Who should the Portland Trail Blazers take if they land in the lottery?
By Ty Delbridge
Let’s say the Portland Trail Blazers don’t turn this season around and end up with one of the worst records in the NBA. Who should they look at in the top half of the NBA draft?
The Portland Trail Blazers have gotten off to a slow start to the 2019-20 NBA season. There was a good amount of hype surrounding this team after they made it to the Western Conference Finals last season and they haven’t quite lived up to those expectations.
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Portland did lose six players from last year’s squad, so they are attempting to work in new players into the system and culture in Portland and it’s taking longer than some thought. The Blazers brought in Carmelo Anthony to help at the forward spots and to add some offensive talent around the team’s stars.
Now there is still a ton of time left in this NBA season and the Blazers are talented enough — they have Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum — to turn this thing around and get the season back on track.
The new guys on the team are starting to figure it out and Portland can also be hopeful because their young star center, Jusuf Nurkic, should be healthy and returning to game action in a few months. This team could be fine and could be in the top five in the West heading into the playoffs.
But let’s say the Blazers don’t turn it around. The Carmelo Anthony gamble doesn’t work out, another core player gets hurt, Hassan Whiteside starts acting up like he did in Miami and the season goes downhill. In that scenario, the Blazers should turn their focus to the NBA Draft.
They own all of their first-round picks going forward and could possibly look to trade the expiring contracts of Whiteside or Kent Bazemore expiring contract for another pick. This is what they did in 2017 before packaging multiple picks in order to move up and select Zach Collins with the 10th overall pick.
Portland hasn’t been a lottery team since 2013, when they selected McCollum 10th overall. This 2019-20 season might be the year they re-enter.
The 2020 draft class that is coming out is not super deep or a star-studded class like he have seen in past years. But there are still plenty of young, talented players. Every year as well we have a player or two break out during the college season and make themselves an NBA prospect (such as Ja Morant last year)
The Blazers’ organization has been used to success during the regular season and don’t have to worry about the big-name players usually. This might be the year people in Portland start paying attention to college basketball, March Madness and every mock draft that comes till the day of the draft.
So, If the Blazers end up having a poor season and are selecting in the lottery, here are a few names they should hope they can choose come draft night.