Oden & Conley - Together Again?

Word on the street is that the Blazers are trying to get another pick in the top ten so that they can select Ohio State PG and best friend of Greg Oden, Mike Conley. Some ways that this could be accomplished are by acquiring the Timberwolves #7 pick in some sort of Zach Randolph for Kevin Garnett deal. Another possibility would be trading Zach Randolph and one of thier surplus centers to the Grizzlies for the #4 pick and some surplus salaries that will go off the books soon. Either way I see Conley ending up with Oden as the Blazers have plenty of trade bait and any team out of the top 2 could be persuaded to make a deal.

Blazers Get Really Lucky

The Portland Trail Blazers came out of the draft lottery with the #1 pick despite having only a 5% chance of pulling it off. The Sonics came in 2nd. None of the other spots really matter as there are only two franchise players in this draft. Let's take a look at a few lineup scenarios.

Blazers

SF Martel Webster

PF Zach Randolph

C Greg Oden

SG Brandon Roy

PG Jarrett Jack

Bench Lamarcus Aldridge

Bench Sergio Rodriguez

Bench Fred Jones

Sonics

SF Rashard Lewis

PF Kevin Durant

C Nick Collison

SG Ray Allen

PG Earl Watson

Bench Luke Ridnour

Bench Damien Wilkins

Bench Mickael Gelabale

With this draft pick the Blazers could go in a bunch of different directions. They have a glut of young talent and could conceivably trade Zach Randolph, another young player, and a big man for an available talent such as Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O'Neal. The salaries would work out for either player and the teams will likely take a 20 and 10 guy like Randolph who when coupled with a young exciting player like Martel Webster, Jarret Jack, or Sergio Rodriguez and a big man like Jamal Magloire or Joel Pryzbilla would be very attractive to most any fan base.

The Sonics gain the flexibility to decide whether or not they really want to resign Rashard Lewis or use him in a sign and trade. Kevin Durant could fill in nicely at SF while they trade him for a defensive post player like Jermaine O'Neal, Drew Gooden, or David Lee.