Cheap Seats * * * Portland TrailBlaze's Offseason: Draft Questions

The 2008 NBA Draft will go down in history as one of the best. Beasley, Rose, Bayless, Augustine, Mayo, Lopez and Gordon. I stopped the list short, but it could go on for awhile. In some mock drafts, players like Kevin Love, Hasheem Thabeet, Roy Hibbert and even Augustine are falling outside of the top 20...consistently. So what does this mean for the association? It means that good teams in the middle of the first round will be picking up good players. In case you were wondering, the Blazers fit the bill.

The 2008 Draft is decision time for Portland. Who do we cut? Who should we evaluate further? How are we going to set up the core of our team? The list of questions is long. Luckily, the Blazers have the pieces in place to have a big draft and an even bigger future. Kevin Pritchard has shown in the past that he is a draft genius, and if he can work his magic this time around, a dynasty will be in place.

Before discussing what the Blazers should do in the draft, certain questions must be presented and answered:

    - Travis Outlaw or Martell Webster? Having two young SF’s on this team is inefficient. Both are potential stars and neither can realistically change positions on this team. So, the obvious answer is to trade one of them to fill other needs (i.e. PG, SF...trust me). The Blazers need to decide which of these players fits into the model dynasty they are building. You can get my opinion in a separate article. The point is, one of these guys has to go, and you might as well trade him in a year with a deep draft. Management has had long enough to evaluate these players and must decide which is the best fit.

    - What is James Jones' place on this team? A veteran SF is needed on this team, which is odd considering we have one. I've always loved James Jones and could never figure out why Phoenix didn't use him more effectively. Now, I am starting to see why. This year like others in his career, Jones missed a substantial amount of time due to injury. This really hurt his ability to perform later on which allowed me to ask the question above. The biggest concern for the blazers is Mr. Jones' contract. He can opt out this summer, which many expect him to do. He can get more money and playing time outside of Portland. For that reason alone, the blazers should plan like he has no place on this team and act accordingly. 

    - Can Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack or Sergio Rodriguez be the PG of the future? No.

Now to the actual draft. As far as I can tell, there are only four things the Blazers can do in this year’s draft:

    1. Stay where you are in the first round, draft the best available PG and then use your three early 2nd rounders on potential

    2. Package your first rounder with a future pick, some of your second rounders, current players, or a combination of the three in order to move up and get the PG you feel can lead a dynasty.

    3. Stay where you are in the first round and draft the best available SF. Then package some combination of future picks, current players and 2nd rounders to get another lottery pick. Use that pick to draft your wanted PG.

    4. Trade away your 1st rounder for players to a team that is re-building.

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