I'm sorry to see Viktor Kryapa go, as he will continue to develop and become a fine player in the Jerome Kersey mold. Otherwise, this was a great draft day for the Blazers. Aldridge and Roy were the only two players I liked in this draft, and Portland got both of them.

It won't blossom next year. In the fall, the Blazers will still have to deal with Darius and Zach. Roy may be NBA ready, but he will have to earn his way into the line-up with Martell, Jared Jack, Steve Black and Juan Dixon all ahead of him initially. But by the fall of 2008, we could have a team of real solid guys on the floor: Jack, Roy, Webster (at the 3, maybe bulked up a bit), Aldridge and Pryzbilla, who might want to stick around now that the team has some hope. Or Randolph may get with the program and keep his starting job.

It seems that Nate McMillan had a lot of say in who got drafted and traded. Let's only hope he can figure out a way to get rid of Miles.

Adam Morrison makes an interesting contrast with the foreign- er, international players. It's like the Blazers have decided to avoid their past clashes with american urban culture by going overseas.

Personally I always like the Blazer's using real, local folks in the starting line-up, but maybe that's an example of a mindset that has left the team in a rut. Ultimately, even if they do make good choices now, the fan experience won't improve until it isn't managed by people that think the Microsoft business model is good for consumers. I find the Blazer fan experince and the Windows user experience to be virtually identical. So it's not much of a surprise that the management could wheel and deal if they actually cared about the outcome, but it'll probably take selling the team and arena to someone like Cuban before we'll see a sea change in the team.

I also think they made some decent picks. Roy is supposed to be quite good so that's exciting. I don't mind them going with more local players (Roy, Dickau). I think they should scoop up Portlander Aaron Miles from the development league to add another. I thought Miles did pretty good backing up Baron Davis last year and don't really understand why GS stopped playing him and then cut him in January.

They should give him a chance. He was a great kid, too.

What is this ESPN.com? Who cares? What do the Blazers have to do with progressive politics?

Apparently, we won the legislature and the governorship. The war is over. We all have family-wage jobs, excellent education, comprehensive healthcare, and secure retirement. So, yes, lets use this site to babble about the Blazers.

Here's what I want. For the Blazers to settle on a core set of players whose skills will improve over time. And who don't always act like jerks and speed and get in the headlines for drugs. That's all. A core of 8 folks or so, and make a few changes, so we can learn to care about the players over time.

Hopefully this crew can be that.

I agree with Norm. C'mon, guys - find a different place to discuss sports, I really don't see the relationship.

I think the Blazers are on the right track here. Now we just got to get rid of Miles and Randolph. It's going to be an interesting next couple of weeks.

It's easy to criticize, in hind-sight, the pick of Bowie over Jordan, but in '84 the Blazers were already loaded with talent at the guard position. Sure, the duo of Drexler and Jordan (as it turned out) would have been the greatest pairing of all time, but in '84 the Blazers needed a center, and Bowie looked like the best there was that year. There have been plenty of highly-touted draft picks that were busts in the pros. I, for one, am tired of hanging the Bowie albatross around the Blazers' neck every year.

I love Jack Ramsey, but the Bowie pick was a major mistake. Imagine, if you will, Drexler and Jordan starting with Porter spelling either off the bench. Jeesh! Opposing guards would have been in tears by game's end.

Jeff Alworth: "...Is it a suprise that Portland is the largest city with only a single sports team, or part of the fabric of a state that produced the bottle bill and has unrestricted access to its beaches?"

It seems most professional teams need some sort of taxpayer support in the form of a facility. So, it's not surprising that Portlanders and Oregonians have refrained from not supporting a non-essential hobby.

I seriously question the "institutional power" the Blazers supposedly have in this community. Its poor ticket and luxury suite sales reflect the Blazers' lack of significance.

I think the real purpose of Blue Oregon is to debate about whether to debate about Sports. (And if someone replies to this, then the purpose will be to debate about whether to debate about whether to debate about sports.)

