Draft Night Full Of Risk — And Fun — For Trail Blazers

By STEVEN VAUGHAN, 750 THE GAME

The Oxford Dictionary definition of risk is “a situation involving exposure to danger.”

The Blazers are in danger of a lot of things when it comes to Thursday night’s NBA Draft. But risk can be a good thing. It can bring rewards. And it can boost the Blazers to a level they haven’t seen in years.

John Canzano says no matter the direction Portland turns on draft night, there is risk everywhere, including making a pick at No. 3 overall.

“I think there’s a little risk involved with making the pick at three,” Canzano said on 750 The Game. “If it’s Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller there’s some risk. You’re drafting a young player and saying ‘Hey, you’re part of our future’.”

Canzano says that’s not the only risk in drafting a player with the third pick.

“You’re risking alienating Damian Lillard a little bit by picking a player there,” Canzano said. “And I’m OK with that. I actually think that’s kind of fun. I think it would be good for Damian Lillard to be a little uncomfortable and look around and say ‘I’m the oldest guy here that can play and how am I going to make this work?'”

The Blazers haven’t felt fun for a while. Why not get a little risky and have some fun at the same time?

Canzano says he’s hoping to see that on draft night.

“Let’s see if this franchise can find a way to be fun next Thursday,” Canzano said. “If that’s drafting a good young player and bringing him in and putting him next to Shaedon Sharpe and Damian Lillard and letting it rip — good.”

Canzano added he wants Portland to make a pick at No. 3 overall, and not try the other risky path of trading it.

“I think the best thing that can happen on Thursday for the Blazers is to draft Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller at number three,” he said, adding that Portland’s other two picks in the draft could be used in a trade of some kind.

“If you don’t want to pick at 23 and 43, the message you can send Damian Lillard is by packaging those two picks together with some other piece of your roster and then trying to upgrade. That would pacify Damian Lillard and make your team a little bit better next season.”

The Trail Blazers have a lot of options and Thursday night is going to be telling 0n what the future looks like. It could be a full rebuild. It could be a retool.

All I know is Blazers fans deserve some fun and some risk.

Listen to the segment at the start of Friday’s show in the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.

@steven_von