Second guessing the Brockman pick...

[Showtime]

We all will probably like Brockman as a hustle player who leaves everything on the court, and his effort and toughness is something this team needs, but did GP, as well as other teams, make a mistake by taking Blair's knees too seriously?

His health and durability is one reason why he fell so far, but talent was never the issue with Blair. I know it's just preseason, but here are Blair's last 3 games:

11-13 FG, 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

6-15 FG, 16 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

2-4 FG, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, in 11 minutes of play

Tonight, he had:

5-9 FG, 11 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal

Blair would have provided that post scoring option that we all hoped JT and Hawes might be, and he was there for the taking. Whether Blair remains durable enough for a 82 game season is yet to be seen, but what is clear is that Brockman will forever be a role player ala Pollard or Jeff Foster, and there's nothing wrong with that, but Blair has the potential to be a big man who can rebound and score very well and the Kings passed on him. Yes, so did other teams, but other teams aren't the Kings. It's GP's job to get the best talent in the draft, because this is the worst team in the entire league.

 

[icp3425]

We all will probably like Brockman as a hustle player who leaves everything on the court, and his effort and toughness is something this team needs, but did GP, as well as other teams, make a mistake by taking Blair's knees too seriously?

His health and durability is one reason why he fell so far, but talent was never the issue with Blair. I know it's just preseason, but here are Blair's last 3 games:

11-13 FG, 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

6-15 FG, 16 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

2-4 FG, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, in 11 minutes of play

Right now, he is playing against Griffin and the Clippers, and he has at this point:

4-5 FG, 8 points, and 7 rebounds in 15 minutes.

Blair would have provided that post scoring option that we all hoped JT and Hawes might be, and he was there for the taking. Whether Blair remains durable enough for a 82 game season is yet to be seen, but what is clear is that Brockman will forever be a role player ala Pollard or Jeff Foster, and there's nothing wrong with that, but Blair has the potential to be a big man who can rebound and score very well and the Kings passed on him. Yes, so did other teams, but other teams aren't the Kings. It's GP's job to get the best talent in the draft, because this is the worst team in the entire league.

We got Brock with Portland's 38th pick. Blair was drafted 37th by the spurs, so he wasn't there for us. We could have kept the 31st and picked him or taken him at 23 though

 

[Showtime]

We got Brock with Portland's 38th pick. Blair was drafted 37th by the spurs, so we would have either had to keep the 31st and draft him or take him at 23.

Kings had the 31st pick, and dealt it to Portland for Sergio. GP assumed nobody was going to be there, and that assumption was probably the wrong course of action. Sergio probably won't do much here in Sacramento, and wont' be a long term solution to the point position. Brockman could be another Corliss type hustle forward, but only time will tell if Blair will more valuable than both.

 

[Bricklayer]

yes, I have noted Blair's preseason as well, but as icp mentioned we lost him before the draft when we made the Sergio trade (which looked reasonable at the time). Sam Young is also in that same boat, and has looked good too. As has Chase Budinger, who actually was there at our pick but of course plays the same position as everybody else on our roster.

 

[Showtime]

but as icp mentioned we lost him before the draft when we made the Sergio trade (which looked reasonable at the time).

That's another point. Beno last season was inconsistent, and at times just plain bad. He regressed, and that once again brought GP's feet to the fire with the length of his deal. The point position needed strengthening, but like so many other moves, GP got a mediocre player as a temporary patch. Sergio, Beno, Moore, SAR are just the more recent names, with a player like Mason being yet another one.

What was so difficult about pursuing Bobby Jackson for a minimum deal for another year while they develop Evans? Jackson has said he wanted to play, but he didn't want another season like last season's struggle. But if nobody else was calling, I could see him trying to play one more season. Even if they couldn't get him, what about putting the ball in the hands of Evans right away instead of finding a PG filler? Really, what is the point of adding Sergio? So he can motivate Beno? I like him, but he's not going to do much to improve this team. It was yet another temporary 'patch' move that cost the team a very promising player in the draft.

 

[Kings Faithful]

A draft of Evans, Casspi, and Blair would have been pretty sweet... although I like Brockman. Still... Blair is ripping it up out their.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

I've never liked Brockman--typical case of good college player, but there's a reason he stayed four years. I even find it hard to see a Reggie Evans scenario, although to this point he's done decently in summer league, showing some ability to get to the line and rebound--will that carry over to the regular season?. Some players relying on pure grit and little talent have made small careers--Chuck Hayes, Ryan Bowen come to mind--but those were good defensive players, and I find it hard to fathom that Brockman will not be incinerated on the defensive end. We'll see.

As for Blair, he's great for the now and is a ready-to-produce rookie, and he'll do extremely well as a scorer/rebounder of sorts--particularly the rebounding, look for him to get 15-20 rebounds at ease some nights, really, as he did in preseason. But scout's belief is that his body will give way within a time frame of 5 years...but that would have been well worth it anyway had we gotten him with either our #23 or #31st picks.

