Sure, we’re not going to know the true winners and losers of tonight’s NBA Draft for another couple years. After all, even the can’t-miss guys like Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley have yet to dribble a basketball in an NBA game. But before the dust is settled, here’s who I feel came out on top in tonight’s craziness.

Portland Trail Blazers: On the last three NBA Draft nights, I’ve watched the Trail Blazers build what will eventually become an NBA Champion. Tonight was no exception, as the Blazers dealt and dealt their way into some favorable spots in the draft. The Blazers made four initial selections in the draft and just a couple of hours later, they had a completely different list of players to show for it. Brandon Rush, Joey Dorsey, Omer Asik and Mike Taylor have transformed into the talented Jerryd Bayless, Donte Green, Sonny Weems, Nicolas Batum and even more picks for next year’s draft. General Manager Kevin Pritchard has worked the draft so well, he could probably assemble two competent NBA rosters.

New Jersey Nets: Since the Jason Kidd deal, this franchise has gone a long way in reinventing itself. While losing the scoring prowess of Richard Jefferson will hurt, the Nets can finally say they have the makings of a very good frontcourt in newly acquired Yi Jianlian and Stanford’s Brook Lopez, whom the Nets stole with the 10th overall pick. I had Lopez going 4th overall, so for the Nets to get him at #10, they must be happy. With another 1st round pick from Dallas (Thanks Cuban!), Jersey landed California’s Ryan Anderson, who can score from anywhere on the court. In the 2nd round, they found some more value in Memphis legend Chris Douglas-Roberts. One of the more complete scorers in college basketball, CDR should compliment Vince Carter nicely out on the perimeter. Hell, he might even compliment Mr. LeBron James in a few years…

Memphis Grizzlies: The night started in typical Grizzlies fashion, with a couple of uninspiring picks. But it ended with a bang, as the Grizz shipped off Kevin Love and Mike Miller for O.J. Mayo, considered the 3rd best player in the draft. Lets be real, here. Love is a solid prospect, but he doesn’t have the superstar potential you look for with a top five pick. Mayo does. And yes, the Grizzlies now inherit a couple of Minnesota’s god-awful contracts. But Mayo is a far better player than the combination of Love and Miller. The Grizz also appear to have won the Darrell Arthur sweepstakes.

Yesterday, I discussed the nuances of the NBA Draft Lottery, which fails to guarantee that the worst teams in the league will receive the earliest picks in the draft. Those concerns were validated last night. In a huge shocker, the Portland Trail Blazers won the rights to the 1st overall pick and, presumably, Greg Oden. The second pick of the draft, likely Kevin Durant, was awarded to the Seattle Sonics. The league’s two worst teams, Memphis and Boston, pick 4th and 5th respectively.

In last year’s the draft, the Blazers engineered trades to land both Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. One year later, they’ve made the headlines by winning the top overall pick despite being given just a 5% chance to do so. Having Greg Oden alongside Roy and Aldridge (not to mention Zach Randolph) makes them more than a playoff contender. Eventually, it will make them championship contenders.

Meanwhile, the 31-51 Sonics will soon have another talented scorer. The Sonics have fallen off the last couple of years, largely in part to injuries and questions surrounding their future in Seattle. But they still have two very good players in Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen to go with young point guard Luke Ridnour. They’re several players away but throwing Kevin Durant into the mix will create lots of excitement in Seattle Oklahoma City.

As for the horrendous Grizzlies (22-60) and Celtics (24-58), they were left to curse the entire process. Grizzlies general manager Jerry West called the system “grossly unfair.” But for every emo outburst from West, the Blazers are celebrating. Let’s just hope Oden becomes a stud and not a Sam Bowie. They already passed on Michael Jordan once, what if Durant becomes a revolutionary player as well?

Zach Randolph really knows how to destroy any good-will he receives. After some legal troubles and injuries, he’s put together a phenomenal season, averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds. But he’s still a sketchy bastard. After being granted “bereavement leave” to attend a funeral for a family member, Randolph was spotted late Tuesday night…at a buffet strip club.

By multiple accounts, the Blazers’ leading scorer and rebounder stiffed the folks at Exotica International Club for Men on Northeast Columbia Boulevard after enjoying libations and entertainment there.

“He didn’t pay his tab ? $106,” said John, a bartender who wasn’t working Tuesday night but had the story related to him by others. “He’ll make it up to (the waitress), though.”

The Portland Trail Blazers have done lots of things right this year. They had a phenomenal draft, somehow ending up with LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, who have both gone on to have Rookie of the Year campaigns. They’ve gotten lucky enough to have Darius Miles sit out all season with an injury. And they’re just 3.5 games out of a playoff spot.

First of all, Randolph received leave during a pretty crucial stretch of games. The funeral he’s attending isn’t until this afternoon. Why did he need to take the leave as soon as Monday? Surely, Big Zach could have played in Tuesday’s game and hit Exotica later that night. He probably could have paid for those drinks and that lapdance as well, considering he’s going to make about $14 million this season.

Portland Trail Blazers GM Steve Patterson resigned Thursday, citing that things haven’t gone exactly as planned in Portland. The Blazers, who are currently only ahead of the Sonics and Grizzlies in the West, find themselves at a dismal 24-34 record, and 14 games out of first place.

Lets face it, this Portland franchise hasn’t been what it used to be in the late 90’s and into the new millennium. When i reminisce about the Blazers glory days, I can see where this team has gone wrong since. Sebastian Telfair and Darius Miles have been two disastrous experiments and the departure of Rasheed Wallace has effected this team more than Blazers executives will let on. Miles is somehow still on the Blazers, despite his inability to shoot a basketball and his lack of interest for defense. Telfair was moved in the off season to Boston, and he’s been a bust there too.

The Blazers do have somewhat of a future in store for themselves, however. Rookie Brandon Roy has proven to be a great draft day acquisition and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has all the potential in the world. Potential, that’s a word Blazers fans know all too much about. But seriously, Aldridge is a beast and he’ll help this team out tremendously. I’m not saying the Blazers are going to be good anytime soon. In fact, don’t hold your breath for it, you might be waiting years. But if whoever takes this train wreck of a team over can add some talent around Roy and Aldridge, the Blazers might, and I place a big emphasis on might, contend in the near future.

Over the next month until opening night on October 31, I?ll be previewing one NBA team a day. Starting in the Eastern Conference, I?ll be starting with my lowest ranked team and continuing to the best, then switching conferences. Enjoy.

Busy Draft Should Help Rebuild Franchise

It’s been four seasons since the Blazers made the playoffs and their win total has gone from 41 games to 27 to 21. So why am I optimistic about their future? Because of the 2006 NBA Draft. The Blazers made 6 trades and somehow came away with two of the best players in the draft: LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy. They also drafted Sergio Rodriguez from Spain with their other 1st round pick. The acquisition of center Jamaal Magloire will also make Nate McMillan’s job a little easier and help him eventually get Portland back to their winning ways.

Overview

Even when the Blazers were the Jail Blazers, at least they were winning. The Blazers snapped their 21 season playoff berth streak in 2003-04 and haven’t been back since. Head coach Nate McMillan has feuded with Zach Randolph and Darius Miles, one of the most useless players in the league. Miles would be better off returning to acting, which he sucks at as well. But maybe there’s hope yet for these guys. Roy and Aldridge will greatly help this team this year and future years and should be able to actually help team chemistry, which is somewhat of a foreign thing in Portland. The team’s motto this season is “Work hard. Play hard.” For the Blazers, it’s easier said than done. Read the rest of this entry »