Josh

**BlueDevilBaby** · 06-28-2007, 11:03 PM

Goes to Portland. He may do all right with Oden, being a forward with Oden. Best of luck

**A-Tex Devil** · 06-28-2007, 11:06 PM

Front line of Oden, Aldridge and McRoberts. Roy at point. Hell, maybe even Stevie Francis can contribute a bit. That team could be good.

**gep** · 06-28-2007, 11:09 PM

Maybe Josh plays better when he's not the main go-to guy, and the main man on the team... like his freshman year. So, maybe with Oden, he'll work out just fine...

**VaDukie** · 06-28-2007, 11:11 PM

Bilas made the point that he made his reputation as a high school player in part because of his performance on the AAU team with Oden; I think it may be for the best and hopefully like Boozer, Duhon, and Ewing he makes his mark and gets a good contract sooner than others.

**WeepingThomasHill** · 06-28-2007, 11:12 PM

if you think McRoberts is going to start with Oden and Aldridge. McRoberts will need to bring something special to even make the team. He is going to need to beat out the cagey Raef LaFrentz for bench minutes.

**crote** · 06-28-2007, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by A-Tex Devil

Front line of Oden, Aldridge and McRoberts. Roy at point.

They also brought in Channing Frye in the Randolph deal and the Spanish guy Fernandez from the Suns. That's a really potent group of young bigs.

**A-Tex Devil** · 06-28-2007, 11:14 PM

I was half joking. But it looks like he's gonna be a sixer now.

Edited to say -- ESPN is confusing me. There was a "T" by his pick. NOw it's gone. Still a BLazer

**Saratoga2** · 06-28-2007, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by WeepingThomasHill

if you think McRoberts is going to start with Oden and Aldridge. McRoberts will need to bring something special to even make the team. He is going to need to beat out the cagey Raef LaFrentz for bench minutes.

I agree, Josh will have his hands full getting playing time for Portland. Dropping to 37 was quite a fall for him, as he would have been taken much earlier had he come out last year. You can see now how NBA scouts and coaches rated him. Many more power forwards were taken ahead of him. He will have to improve significantly to earn playing time at the NBA level. He was an intense player for Duke and for that I thank him and wish him well going forward.

**lavell12** · 06-28-2007, 11:30 PM

Portland will trade either Josh, Fyre, or Aldridge for an experienced Point Guard.

**phaedrus** · 06-28-2007, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by gep

Maybe Josh plays better when he's not the main go-to guy, and the main man on the team... like his freshman year. So, maybe with Oden, he'll work out just fine...

13 points, 7.9 boards, 3.5 assists, 2.5 blocks, 50.2% from the field in 35 minutes sophomore year.

8.7 points, 5.3 boards, 1.5 assists, 1.3 blocks, 60.5% from the field in 25 minutes freshman year.

which year looks better to you?

**mjones723** · 06-28-2007, 11:58 PM

I hate that he fell that far, but perhaps if he had hit a LAYUP AT ANY MOMENT ALL YEAR he would have gone higher.

**RockyMtDevil** · 06-28-2007, 11:58 PM

Who was telling Josh he was a first rounder? this could be one of the worst, see Will Avery, Duke draft moves in recent years. Josh simply is not that great of a player and it proved itself out tonight. he's a freakishly crazy athlete, but you actually need to put that round ball in the bucket every once in a while to play in the nba...I'm not surprised at all that a guy who cannot shot, who seems to have an attitude problem, and doesn't have a set position was selected as a dark horse in round two.

What is scary is, how can he get any better in the nba? Nobody gets better in the league. 3 years and he may be out if he is lucky.

**gep** · 06-29-2007, 12:00 AM

phaedrus... thanks a bunch for the stats. I was just going on "gut feel" of what was expected vs what was accomplished between freshman and sophomore years. He wasn't expected much as a freshman, but did well. He was expected to be the man as a sophomore, and by most accounts, was a disappointment... even if his stats were better...

**DavidBenAkiva** · 06-29-2007, 12:00 AM

That's a really young front line!

What is the situation with Darius Miles? Is he still with Portland?

I feel bad for Josh, but I doubt that he'll have trouble contributing. The trailblazers have assembled a team that will have Oden, Aldridge, Channing Frye, Raef Lafrentz, Joel Pryzbila and Josh McRoberts. Except for Lafrentz, those guys are all young and very tall. McRoberts may be the second-best defender of the group and he's certainly going to bring some skills that the others do not. With Oden and Aldridge planted down low, I can see McRoberts racking up the assists, blocks, and offensive rebounds that will make him very useful.

It's amazing to think back to the Goergetown game where McRoberts did an excellent job defending Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, who was taken #5 overall and now watching him fall all the way to the second round. I think that the lesson about Duke players being good pros hasn't really been "learned" by the NBA, but we can only wait and see... Sean Williams at #17?!?!? That was really stupid...

**gep** · 06-29-2007, 12:02 AM