 

[Merdiesel]

I'd take Blair over Brockman and Sergio any day of the week. Guy has a chance to be really good.

 

[Telemachus]

I'd take Blair over Brockman and Sergio any day of the week. Guy has a chance to be really good.

Anybody on this board who claims they thought Blair would be there at #31 is full of hot air. Most experts and mock drafts had him going before our 23rd pick.

I find it ludicrius to second guess a trade made before the trade that kept us from getting a player NO one thought would fall to that spot in the draft. Are we now expecting Petrie to be able to see into the future?

 

[dbfish]

Blair/ Brockman

If we would have taken Blair I think he would be getting regular minutes. Even with the questions about his knees I would have taken him at #23.
I don't have that same confidence with Brockman.

 

[bajaden]

Folks, Blair may well end up being the next Barkley. Or, he may end up playing 35 or 40 games a year. While still being the next Barkley. Look, the draft is to a certain degree a crap shoot. It becomes more of a crap shoot when you pick players that may be prone to injuries.. Petrie has taken a certain amount of criticism for taking Hawes because of his previous knee surgery. So far so good where Hawes is concerned. But if he were to go down with a bad knee, I'm sure the boo birds will be out in fashion.

This was a trade made before the draft. Petrie obviously wanted some insurance at the point. He had tried to aquire Sergio before. So when the opportunity came up, he grabbed it. As stated earlier, I doubt anyone thought that Blair would slide that far. I know I didn't. I didn't think Sam Young would slide that far either.

This was an important draft for the Kings. I doubt that the FO was about to take a gamble on a player with two surgeries on his knee's. I know that some think this is the time to gamble, but in a sense we did gamble with Casspi. A safer pick at that spot would have been Young, a player I really liked. I could name about five players that would have been safer picks than Casspi.

So the truth is, that if Blair stays healthy, the team that drafted him got a player, that without the knee history, would have been a lottery pick. And they got him in the second round. They got lucky. If Brockman can eventually give us 15 to 20 minutes a night and grab 6 to 7 rebounds in that time, then we got what we wanted in our second round pick. Whats done is done, and the rest is nothing more than subjective speculation. Its fun to do. Believe me, I did it when we drafted Joe Kleine instead of Karl Malone. But it didn't change a damm thing. And after a while, its like poking an open sore. It'll never heal.

 

[KingsCitizen]

It's a good note but mind you that Griffin and Jordan, both legit size big men pitted against Blair seems to have a good nights also.

Blair is doing good this preseason but his previous stellar games were against the 6'7" PFs of the Beasly(MIA) and Landry(HOU), who seems to have good outing too.

Though I expect him to continue playing good in a Spurs uniform. I don't think he will be the same in a Kings Uniform. HELL! Matt "the Red Head" Bonner even rallied for Most Improved Player award playing beside the Tim Duncans of the World.

 

[Kingsguy881]

It's a good note but mind you that Griffin and Jordan, both legit size big men pitted against Blair seems to have a good nights also.

Blair is doing good this preseason but his previous stellar games were against the 6'7" PFs of the Beasly(MIA) and Landry(HOU), who seems to have good outing too.

Though I expect him to continue playing good in a Spurs uniform. I don't think he will be the same in a Kings Uniform. HELL! Matt "the Red Head" Bonner even rallied for Most Improved Player award playing beside the Tim Duncans of the World.

You do raise a valid point here. Tim beats up opposing players, both mentally and physically. He mentally hurts you by being so damn stoic, yet whipping your *** the entire time all the while still acting like he doesn't so much care that he's doing it yet pushes you around and makes you jump at his fakes and still looks like he doesn't give a crap whats going on.

So I'm not too surprised that Blair is going off, I am alarmed at how well he is going off. Even Tyreke is still trying to let the game come to him but Blair is grabbing it by the cajones.

Still, in the situation Petrie was in, Sergio was insurance against Beno completely shriveling up, Reke is the man you are going for because you think he can be a star, Casspi is pretty much a surefire athletic Hedo. You pretty much don't have your sights set on Blair because he should be gone by your last pick. So you scout this guy Brockman because you feel he will probably be available when you (Blazers) pick.

 

[beb0p]

I like Blair, he is a steal for where he was picked. But at the end of the day, we're talking about a PF who is just a little over 6'-5 in bare feet. There are two great undersized PF in my lifetime; one is Larry Johnson and you know who the other one is. They were great leapers and have range out to three point land. They were matchup nightmares, being too quick for the PF and too strong for the SF. Blair, on the other hand, is neither athletic nor a good shooter. He has one trick - his strength and I don't think any PF can be great with just one trick. Thus, I see him as a good backup/spot starter, a matchup guy and a role player thru and thru.

