Portland Trail Blazers: 5 reasons Zach Collins was a good pick

2. The Blazers needed to move a pick

Having the second-highest payroll in the NBA, three first round picks, and essentially nothing but the eighth seed in the Western Conference to show for it, you would think NBA fans understood that there was no way the Portland Trail Blazers could keep all three picks — or at least have them all on the roster this upcoming season.

In case you didn’t know, the Blazers were NEVER going to keep all three picks. Portland’s best-case scenario would have involved trading away one of their first-rounders as part of a salary dump. Ideally, that trade would have involved getting rid of Meyers Leonard and his absolutely horrific contract.

The Blazers also could have added a pick or two in a package for Paul George or Jimmy Butler, which some could actually argue had a better chance of happening than finding someone to take Leonard and his contract. Still, unlikely.

So, Neil Olshey did the next best thing, packaging a pair of picks to move up into the lottery to select the guy they had originally targeted going into the draft.

Sure, the Blazers could have just picked up Justin Jackson at 15 or Harry Giles at 20 and just chosen to draft-and-stash a guy overseas, but why pass on a guy you wanted in the first place for some international dude you’ve never even given a second thought?

NO ONE in their right mind would have taken Leonard’s atrocious contract — regardless of what was attached to it. The Blazers traded their pick, moved up into the lottery, got their guy at the slot he was expected to go, and solidified their short-term future in the West.

Seems like a win-win situation to me.