WHICH WILL IT BE? [Snave]

SO, now that the NBA draft lottery winners have been decided, who will play where? Will the #1 pick be Greg Oden (pictured) or Kevin Durant?

I say "winners" because I live in the Pacific Northwest, and against big odds, the Portland Trailblazers won the right to choose first in this year's NBA draft, and the Seattle Supersonics will pick second! I have been a serious Blazers fan for over 30 years, but I have also followed the Sonics for the past 20 years or so. This is sweet!

The Portland Oregonian has an unscientific poll going, and so far the fans want the franchise to choose Oden by about a 3-1 margin. I agree, in that a bonafide NBA "big man" only seems to come along once or twice every ten years. Portland's GM Kevin Pritchard wants to meet with both players prior to the draft; it was this interview process which led the team to choose Brandon Roy first last year. During the years when Bob Whitsitt was the Blazers' GM, the team suffered greatly in the character department. Now that things are on the way up, Portland wants to be certain they pick a player on whom they feel they can depend.

Another interesting question which has been raised, more seriously now than previously, is: where will Zach Randolph play next year? The general sentiment on the Oregonian's "Blazers Forum" is that Randolph is now expendable. Many fans seem to think Portland could trade Randolph for another first round pick this year... It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'm sure Pritchard and the Blazers' front office are on cloud nine right now, and that they will savor the moment for quite a while. They are lucky to have won the rights to #1, but I don't believe Blazer fans are undeserving after the years of mediocrity, arrests and behavior problems we have endured.

June 28th, here we come!