[Wahoo757Participant]

Say Andre Drummond slides to 6 and both he and Damian Lillard are available. Who would they select? Both are players at positions of need, and while Drummond possesses more upside, Lillard is the safer pick. Would Portland’s front office be reluctant to draft another center after seeing how Greg Oden turned out?

[ChewyParticipant]

He won’t fall past NO at #10

[ChrisCrossParticipant]

I wouldn’t consider Lillad a safe pick either…….go with Drummond, Lillard could still be there at #11.

[ChrisCrossParticipant]

 he might, NO likes Rivers and Lamb and might take one of them over Lilard depending how secure they feel with Gordon.

[ballaj334Participant]

 i would not be shocked to see waiters go this high… given how he has sky rocketed up draft boards

[GrandmamaParticipant]

Drummond won’t be available at 6, but if he was, they would take Drummond.  Greg Oden would have zero influence on their pick.  Lillard may be available at 11 unless the Hornets snag him at 10.

[jhbm24Participant]

 Take Drummond in that situation. If he falls, which he won’t, and they don’t take him it would be the worst GM decision ever. You can always find a point guard. Ecspecially when a point guard can throw oops to drummond and Aldridge, and have batum and Wes Mathews on the corner for wide open shots. What star point guard wouldn’t want to go into that situation. And lilard still has the chance to fall to em. OR!! They can persuade a point gaurs like deron Williams to go, and draft perry jones with the 11th pick and have potential on your bench and you just fully rebuilt..

[fastdanParticipant]

Drummond then take Marshell. As much as Lillard keeps coming up in Portland talks, I feel Marshell would be a better fit with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews starting. All three can shoot and would benefit from a guy who can get them the ball when they’re open. And having Drummond to throw lobs and hit in transition would make it even better for a guy like Marshell.

[Prince of BballParticipant]

All this smoke that they are blowing up in Toronto….I am 100% convince that the Raptors number one target in this draft is Lillard. I don’t think he passes the 8 spot in this draft so if Portland wants him they better take him at 6.

[Bill Walton’s KneesParticipant]

 Drummond and Marshall could run the pick and roll for years!!

[Aran SmithKeymaster]

If Lillard and Drummond are both there at 6, Portland takes Drummond.

If Oden could influence their thinking on Drummond, couldn’t Bayless influence their thinking on Lillard?

[Beard13Participant]

Beal than Leonard

[cycloParticipant]

I think Portland trades #6 and #11 to Cleveland for #4 and #24.

Portland uses #4 on Andre Drummond and #24 on whoever is left between Kendall Marshall and Marquis Teague.

[ZeeProfessorParticipant]

If it’s a choice between him and Lillard, I’d take Drummond if I was Portland’s GM. He’s only 18 and has an NBA ready body, this guy has the potential to be the next Dwight Howard.

Within 2 years, he would already be the perfect compliment to Aldridge if he can play solid defense, block shots, rebound and throw down alley oops. He wouldn’t face any pressure of scoring on offense with Aldridge scoring 20+ every night for Portland from the PF spot. I think that would really help his development rather than if he were going to a team like Charlotte where he would be getting pressure to get some points.

I really like Lillard as well, mostly because of his ability to score, but Portland could just go after another young point guard in free agency like Goran Dragic, who is more proven than Lillard.

[PulseGlazerParticipant]

Remember though, Portland will have a new GM.  If you’re a new GM, with the turnover rate in Portland, do you take Drummond, risk he’s a bust, and essentially give up your job or do you draft a safer bet and aim for job security? 

[HitsterParticipant]

A lot can depend on who has the final say in the team’s draft pick, in Portland’s case is it the new GM, the Team President, Coach, Owner, star player etc, they can all have imput and often the front office don’t agree. When Portland again traded down and took Webster in 2005, Kevin Pritchard had been very keen on CP3 I seem to recall.

I would never under estimate a star player’s influence even someone like LMA who isn’t a superstar could have sway if the said to Portland’s Front Office, he’d love to have Drummond as a running mate. Imagine if NJ had got say 2nd or 3rd pick and D-Will had expressed a preference for lets say MKG, then I doubt they would they have looked anywhere else if they thought it would have helped them to keep D-Will.

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