Portland Trail Blazers

The more I look at, listen to and think of the many different ways us Blazer fans have attempted to come up with a way for our team to make it out of the slums and into contention, the more i don't see it... At least not in this off season alone. I keep trying to think WWND, as in "What Will Neal Do". The man is being paid to do this, to mold this team into a respectable contender and to do it quickly, but how? What we know right now is he has Aldridge as a pillar and Batum and Wes as quality players, he got very lucky with Dame last draft and Leonard's value is still TBD, plus the #10 pick, $13mill (ish) in cap and the rest is scraps. That's it, those are the cards in his poker hand, he's got "Two Pair" (and not even a good two pair, its like King's and 7's) and Neil is trying to draw a few cards to turn "Two Pair" into a "Full House". He has to find a way to turn our 5th card into another "King" and maybe our 7's into "Jacks" (I still think Batum has the potential to be a "Jack" btw)..... What im getting at, I guess, is that with the ideas of going after players like Gortat, Tyreke, Pekovick, Splitter, Reddick, Mayo, O'neal, Brewer or in the draft Gortat, McCollum, Dieng, Adams, Shabazz that have been thrown out there as solutions, I don't see the Blazer's "Full House".... So this leads me to my question WWND, What Will Neil Do! What does our fearless leader have in mind, what is his master plan? Is its some combination of the players we have all mentioned? is it acquisition, acquisition, acquisition and then turn those pieces into something worth trading in 2014? Or is it something we cant see, something we cant fathom, a trade that we wouldn't believe possible until we saw the player we got in return actually in a Blazer's uniform?? So what im asking is for you to put on your Neil Olshey big boy pants and suspenders, slick back your luscious Olshey hair, find your inner Neil salesman and hit us with your 'WWND mind blowing I cant believe that was his plan" plan! Maybe you have a new/better combination of the players that have been floated around in the past. Maybe you have a trade that could land us enough picks to grab Oladipo at #5, Dieng at #17 and someone like Giannis Adetokunbo (freak prospect if u havent looked) at #28 all at once without loosing 3 of our 4 best players! Or maybe you can find something just crazy enough that it could happen. Bottom line, find that poker hand that's a "full house"! Make it work financially (or roughly work if you don't know the exact cap numbers) and if you have a plan that spans over two seasons make sure you break it down season by season.... The more I look at, listen to and think of the many different ways us Blazer fans have attempted to come up with a way for our team to make it out of the slums and into contention, the more i don't see it... At least not in this off season alone. I keep trying to think WWND, as in "What Will Neal Do". The man is being paid to do this, to mold this team into a respectable contender and to do it quickly, but how? What we know right now is he has Aldridge as a pillar and Batum and Wes as quality players, he got very lucky with Dame last draft and Leonard's value is still TBD, plus the #10 pick, $13mill (ish) in cap and the rest is scraps. That's it, those are the cards in his poker hand, he's got "Two Pair" (and not even a good two pair, its like King's and 7's) and Neil is trying to draw a few cards to turn "Two Pair" into a "Full House". He has to find a way to turn our 5th card into another "King" and maybe our 7's into "Jacks" (I still think Batum has the potential to be a "Jack" btw)..... What im getting at, I guess, is that with the ideas of going after players like Gortat, Tyreke, Pekovick, Splitter, Reddick, Mayo, O'neal, Brewer or in the draft Gortat, McCollum, Dieng, Adams, Shabazz that have been thrown out there as solutions, I don't see the Blazer's "Full House".... So this leads me to my question WWND, What Will Neil Do! What do

