I was a bit surprised by this tidbit in Jason Quick's article this morning about Bayless:

"In Las Vegas, McMillan said the Blazers will begin games with point guard Petteri Koponen -- a first-round pick in 2007 who will remain overseas next season -- and Bayless at shooting guard, but that Bayless will eventually get large chunks of playing time at the point."

http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/1215483969201330.xml&coll=7

I had expected Koponen to have a decent shot at making the roster based on summer league play and the fact that all reports are that he is looking much better than he was in previous years.

This new strategy of drafting players and stashing them overseas is something I need to become more familiar with. Does anyone know how long San Antonio usually lets their players season overseas before bringing them over?

Chris Paul is an amazing player. I don't think Bayless will be that good. Yet, I am very thankful we didn't draft Chris Paul.

Right now, our greatest asset appear to be Kevin Pritchard. His leadership has built a team and a culture that will be with us for years.

If Portland drafts Chris Paul, I don't know that Pritchard gets a shot at the GM job. Given the choice between Chris Paul and Pritchard, I'd take KP.

So that's why I think not drafting Chris Paul has turned out so well for the Blazers.

I sent a note to Jonathon Givony of DraftExpress.com asking him where Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez would be drafted if they were in the draft this year. His response:

• "Oden #1, Rudy probably top-15."
  

We could potentially have the best rookie class next year without ever using our first round pick.

Has anyone else seen any handicapping of where Rudy or Greg would be in this year's draft by other draft analysts?

All season long many of us fans have been looking for current or former players who Brandon Roy reminded us of. The most common comparison I hear is between Roy and Dwayne Wade.

After watching Roy closely for the last year and half, the player that Roy reminds me of is a bit of a surprise because he isn't a basketball player and he is best known in the U.S. for actions that might draw more comparisons to Rasheed than to Roy: Zinedine Zidane.

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I just stumbled onto this reference to a Seattle Post Intelligencer article on RealGM:

"According to NBA sources, the Sonics may target Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Monty Williams to join P.J. Carlesimo's staff, which has yet to be constructed."

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/47042/20070711/sonics_may_target_trail_blazers_assistant/

For some reason I thought when Dwayne Casey didn't get the Seattle job that we didn't have much to worry about Seattle poaching our coaches. When Casey was in the running, I wondered about Dean Demopoulos possibly leaving (given the debacle in Minnesota with Casey and Demopoulos, I was never seriously worried).

It seems unlikely to me that Monty would choose to leave the Blazers for Seattle's unstable situation, but it is something to keep an eye on.