Portland Trail Blazers 2020 two round mock draft compilation 2.0
By finishing the 2019-20 NBA season with a 35-39, the Portland Trail Blazers have the 16th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Through the NBA draft in November, Pacific Northwest Sports will compile data from various mock drafts. Rather than our readers chase across the internet for information about who the Portland Trail Blazers pick, we bring you the consensus.
For edition 2.0, we used 25 mock drafts. NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, and The Athletic were among the sites we audited this time around. The sources may change a bit from article to article, but they are credible.
Due to COVID-19, the 2019–20 NBA Season was unlike anything else in league history. Before the pandemic induced break, the Portland Trail Blazers played through a staggering amount of key injuries. For most of the season, the Blazers played without Jusuf Nurkic, Zach Collins, and Rodney Hood.
Portland entered the Orlando bubble in ninth place in the West, three-and-a-half games behind Memphis. They claimed the eighth and final playoff spot with a strong 6–2 performance. Ultimately the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers proved to be too much and eliminated the upstart Blazers from the postseason in the first round.
Assessing the roster
To reach the next level the Trail Blazers need more help. Both Anthony and Whiteside are pending free agents. Melo said Portland felt like home and wants to come back but that doesn’t mean he will be. Whiteside will likely be too high priced for the Blazers to re-sign.
With Nurkic and Collins on the team and healthy, he is a high-profile bench player. The Blazers won’t pay $27M for a substitute, nor should they. Whiteside, for his part, won’t play for the same or less money after leading the league in blocks and finishing second in rebounds.
Both Mario Hezonja and Caleb Swanigan are also pending UFAs. Neither is close to a starter, but someone has to play those minutes off the bench. An already thin frontcourt is about to get thinner.
Additionally, 34-year-old small forward Trevor Ariza, who opted out of the restart for personal reasons, has a reasonable $1.8M buyout of his $12M contract. With Hood coming back from an Achilles tear, an additional outside shooter would be a nice addition as well.
Between now and draft day on November 18, there will be plenty of signings, extensions, buyouts, and trades. That’s why the mock drafts will be somewhat fluid going forward.