving his 10 game suspension (for testing positive for diet pills)and then actually plays in 10 games for a NBA team he is off the cap.
That dropped them to 64,851,732 well under the tax line last year and they will remain under next year by about a million if Miles stays retired.
In the summer ‘09 they will have either about 15 million in cap room for the free agent market or, if Miles stays retired, about 24 million.
LeFrentz contract is on KPs watch as it was part of the boston trade, sending the Ratliff one year shorter contract as the lure to get the #7 pick and Roy.
Likewise the Francis contract is residue from moving Randolph on KPs watch.
In that NYKs trade they also received a trade exception which they later used to acquire James Jones from the Suns, only the pick where they took Rudy Fernandez was traded for cash on draft night.
You left out Steve Blake from your depth chart. Nate has already said he will remain the starter at the beginning of the season with Bayless and Rudy being part of the “white unit”.
And after you wrote this they signed Batum. They decided better to train him here and in the D league then send him back to France.
Laurel T
By Kevin on July 26th, 2008 at 1:44 am
“After all, Pritchard already had a prominent scouting story to his name as the man who was overruled lobbying the Blazers to select Chris Paul at number three in 2005 before they traded the pick…”
What is your source? An Oregonian blog? What is their source? It’s Pritchard, gloating about himself as usual.
By Blake Murphy on July 30th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
My bad for the Miles thing (I didn’t know he had officially filed) and the resulting cap error, and for the Sergio/Rudy flip. Thanks for the feedback!
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