International Prospect Stories with the Trail Blazers: Batum, Fernandez, Ibaka, Mills, & Freeland

Working in the NBA

Last week, I talked about the rise up of International players in the Olympics along with a tale of Victor Claver & Will Barton. 

This week, I’m going to take a look at some other international storylines we had through my years with the Trail Blazers including Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum, Serge Ibaka, Patty Mills, and Joel Freeland.

In 2007, the Portland Trail Blazers traded cash to the Phoenix Suns for James Jones and the 24^th Pick in the Draft, Rudy Fernandez. 

The addition of James Jones in the deal was a bit of cap wizardry from Assistant General Manager Tom Penn, one of the original cap specialists in the League.  

At the time, Phoenix was notorious for selling draft picks and the Trail Blazers were whatever the opposite is of notorious for buying draft picks. 

One of the reasons I credit such sustainable success to the Trail Blazers organization under the ownership of Paul Allen was that he looked for and was willing to pay for every advantage possible.  If he could buy a pick, he was buying it.  You can see a direct correlation with the franchise and his passing.  As a small to mid-market, you don’t have the advantage of attracting elite talent to your team.  You have to draft and develop.  Drafting and developing both come with a cost as well.  From the ability to buy picks and take more ‘swings’ and the development piece of investing in the right people and infrastructure to build a winning culture.   

At this point in the Trail Blazers franchise and the scope of the NBA, teams were looking at the San Antonio Spurs model.  Duncan and Parker with an elite 6^th man in Ginobili. 

For the Trail Blazers, we would have Aldridge and Roy…and Oden!, along with our elite 6^th man Rudy Fernandez. 

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Things did not work out as we hoped.  Oden and Roy faced continual injury issues and Rudy wasn’t looking to be a 6^th man.  He wanted to start.  And unfortunately, that role was always going to be Brandon Roy’s.  In the current context of more positionless basketball, you could easily see a backcourt of Roy and Fernandez but at this time in the landscape of the NBA, they played the same position.

The Rudy project never worked as we had hoped.  He ended up being sent to Denver in a trade that landed the Trail Blazers… Raymond Felton.

Nicolas Batum:

I was walking through the Trail Blazers Practice Facility on New Year’s Eve when the GM, Kevin Pritchard, came in.  “What are you doing here?  Getting some extra hours in breaking film down?!”  I was a bit nervous as a new Intern, “Yes, I am.”  He asked, “Who do you like?”  This was a dream come true in itself, an NBA GM asking me who I like.  I responded, “Bottom.”  He goes, “Bottom?  Batum?!”  Me, “Yes, Batum.”

On Draft Day, we were locked in on two International players, Nicolas Batum and Serge Ibaka.  We wanted to make sure we got one of them and we knew the Spurs were looking to do the same.