Lottery Fallout

All of a sudden, the Portland Trailblazers are holding a lot of cards going into what figures to be a busy offseason in the NBA. The biggest card of all, of course, is the No. 1 pick in the draft, which figures to materialize as either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. The Blazers aren't saying which way they're leaning, but most people seem to think Oden will be the guy. If they go in that direction, it creates a potential dream team along the front line with Oden and last year's No. 2 overall pick, LaMarcus Aldridge. It also opens the door for the team to dump power forward Zach Randolph and the rest of his $60 million contract.

Randolph isn't exactly a character guy, but he's a legit 20-10 power forward and a lot of teams would surely be interested.

There's also talk that the Blazers might want to acquire another lottery pick to take Oden's best friend, point guard Mike Conley, to help him feel more comfortable. If that happens, point guard Jarrett Jack's name pops into the trade rumor mill. Jack is a very competent point guard. He averaged 12 points and 5 assists last season in about 33 minutes a game.

Hmmm, a strong lowpost presence and a point guard... Isn't that what the Lakers said their top priorities were this offseason? It's all speculation at this point, but don't be surprised to see the Lakers name start popping up.