I have been reading a lot about the draft and whatnot and it seems the vets want to "win now", especially since we only have the 10th pick. Here is a scenario I believe will get us in the "win now" mode and still keep us fairly young for the future. Trade Batum + 10th pick + Leonerd for the #1 pick (Cleveland wants Batum BAD) Trade picks 1/39/40 to Washington for Nene + 3rd pick Draft Otto Porter with the 3rd overall pick Offer Reke max contract. Re-sign Maynor. Sign O'Neil to Vet's minimum. Sign Marreese Speights. Sign Rich Jefferson to vets minimum. Sign Dante Cunningham Sign Dorrell Wright Final lineup of Lillard/Maynor/Evans Evans/Matthews/Williams/Barton Porter/Wright/Jefferson Aldridge/Speights/Cunningham Nene/O'Neil/Speights Of course it would be insanely hard to do, but damn it would be nice. That's one deep/experienced/fairly young team. Thoughts? I have been reading a lot about the draft and whatnot and it seems the vets want to "win now", especially since we only have the 10th pick. Here is a scenario I believe will get us in the "win now" mode and still keep us fairly young for the future. Trade Batum + 10th pick + Leonerd for the #1 pick (Cleveland wants Batum BAD) Trade picks 1/39/40 to Washington for Nene + 3rd pick Draft Otto Porter with the 3rd overall pick Offer Reke max contract. Re-sign Maynor. Sign O'Neil to Vet's minimum. Sign Marreese Speights. Sign Rich Jefferson to vets minimum. Sign Dante Cunningham Sign Dorrell Wright Final lineup of Lillard/Maynor/Evans Evans/Matthews/Williams/Barton Porter/Wright/Jefferson Aldridge/Speights/Cunningham Nene/O'Neil/Speights Of course it would be insanely hard to do, but damn it would be nice. That's one deep/experienced/fairly young team. Thoughts?

The Portland Trail Blazers were not able to beat tremendous odds to get either the first, second or third pick in the 2013 NBA Draft Lottery. But all is not lost. The 10th pick, even in a what many consider a weak draft, still has plenty of value, especially when considering that the current collective bargaining agreement forces teams to mind their cap space more carefully than ever before. Rookie contracts are typically considered to be the best bargains in the NBA -- for example, Pacer's third-year forward Paul George earned just over $2.5 million in 2012-13 -- so even if there's not a lot of all-star talent in this class, there's still the opportunity to get a quality rotation player at a heck of a price.

Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com has the transcript of an interview on Blazers Courtside in which Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard laid out his favorite players in the 2013 Draft class. Which players do you like in this draft? I threw out a comment, not that they've asked. I've made comments about who I like. I really like CJ McCollum, who's also similar to me. He's a four-year player, a four-year college athlete, graduated from school, he's about 6-3 and a half, he can score the ball, he can also make plays. I think somebody like him off the bench would really help our team because he can back me up as a point guard, he can come off (the bench) and score, he can play off the ball. So I think someone like him would be really good for us. I also like Ben McLemore and I also like Nerlens Noel also because he's a paint protector, shot blocker, rebounder and he's athletic. So I like a few guys in this draft. The Blazers hold the No. 10 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft after Tuesday's lottery drawing. Lillard represented the Blazers at the drawing. Noel and McLemore are seen as top-five (and possibly top-two) caliber prospects. McCollum is currently ranked No. 8 in DraftExpress.com's mock draft and No. 9 in Chad Ford of ESPN.com's mock draft. Lillard has been used as a comparison for McCollum as both spent four years at small schools. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

They could use the pick and their salary cap space to obtain a starting center.

Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reports that veteran members of the Portland Trail Blazers want the organization to "win now," a sentiment that could require a trade of the team's 2013 first-round pick. Portland needs immediate help and according to most experts and people I've talked with around the league, this draft class isn't equipped with those type of services, especially not at No. 10. Look for Portland to attempt to use that pick along with other assets to move up in the draft or acquire a proven veteran for immediate help. LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum want to win now. Jason Quick of The Oregonian reported recently that Blazers GM Neil Olshey could be looking to deal. If the Blazers keep their lottery pick -- and that's a big if as it appears Olshey will look for willing trade partners -- it is likely the team pursues a shooting guard. The Blazers have four pressing needs this offseason: a starting center, a backup point guard, a high-scoring shooting guard and depth at small forward. With $11.6 million in cap room, a lottery pick and three second-round picks, they have enough assets to probably solve two, maybe three, of those issues this summer. Olshey has been frank about searching for a starting center either in free agency or via trade. The Blazers officially hold the No. 10 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft after Tuesday's lottery drawing. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Damian Lillard joined Courtside from New York to discuss representing the Trail Blazers at the NBA Draft Lottery and Portland getting the 10th pick. Lillard talked about the experience, how he doesn't consider himself the "face of the franchise" and which players he likes in this year's draft class.

