The 2023-24 NBA season has zoomed past just about every mile marker in its path. In-Season Tournament? Check. Trade Deadline? Unceremonious, but check. All-Star? Please see: “Trade Deadline.”
For non-contenders, post-All-Star is a race toward the lottery.
And that, unfortunately, is where the Portland Trail Blazers find themselves. Again.
If anyone is still watching.
Despite all the doom and gloom…not all is actually doom and gloom in Rip City.
The Blazers were supposed to be here. They were built to be here. And before you know it, they’ll have a chance to add promising prospects alongside Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe, who’ve all shown real flashes over the past 54 games.
Entering the season’s final quarter, the Blazers crave growth, but they’re also desperately hopeful for the good fortune of ping-pong balls in May. That means it’s time to look seriously toward the future, with the year quickly coming to a close.
And that means it’s officially mock drafting time.
*Share your Trail Blazers draft targets in the Oregon Sports News comments or @OregonSportNews.
Western Conference Standings
13. Memphis Grizzlies (20-36)
14. Portland Trail Blazers (15-39)
15. San Antonio Spurs (11-44)
NBA Standings
26. Portland Trail Blazers (15-39)
27. Charlotte Hornets (13-41)
28. San Antonio Spurs (11-44)
29. Washington Wizards (9-45)
30. Detroit Pistons (8-46)
With roughly a quarter of the season to go, Portland is tracking toward the fifth-best odds for the No. 1 pick—a pick without a consensus name attached to it in 2024.
Ahead of the home stretch, I turned to FanSpo’s Draft Lottery Simulator and Mock Draft to see how things could shake out at those odds.
*For The Record: I simulated current lotto odds precisely one time.
I also set every team other than Portland to auto-draft based on two factors: team needs and FanSpo’s consensus prospect order. Then, I drafted each of the Blazers’ picks like a young Trader Joe Cronin Jr. fighting for my GM life.
This was a lot of fun, and I’ll do another FanSpo Mock Draft in May when the final odds are set, if not sooner.
For now, here is my 2024 lottery and a look at who Portland might draft in June.
The Results
Trail Blazers: No. 3 Pick
Name: Cody Williams
Position: SG
Size: 6’8”, 179 lbs
Team: Colorado
Year: Freshman
Age: 19
FanSpo Overall Prospect: No. 3
ESPN Overall Prospect: No. 3
The Trail Blazers land No. 3 for a second year in a row, leap-frogging both San Antonio and Washington from their projected fifth position. (Sorry, Spurs, but you already got Wemby. And apologies, Wizards, you’re just…stuck…in mediocrity.)
FanSpo gets right to the point and right to the heart of Rip City, with pro comps for Williams: Jerami Grant and Pascal Siakam.
As FanSpo puts it: “If Cody Williams hits his ceiling, he is going to be an extremely versatile player who can be the most impactful player on a team, even if he isn’t the best player on that team.”
There’s much to get excited about here if you’re the Blazers.
For starters, Portland has been missing size in the backcourt since the dawn of Dame. Williams’ length and timing help forecast a defense that translates to the pros, and an emerging playmaking role with Colorado is only boosting his upside.
Think more about that FanSpo quote, though. Portland, in particular, needs a long-term reserve guard with both size and a bag behind Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe.
That’s exactly what Williams would be—someone developing his versatility behind the core and also someone on the same career arc.
Impossible To Predict
So far, Williams has been linked to Portland across mock drafts, including at No. 5 in recent weeks. But he’s also on scout radars as someone with No. 1 potential if his offense improves through March Madness and into the May draft combine.
Really, the 2024 class lacks an obvious generational superstar, but it has enough talent at the top for real competition at No. 1, and Williams could be a realistic option wherever the Blazers land.
If Portland does hit a top-three pick, taking any of Williams, Alexander Sarr, or Zaccharie Rischar would score them the size they need. All three are defensive cornerstones ready-made to pair with a backcourt setup for the future.
Trail Blazers: No. 13 Pick
Name: Kyle Filipowski
Position: PF
Size: 7’0”, 230 lbs
Team: Duke
Year: Sophomore
Age: 20 Years Old
FanSpo Overall Prospect: No. 13
ESPN Overall Prospect: No. 9
The Blazers land No. 13 in this simulation, courtesy of the Golden State Warriors. Portland owns this pick as a gem from the Jrue Holiday trade that also brought back Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, and a 2029 unprotected first-rounder from the Boston Celtics.
Trade details aside, please turn your attention to Duke’s Kyle Filipowski. Because I love the way FanSpo describes the big man’s pro comparisons:
“Kelly Olynyk+ mixed with A LITTLE BIT of Karl-Anthony Towns.”
As long as he was available in this mock draft, I was going to take Filipowski here, even if FanSpo had rated him lower. That would have been realistic, by the way, seeing how the 7-foot power forward has gone 16th to the Orlando Magic in recent mocks, like on NBADraft.net.
Other draft projections, of course, have Filipowski as high as No. 9, like The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. Without question, the Oklahoma City Thunder would value the big man’s versatility alongside Chet Holmgren next season.
Simply put: If Filipowski ends up being available at 13, the Blazers shouldn’t hesitate. We have two months to see how this all plays out. But Filipowski and Williams is a fun combo to start dreaming about with both March Madness and the NBA draft lottery on the horizon.