For my part I think that every post on any blog should come with it a requirement to canvass or make calls for a candidate.

My other thought is that I think that there were 8 good players in this draft worth having.

I'm not sure who will be the best among Aldridge, Morrison, Bargnani, Williams, Foye, Roy, Gay, and Tyrus Thomas. (By the way, "Foye Roy Gay" should be the musical notes of some other country: "Doe ray mi fah so Foye Roy Gay") But I predict there will at least be 4 or 5 all-stars among that crew -- and probably one or two greats or near-greats. So the Blazers rolling the dice twice in that group was smart.

My buddy at the Blazers front office never tells me anything -- seriously, he lets me know less than the newspaper...he won't even confirm public informat...it's almost hilarious. At the Bus Gala, I said two words: "LeMarcus Aldridge" -- he didn't even flinch. But his crew did good this year.

I'm changing my name to LeJefferson.

Analogues: Roy -- Caron Butler, an inch less strong, two inches better handle. Aldridge -- a middle-class man's Chris Bosh (with few clicks less freakish athletic ability)

If Martell Webster pans out into a better-off-a-screen Glen Rice, Jarrett Jack develops into Terry Porter, and if they can add another Big piece (winning the Geg Oden lottery next year?), then there is hope in Blazer land 3 years from now. 48 hours ago...I had no such hope.

Of course, with the contracts of Zach Randolph and Darius Miles, we could be doomed regardless.

Do you think this is what it used to be like to be a Clippers fan?

The Blazers had a fantastic draft!

My sleeper is Utah who picked up Brewer, Arkansas and Dee Brown, Illinois, both who will be playing along side Dee's former team mate Deron Williams who had a fantastic rookie year. Those three guards playing on any other team would turn out to be average, but playing under Jerry Sloan they will all shine!

Here is a cultural critique.

Pro sports are corporate sports. They are passive. They suck money, resources and the life out of a community. What a better place Portland would be if we took their $100 million dollar payroll and created sports and activity leagues for kids and adults alike.

Just say no to corporate entertainment!

Pro sports are corporate sports. They are passive. They suck money, resources and the life out of a community. What a better place Portland would be if we took their $100 million dollar payroll and created sports and activity leagues for kids and adults alike.

Last I checked, the United States isn't a socialist government with nationalized sports teams. Of course pro sports are corporate, there isn't an alternative. Maybe Paul Allen would love to spend $100 million on kids and adults as a philanthropist... but I've seen nothing to suggest so. Maybe we shouldn't be so enamored with pro sports, or other entertainment - but many people are. In fact, it is even worse in England - just try to go around without people asking who you're going for in the UEFA Cup this year. "Will it be Chelsea or Arsenal this year?" "What do you think of the hiring of Shevchenko?" People easily rally around sports, whether in joy or to complain - and it is one of the few places in society where strangers find it easy to establish a common ground. As a life-long Oregonian who has watched the Blazers as long as I can remember, I can personally recall many bonding moments with friends and family revolving around our Blazers squad - in glory and in anguish. In fact, no one loved to hate our Jail Blazers squad of a few years ago more than my friends and me.

What price should a society pay to tap into a cultural identity and to watch the best athletes in the world compete? Without pro league sports, what do we lose? Are pro-sports truly antithetical to life?

And, despite how much money professional sports take from the community, how much of that money would still be there for social programs in the absence of professional sports?

There are costs and benefits to professional sport teams, and I will suggest that the benefits are difficult to impossible to measure by merely looking at spending figures. Much more goes on between a community and its team than filling stadiums, buying hotdogs and jerseys, and watching television. It lets people dream, come together, and inspires people to try to achieve their true potential (whether in their favorite sport or in other aspects of life). Maybe sports stars shouldn't be our heroes; but, if you've noticed lately, politicans aren't that inspiring these days and no-one has gone to the moon in a very long time.

And by the way, I think the Blazers had a excellent draft.