Apr 24, 2013; Independence, OH, USA; New Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown smiles during a press conference at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports The Cleveland Cavaliers have received the #1 pick in this year’s NBA draft lottery, with a 15.6% chance of doing so. This move bumped the Orlando Magic to 2nd, while the Charlotte Bobcats missed the top 3 entirely due to the surprise advancement of the Washington Wizards, who received the 3rd pick. The Cavaliers were represented by Nick Gilbert, son of owner Dan Gilbert. Nick also represented the team when they received the 2011 #1 pick and future Rookie of the Year, Kyrie Irving. This could turn out nicely for the Blazers, who received the 10th pick as expected, because Cleveland is likely to draft Kentucky center, Nerlens Noel. With a brand new, highly touted center, the Cavs may cling less tightly to current center, Anderson Varejao. Portland is looking to trade for an established big man and Cleveland is already interested in doing business with them in some capacity. The Blazers may be able to coax them into giving up Wild Thing. Varejao was an All-Star caliber center this year, averaging 14.1 points and 14.4 rebounds per game, until a blood clot in his lung sidelined him for the latter half of the season. It was reported in late April that the Cavs were interested in Blazer forward, LaMarcus Aldridge, but were unlikely to give up Anderson Varejao in preliminary discussions. While I do not personally condone shopping LaMarcus at this juncture, it is possible that the Cavs would be willing to make a more reasonable offer, given their fortuitous situation. The Blazers are in great need of an established defensive center. Although Cleveland received the top pick, the real winner of this year’s lottery is the Washington Wizards. Projected to receive the 8th pick, the Wizards jumped 5 places into the top 3, and are now in position to draft Georgetown small forward, Otto Porter. The Wizards were only a lottery team at all because their 2010 #1 pick, John Wall, missed 33 games this year while recovering from knee surgery. They now have the means to address their biggest need in style, and will likely make an appearance in the 2014 playoffs. All in all, this worked out fine for Portland. Although they did not move up, the lottery has changed their off-season playing field, if only just a little. I’m rather content, myself, as I count myself among the minority Wizard fans. Congratulations to Cleveland and Washington, condolences to Orlando and Charlotte (seriously, how hard is it to be a Bobcat right now?). 1st pick Cleveland Cavaliers 2nd pick Orlando Magic 3rd pick Washington Wizards 4th pick Charlotte Bobcats 5th pick Phoenix Suns 6th pick New Orleans Pelicans 7th pick Sacramento Kings 8th pick Detroit Pistons 9th pick Minnesota Timberwolves 10th pick Portland Trail Blazers 11th pick Philadelphia 76ers 12th pick *Toronto Raptors 13th pick Dallas Mavericks 14th pick Utah Jazz *Toronto’s pick goes to OKC as part of the Harden deal, because it was not in the top 3. @davidmackaypdx | @ripcityproject | davidmackaypdx@gmail.com

The Blazers stand pat at No. 10. Cleveland nabs the No. 1 pick, and Washington moves up to No. 3. Orlando falls to No. 2.

The Portland Trail Blazers will select No. 10 in the 2013 NBA Draft after the league conducted its annual lottery on Tuesday. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the lottery and will select first. The Blazers were represented by 2013 Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard on stage and GM Neil Olshey in the drawing. Portland had a 1.1 percent chance to get the No. 1 pick, a 1.3 percent chance to get the No. 2 pick, a 1.5 percent chance to get the No. 3 pick, an 87 percent chance to get the No. 10 pick, an 8.8 percent chance to get the No. 11 pick, a 0.2 percent chance to get the No. 12 pick and a 0.1 percent chance to place 13th, which would have required transferring the pick to the Charlotte Bobcats. Here's the full 2013 lottery order. 1. Cleveland Cavaliers 2. Orlando Magic 3. Washington Wizards 4. Charlotte Bobcats 5. Phoenix Suns 6. New Orleans Pelicans 7. Sacramento Kings 8. Detroit Pistons 9. Minnesota Timberwolves 10. Portland Trail Blazers 11. Philadelphia 76ers 12. Toronto Raptors 13. Dallas Mavericks 14. Utah Jazz The 2013 NBA Draft is set for June 27. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter