1 Prospect for every possible Portland Trail Blazers NBA Draft position

With their playoff dreams skewered, it’s time for the Portland Trail Blazers to look ahead to the future, specifically the 2023 NBA Draft.

The team wanted to make a late push after the all-star break, but going 4-12 with some of the worst defense in the league hammered the final nails into the season’s coffin.

With Damian Lillard now shelved after having one of his better offensive seasons, alongside the promising in-season developments of Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe, there’s a combination of veteran foundations and young building blocks for the Blazers to work with.

Unless they trade Lillard, Portland will be in the hunt for the playoffs next year.

That’s what makes the silver lining of a potentially high lottery pick so lustrous. If the ping-pong balls bounce beautifully for the Blazers, they could grab a blue-chip prospect and find their fortunes reversed overnight. They’d go from a team stuck in purgatory to one of the few teams in the NBA with multiple young studs and a shoo-in All-NBA star.

Right now, the Blazers are slotted to pick sixth, but that’s before the NBA Draft lottery. They’re within a half-game of Orlando and Indiana, which could leave them in the middle of the lottery – still a good spot for a loaded draft like this.

Even if the odds don’t majorly break in Portland’s favor, it’s still worth examining what the Blazers would do at each of the top 10 draft slots, given the many magnificent futures that the team could have soon.

The pick at No. 1: Victor Wembanyama, Metropolitan 92

Was there any doubt?

Wembanyama has dominated most of the draft conversation this year, and for good reason. He’s leading the French league in points, rebounds, and blocks per game, looking like a slam-dunk MVP selection as an 18-year-old.

Winning the 2023 Draft Lottery would be a seismic shift for this Blazers team that’s almost hard to comprehend. Forget any of the trepidations the team might feel after drafting Sam Bowie or Greg Oden; having the chance to draft a potential transcendent defensive anchor who can handle the ball, shoot from deep, and could evolve into a leading scorer resets the entire team concept.

Just imagine pairing Lillard with a defensive center and offensive weapon who routinely makes plays like this:

The combination of Lillard and Wembanyama would immediately be one of the best guard-big combinations in the league and would make the team close to a dark-horse title contender.

With a few trades and signings to shore up the wing and depth, Portland could go from third-to-last to third-or-better in the Western Conference over the course of a single summer.

The pick at No. 2: Trade for a star

Despite some scattered chatter, it’s hard to see any team passing up on a potential generational point guard in Scoot Henderson for an all-world athlete like Amen Thompson or a sweet-shooting forward like Alabama’s Brandon Miller.

With that said, it’s hard to imagine the Blazers staying in this spot if the lottery odds smile upon them and send their pick skyrocketing to second. Instead, the team would be better served trading the pick to a team that is still rebuilding but has a star that could be available.

The two teams that stick out as having borderline All-NBA talents at positions of need for Portland who would also likely trade those types of players for Scoot Henderson are Utah and Toronto.

The Jazz, despite their surprising season, are still looking for a superstar prospect to build around. It would be painful, but Danny Ainge would likely part with Lauri Markkanen to grab Scoot, giving the Blazers an all-star seven-footer with range way past the 3-point line:

For the Raptors, their season has been a whirlwind of tight wins and disappointing losses. If Masai Ujiri, president of the Raptors, sees the writing on the wall for the team’s playoff ceiling, he could do much worse than acquiring a star guard in Scoot, letting Fred VanVleet walk, and trading Pascal Siakam to open up minutes for Scottie Barnes as a top scoring option.

That would give the Blazers a better forward than Jerami Grant who could also play next to Grant if Jerami re-signs with the team. A core of Lillard-Simons-Grant and either Markkanen or Siakam would be good enough to get a playoff spot and potentially more in a weakened West.

The pick at No. 3: Amen Thompson, Overtime Elite

This will likely be the most controversial draft decision, but after the top two players in the 2023 NBA Draft, there’s no surefire prospect at third.

There are a handful of players like both of the Thompson twins, Amen and Ausar; Miller; and even Houston’s Jarace Walker, if you believe in his offensive ceiling.

What the Blazers should value if they leapfrog other teams in lottery positioning is a potential superstar. It’s exceedingly difficult to get those players outside of the draft, especially for a team in a smaller market like Portland, and the appeal of Henderson would be gone in this situation at pick No. 3.

A swing for the fences is the type of move that could be the difference between the Blazers becoming the sixth-best team in the reworked west or shocking the NBA world and contending for titles.

Although Miller is a stud, there’s only one other player in this draft class who has true superstar upside, and that’s Amen Thompson:

Putting Shaedon Sharpe and Amen Thompson on the wing next to Lillard, especially after Sharpe’s stellar end to the season, would give Portland two potential star wings with creation skills.

While both players would need to work on their shooting, Lillard’s gravity as a deep threat is so heavy that he’d mitigate some of those issues and create a transition offense so deadly that it may set records for thunderous transition dunks in a season.

The pick at No. 4: Brandon Miller, Alabama Crimson Tide

If Wembanyama, Scoot, and Amen are all gone by pick No. 4, the Blazers will still sprint to the podium to grab  Miller. It’s a testament to a particularly strong draft class and the talent of Miller that it wouldn’t be much of a discussion for the team to select him.

He’s one of the best shooters in the draft, has great positional size for a forward at 6-foot-9, and has improved his defense, driving, and passing during his sterling freshman season. In any other draft, Miller would be making some serious top-pick noise.

That won’t bother the Blazers, as they snag a player who fits a positional need and routinely makes difficult plays like this look easy:

What the Blazers need to become a championship contender is a star on the wing and a true defensive stopper at center. While Miller’s no defensive anchor, he is the prototypical modern scoring forward that Portland’s tried to trade for or sign over the past half-decade.

Miller would immediately start for the team without having to receive the pressure of being the top scoring option. That would give him more freedom to grow his offensive arsenal, take open threes, and become an ideal sidekick in Lillard’s late-career renaissance.

The pick at No. 5: Jarace Walker, Houston Cougars

Around the fifth pick is when the 2023 draft class starts to get murkier. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any more star prospects to draft; quite the contrary. Instead, there are a number of talented prospects with minor warts who will be selected more because of fit than overwhelming talent.

In the NBA, there are few, if any, non-centers who can be defensive game-changers. Walker is the rare non-center draft prospect who has just that sort of ceiling. He’s a physical champion with great athletic gifts, indomitable strength, and some of the best defensive instincts in recent memory.

Adding him to a weaker defensive lineup like Portland’s wouldn’t transform the team into an elite defensive team overnight, but he’d immediately be the team’s best defender and someone who could consistently frazzle opposing offenses into bad possessions:

It would still be on the team to find a better center to pair with Walker to form an actual backbone of a dominant defense, but adding a stud defensive prospect who also has some promising shooting and decision-making flashes is still a great place to start when trying to completely rebuild an NBA defense.

Walker would have the touches to make plays from the short roll, finish off cuts to the rim, and cause a frenzy on the other end to create easy offense for the team. That type of player is exactly what Portland needs around Dame, and it would raise the ceiling of the entire team.

The pick at No. 6: Ausar Thompson, Overtime Elite

In most draft circles, the Thompson twins have become a barometer of how scouts look at NBA prospects. To some, the bountiful athleticism and freaky passing angles make them can’t-miss players.

To others, the lack of shooting mechanics and finishing tools make them high-risk, high-reward players unworthy of a high lottery selection.

The Blazers need a wing player who can defend in a switching scheme, utilize his athletic gifts to create advantages on both ends, and become a secondary creator and shooter on the perimeter.

Ausar Thompson fills almost every criteria, only missing the shooting – but he did shoot 38.5 percent from deep in the Overtime Elite playoffs:

The fit for Thompson would be easy: He’s more of a natural forward than his brother Amen, and the Blazers desperately need a small forward who can play well on both ends of the floor. Thompson would have the time needed to develop while also getting immediate experience on a contending playoff team.

Next to Lillard, Thompson’s potential shooting improvements would quickly be put to the test, as he’d have his share of open shots on the wings and in the corners. If he does become a shooter, that raises his star ceiling and turns the Blazers into contenders in the next few seasons.

The pick at No. 7: Taylor Hendricks, University of Central Florida Knights

For those who don’t follow draft Twitter heavily, Hendricks’ name might not ring a bell. That’ll change soon, as he’s loudly announced his presence as a lottery talent all season.

Once the draft combine hits and he has a chance to show off his athleticism and talents to more eyes, Hendricks will be widely regarded as a star-level prospect.

Hendricks, in many ways, is the prototypical combination forward-center for the modern NBA. He has supernatural instincts as a weak-side shot blocker, has one of the better shooting strokes in this class, and has consistently improved throughout the season, even as defenses put more and more pressure on him as the UCF Knights’ top option.

It’s easy to see what kind of fit Hendricks will have in the NBA as a player who can defend guards, wings, and bigs while also spraying threes with reckless abandon. Hendricks will fit as a forward unicorn on both ends of the floor:

Portland is rich in impact guards but is still searching for a defensive forward who can also improve their offensive schemes. Hendricks is the ideal player to fit both roles, as he could help turn the team’s defensive woes into “woahs” while also spreading the floor.

With enough seasoning, he could one day form one of the league’s most fearsome screener-dribbler combinations with Lillard.

The pick at No. 8: Cam Whitmore, Villanova Wildcats

If one Cam is good for the Blazers, why not two?

Toward the back half of the 2023 NBA Lottery, there are fewer surefire star prospects and more high-level future role players. Kentucky’s Cason Wallace looks like he could be a team’s starting point guard for a decade, Baylor’s Keyonte George looks like a future sixth man of the year, and Michigan’s Jett Howard is a dead-eye shooter with some evolving passing chops.

The last true star swing, however, is still on the board. There was a brief period of time when Cam Whitmore looked like he might be the best prospect in college basketball after returning from a thumb injury.

Although his season was more of a roller coaster, Whitmore still showed enough upside that any team picking eighth would gladly select him and hope for him to hit his ceiling.

Whitmore is a combo forward, but not in a derogatory sense – he has a good handle, a solid shooting stroke, and the best wing athleticism outside of the Thompson twins. Whitmore attacks the rim with a ferocity rarely seen for a player his size and, with his complete offensive package, he could be a future star in the front court:

Surprisingly, Whitmore is one of the better natural fits for this Portland roster as currently constructed. He fits well with Grant, offering a second helping of talented forward scoring while Grant can pick up some of his defensive slack.

Whitmore could also space the floor for Lillard and Simons, giving him immediate value to the team.

While he won’t be a part of the eventual defensive retooling, Whitmore’s offense and ultimate ceiling are high enough that it doesn’t matter. If he can improve his consistency, shot creation, and playmaking, Whitmore might just be the forward star that the Blazers have been looking for throughout Lillard’s career.

The pick at No. 9: Gradey Dick, Kansas Jayhawks

If the lottery is unkind to the Blazers, they’ll likely miss out on the entire crop of potential star prospects. Luckily, in a draft with more depth than usual, the team will be faced with an enviable decision: select the best role player who could start for a decade or take a swing a flawed high-ceiling player.

There are enough role players who should be available at No. 9 who could help raise the floor of the Blazers so that a massive swing isn’t necessary. Dick quickly established himself as one of the most pro-ready freshman in the 2023 draft class, starting for a contending Kansas team and becoming its second scoring option.

Watch Dick for a few minutes and his appeal is apparent; no matter what team he’s on, Dick will be one of its best shooters from deep. He brings enough moxie as a ball-handler, driver, and cutter that his total offensive package is worth a lottery swing:

Dick won’t do much to change the defensive shortcomings of the Blazers, but he won’t exacerbate them any further. He’s a smart team defender with good size, fast hands, and a great basketball mind that helps him find open spots on offense and stay in the right rotations on defense.

That type of consistency is important for an already-poor defensive team.

The presence of dual sniper guards in Lillard and Simons will give Dick more open space than he’s ever had in his playing career. Drafting Dick would indicate that Portland is going the way of the Sacramento Kings, hoping to create an offense so deadly that it could outpace other teams without having to get a defensive stop.

With Gradey in the fold, that might just be possible.

The pick at No. 10: G.G. Jackson, South Carolina Gamecocks

This would be a slot that the Blazers could look to trade out of as well. If they packaged the pick with either Simons or Sharpe, Portland could likely acquire a marquee star, but that would rob the team of an important potential x-factor player who could significantly raise the ceiling of the squad.

Instead, keeping the pick would indicate it was time to take a swing for the fences. While guards like Wallace, George, and Indiana’s Jalen Hood-Schifino are all lottery talents, none of them look like they’d be long-term fits for the current Portland roster.

There are few forwards left with some semblance of a star ceiling, and that’s where G.G. Jackson comes in.

If the Thompson twins were divisive, Jackson is civil war-inducing on draft Twitter. He’s one of the youngest players in the draft, and he showed the signs of being a plus shooter, on-ball creator, and athletic finisher.

That type of offensive prospect is rarely available at 10th overall:

He’s also a poor defender, has developed some bad habits with a long leash at South Carolina, and has a shockingly minuscule assist percentage. If he isn’t in the right developmental situation, Jackson could be a draft bust.

In Portland, Jackson could develop as an off-ball scorer, seeing his fair share of open shots and dunks off of Lillard’s passing. While he’d need to tighten up his fundamentals to stay on the floor, the right breaks could lead the Blazers to snag a slow-developing potential star that could give them a real co-star for Lillard during his twilight years.