Sure it would have been nice to have Blair but I won't cry over missing out on an undersized backup PF.

Also, I think getting Sean May, who I think has the same ceiling as Blair, essentially makes up for losing Blair. If we drafted Blair then May would not come here. I see a package of Sergio/Brockman/May > Blair.

 

[Sac.1989]

brockmans defied my expectations and whilst blair would have been great im backing brock to be a key contributor. All our rookies are going to be great

 

[Oprostaj]

I like Blair, he is a steal for where he was picked. But at the end of the day, we're talking about a PF who is just a little over 6'-5 in bare feet. There are two great undersized PF in my lifetime; one is Larry Johnson and you know who the other one is. They were great leapers and have range out to three point land. They were matchup nightmares, being too quick for the PF and too strong for the SF. Blair, on the other hand, is neither athletic nor a good shooter. He has one trick - his strength and I don't think any PF can be great with just one trick. Thus, I see him as a good backup/spot starter, a matchup guy and a role player thru and thru.

Agreed. I love Blair's heart, hustle and toughness - you can't teach any of those. However, the guy is always going to be undersized, and any team that employs him at PF will always be at a disadvantage. However, look out when this guy gets off the bench. Like a mack freaking truck. Not crying over losing out on him since the knee issues will always be there. Let's see what kind of numbers he's putting in after 60 games of grinding it out.

 

[Showtime]

Anybody on this board who claims they thought Blair would be there at #31 is full of hot air. Most experts and mock drafts had him going before our 23rd pick.

I find it ludicrius to second guess a trade made before the trade that kept us from getting a player NO one thought would fall to that spot in the draft. Are we now expecting Petrie to be able to see into the future?

It's the GM's job to make those calls. Your post implies that we know as much as GP about that draft, so that also implies we all could be GM's, which is ridiculous. He's paid a lot of money to know more than we know and make those decisions, and anybody who makes mock drafts for that matter.

I'm just tired of watching the lower picks end up bad ones. Douby > Rondo...

 

[Kingster]

We all will probably like Brockman as a hustle player who leaves everything on the court, and his effort and toughness is something this team needs, but did GP, as well as other teams, make a mistake by taking Blair's knees too seriously?

His health and durability is one reason why he fell so far, but talent was never the issue with Blair. I know it's just preseason, but here are Blair's last 3 games:

11-13 FG, 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

6-15 FG, 16 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

2-4 FG, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, in 11 minutes of play

Tonight, he had:

5-9 FG, 11 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal

Blair would have provided that post scoring option that we all hoped JT and Hawes might be, and he was there for the taking. Whether Blair remains durable enough for a 82 game season is yet to be seen, but what is clear is that Brockman will forever be a role player ala Pollard or Jeff Foster, and there's nothing wrong with that, but Blair has the potential to be a big man who can rebound and score very well and the Kings passed on him. Yes, so did other teams, but other teams aren't the Kings. It's GP's job to get the best talent in the draft, because this is the worst team in the entire league.

I really wanted Blair. Making the trade for Sergio precluded us from drafting him. A lot of people on this board didn't like him, but I think he's a flat out STEAL for San Antonio. He will be awesome for them coming off the bench. And if you are the Spurs, how concerned are you really about the long term for Blair? You want to win now because of the age of your team. At least when we play the Spurs we can put Brockman on him. There's nobody else that comes close to his stength on the Kings.

 

[kennadog]

It's the GM's job to make those calls. Your post implies that we know as much as GP about that draft, so that also implies we all could be GM's, which is ridiculous. He's paid a lot of money to know more than we know and make those decisions, and anybody who makes mock drafts for that matter.

I'm just tired of watching the lower picks end up bad ones. Douby > Rondo...

Douby was bad. But if you can name more than that, I'd say that's a great record. Besides, if any other team thought Blair would be as good as it appears he might be (too soon to tell) then 30 other teams would have snapped him up and he wouldn't have been available at 31. I guess the GMs of all the teams in the league are as bad as you think GP is.

 

[bajaden]

It's the GM's job to make those calls. Your post implies that we know as much as GP about that draft, so that also implies we all could be GM's, which is ridiculous. He's paid a lot of money to know more than we know and make those decisions, and anybody who makes mock drafts for that matter.

I'm just tired of watching the lower picks end up bad ones. Douby > Rondo...

Please spare me Douby = Rondo. I'm tired of hearing it. Petrie's record in the draft is as good as anyone's in the league, and you know it. But you persist in constantly bringing up Douby. I agree with you!!! OK!! But it certainly doesn't represent his history.

