Hope, pain, questions… come with No. 3 pick for Trail Blazers
By STEVEN VAUGHAN, 750 THE GAME
The NBA Draft lottery has come and gone.
It was a bag of mixed emotions in Portland as the Trail Blazers moved up two spots and got the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA Draft. But they didn’t get the ultimate prize of the top pick which now belongs to the San Antonio Spurs, who will most assuredly select phenom Victor Wembanyama.
John Canzano was watching the NBA Draft Lottery live as it happened and gave his reaction on 750 The Game when NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum opened the envelope marked with the No. 3, revealing the Trail Blazers logo.
“Does it change what the Blazers do in the offseason? Of course it does,” Canzano said.
“If you have Wembanyama you know they are keeping the pick. Now there’s speculation: Is Shaedon Sharpe getting traded? Do the Blazers do something else?”
Canzano wants the Blazers to first explore improving the roster with Damian Lillard on the team.
“I think you start this summer trying to line up free agents, signings, and trades that would bolster the roster and make you believe that Damian Lillard could make a run here in the next two years. You start with that strategy, but if you don’t get indications that the roster can suddenly come together in a way that makes sense — I think you have to pivot.”
To make the pain of missing out on Wembanyama hurt a little deeper, Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated reported Portland was one number combination away from getting the No. 1 selection.
The direction of the franchise has been a question for multiple seasons. With the third pick, does a direction become more clear?
Perhaps only the folks at One Center Court know the answer.
Listen to the segment at the 1:47:00 mark in the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.
