The Portland Trail Blazers have been there before. They have no intentions of heading back.
For the past several years – dating back to the 2003 NBA Draft to be specific – the Blazers have constantly made trips to Secaucus, New Jersey for the NBA Draft Lottery, thus sending them to Madison Square Garden for the NBA Draft with lottery pick after lottery pick after lottery pick.
That changes this June.
"I like New York in the spring but I'm glad we are not in the lottery," said General Manager Kevin Pritchard, who is known for orchestrating draft day trades.
Some things never change though.
Once again Portland enters the draft with multiple selections, as the Blazers own the 24th pick in the first round, and the 32nd, 38th, 55th and 56th picks in the second round. But knowing Pritchard's knack for making moves (14 total trades in the last three drafts) and Portland looking to mature from being the second youngest team in the NBA last seasons, questions arise if more draft day trades are in the immediate future.
Last season it took four picks to make five trades. What will five selections bring this year?
"Our process is different, but what is good though is we've picked in this area in the draft the last few years so we've tried to prepare ourselves for all over the draft. The process, while it is different at the top, is similar to what we've had in the past."
Pritchard went on to say the draft evaluation process started about 12 months ago after Portland closed up shop adding Jerryd Bayless (11th overall) and Nicolas Batum (25th overall) to the fold last year. Now the running joke around the Blazers front office is that, "draft 2009 started right after draft 2008."
"The last months of speaking with general managers and people really heats up about this time. It's full on 24-7 all day on the phones and looking to evaluate what's going to happen."
Adding five new selections to Portland's roster will be difficult without some major moving and shaking going on – both on the draft front or even a couple pieces of the current roster ushered out. And just as the Blazers captured a share of the Northwest Division this past regular season and got a taste of the postseason before bowing out in the first round to the Houston Rockets, it's clear acquiring more veteran experience this offseason is the task at hand.
"We'll look for opportunities but youth really isn't an issue for us," Pritchard explained.
"Last year we didn't know where we were going to be in the draft in terms of where we could get to – in terms of would we have another pick and it worked out well last year. But this year could be totally different. You just don't know. You keep all of your options open, whether you are going to trade up or trade out or trade down."
When pressed if he anticipates making or receiving calls to other general managers as the draft draw nears, Pritchard played his cards close to his vest.
"It happens both ways.
"You keep all those options open."
But what kind of changes will those options bring in Portland on June 25th?