As far as knowing more than Petrie. No, I don't pretend to know more than Petrie, because I don't have the resourses that he has. However, were now looking back with hindsight and in doing so, it appears that everyone in the league thought the same way about Blair that Petrie did. I don't think people on this fourm disliked Blair. I just think they looked at him as a risk. And those fears may yet be realized. I liked Blair a lot. But I'm not sure I would have risked a first round pick on him.

And if we had, and he then went down with a knee injury, how many people do you think would be calling for Petrie's head for making such a stupid move when all the warning signs were there. So we chose Brockman. And what was the first thing people criticised. His height! Blair is shorter than Brockman, but his height is OK? Hey, I don't make as big a deal about height as some do. I'm a believer that if you can play, then you can play. But critic's come from all directions and from all points of view and certainly some have merit.

I'm certainly not wishing for anything bad to happen to Blair..If he stays healthy and continues to play the same way then the Spur's got lucky. But its way too early to tell. Fortuantely for Blair he doesn't have to play against Duncan. But it will be interesting to see how he fares agains some of the taller players in the league. In the meantime, I'm going to root for Brockman to end up being a better player than Blair.

 

[Bricklayer]

On the one hand, while I will have to see Brockman in action, I rather suspect that Blair will bounce him around the paint the way he does everybody else -- there is power, and then there is power, and some people just have a gift. This was what I was saying last spring when people were all "look at Blair push around Thabeet" yadda yadda. My response then and now is that Balir will push around just about anyone, in any league, anywhere in the world. He is one of the most powerful players in the world, at any size.

On the other hand I also argued against using a high pick to get him precisely for the reasons some have stated: 6'5ish/6'6ish groundbound PF. There is no history of success for that combination in the NBA (nor for our own 6'7ish groundbound pick). I was definitely hoping he would somehow slip to us at #37 though. Would have loved to taken that flier at that pick.

In any case though you can't argue against his success thus far in the games that don't matter -- in the first 4 games of the preseason he is averaging 16.9pts and 9.3rebs in 20.8min . He is taking that 6'5ish/6'6ish label and in typical fashion, jamming it right down the throats of his doubters. You gotta love the attitude, and its something we could use a lot more of around here. But the thing that will always, always be a major red flag with a guy with those physical characteristics, no matter how effective he can play bully ball on offense and the boards, is defense. He's short, groundbound, too slow to cover the perimeter -- he may beat the crap out of people, but he's never going to be able to stop anybdy. People will shoot over him, go around him, and generally put a lot of pressure on him to beat them up the other way just to keep up.

 

[Chupacabra]

The only guy i would have liked the Kings to get instead of brockman with that pick was Blair. For being similar types of players id say Blair has the superior skillset. Im positive the reason Brockman was picked ahead of Blair was Brockmans shooting touch and Blairs lack there of.

 

[Chupacabra]

I will say that Brockman brings a major plus to the team in Screen setting, midrange shooting, and rebounding. The only thing in question is his defensive ability. He still has plenty of time to prove himself.

 

[SacTownKid]

I've seen both Blair and Brockman extensively in college, Brockman will more than hold his own in the post on D. Blair is easily the better talent however. One part of his game that is way underrated is his passing, I think he has the potential to easily be a 2-3 apg player.

 

[Lafayette]

It doesn't matter beacuse what's done is done. We are just fine with Brockman, he's a brute.

 

[Oprostaj]

Im positive the reason Brockman was picked ahead of Blair was Brockmans shooting touch and Blairs lack there of.

after what Blair has shown so far, Brockman better turn into Ray Allen if that's what the justification is

 

['89 Kings Fan]

I criticize Petrie as much as anyone, but it is ridiculous to second guess him not taking the 6'5" PF with no ACLs before the season even starts. Has anyone ever played in the NBA without ACLs on both knees? I know it has been done in football and baseball, but it seems even more important in basketball.

 

[bajaden]

The only guy i would have liked the Kings to get instead of brockman with that pick was Blair. For being similar types of players id say Blair has the superior skillset. Im positive the reason Brockman was picked ahead of Blair was Brockmans shooting touch and Blairs lack there of.

Ummm, Brockman wasn't picked ahead of Blair. Blair was picked by the Spur's one pick before the Kings picked Brockman. So the Kings never had a chance to pick or pass on Blair. That is unless you want to count our second first round pick. Or say that we shouldn't have made the deal with Portland before the draft trading the 31st pick for Sergio.

 

[kennadog]

Ummm, Brockman wasn't picked ahead of Blair. Blair was picked by the Spur's one pick before the Kings picked Brockman. So the Kings never had a chance to pick or pass on Blair. That is unless you want to count our second first round pick. Or say that we shouldn't have made the deal with Portland before the draft trading the 31st pick for Sergio.

And we got Sergio and Brockman for our 31st pick.

 

[kingsnation]

I would've rather had Blair. I like Brock alot, but I think Blair has way more potential. As far as Sergio, he is just a quick fix rental anyways.