The Portland Trailblazers are a good basketball team right now. It surprised the heck out of me that the Blazers fired GM Kevin Pritchard right before the NBA draft started last week. The Trailblazers are courting ex-Cavaliers’ GM Danny Ferry for Pritchard’s old job. If Ferry takes the job look for him to immediately talk to his old team about Mo Williams. A trade of Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez and either Dante Cunningham or Jeff Pendergraph to the Cavs for Mo Williams and Delonte West would make perfect sense for both teams. That means it’s too good to happen. The Blazers could be one of the teams to beat in the Western Conference in 2010-11 especially if Marcus Camby and Greg Oden can stay healthy all year. I don’t see the Blazers being very busy in free agency but they need to reward Juwan Howard for a job well done and bring him back for another year.

The Trailblazers selected 21-year old point guard Armon Johnson out of Nevada with the 34th overall pick of the NBA Draft. Johnson played in 34 games (all starts) for Nevada last year and he averaged 15.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. He played in 101 games (99 starts) in his college career and he averaged 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Johnson won’t get much P.T. in 2010-11 as the Blazers are stacked at point guard.

The Trailblazers have picked 21-year old shooting guard Elliot Williams with the 22nd overall pick in the NBA Draft. Williams is rail thin at 6′5″, 180 pounds but he can put the ball in the basket. He played in 34 games (all starts) for Memphis last season and he averaged 17.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Williams played in 68 games (46 starts) in his two years in college and he averaged 11.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Williams will be Brandon Roy’s backup in 2010-11 so he won’t have any pressure right away.

The Timberwolves picked 21-year old small forward Luke Babbitt out of Nevada with the 16th overall pick of the NBA Draft. They then traded Babbitt and 27-year old Ryan Gomes to the Trailblazers for 23-year old SG/SF Martell Webster. Babbitt played in 34 games (all starts) for Nevada last season and he averaged 21.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He played in 68 games (all starts) at Nevada and he averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The Blazers really like Babbitt but they will likely bring him along slowly. Ryan Gomes played in 76 games (64 starts) for the T-Wolves last season in which he averaged 29.1 minutes, 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He has now played in 374 games (307 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 29.2 minutes, 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Gomes is a solid basketball player who should provide good depth along the front line for the Blazers and he is more than capable than starting if they need him to. Martell Webster played in 82 games (49 starts) for the Blazers last season and he averaged 24.5 minutes, 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He played 5 years for the Trailblazers appearing in 301 games (164 starts) in which he averaged 23.2 minutes, 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. This was a solid trade for the Trailblazers.

UPDATE: (6/29/2010) - The Trailblazers have released Ryan Gomes to create more cap space. I definitely don’t like this trade near as much as I did on draft night for the Blazers.

The Trailblazers have the #22 and #34 picks in tomorrow night’s NBA Draft. Don’t be surprised if some other team is making those picks instead of the Blazers. Rumors are running rampant that the Blazers are talking to the Cavs about Mo Williams. To make that happen the Blazers would likely have to trade the Cavs Andre Miller and either another player or at least one of their draft picks. The Blazers are also taking calls for Rudy Fernandez who doesn’t seem to want to play in Portland anymore. If the Trailblazers keep their picks look for them to take the best player available regardless of position.

24-year old power forward LaMarcus Aldridge continues to improve for the Trailblazers. He played in 78 games (all starts) for the Blazers last season and he averaged 37.5 minutes, 17.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Aldridge has now played in 298 games (257 starts) in his 4 years in the NBA and he is averaging 33.4 minutes, 16.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 steal per game. The Blazers probably wish that Aldridge would shoot a couple of more times per game and get over 20 points per night. Maybe 2010-11 will be the year that he does that.

30-year old center Joel Przybilla has exercised his option with the Blazers for the 2010-11 season valued at $7.4 million bucks. Przybilla was smart to pick up the option as he knew he would get nowhere near that type of money in the free agent market. Przybilla played in 30 games (9 starts) last season for the Blazers and he averaged 22.7 minutes, 4.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He has now played in 364 games (264 starts) in his six years in Portland and he is averaging 23.1 minutes, 5.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. The Blazers now have Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla and Marcus Camby at center for the 2010-11 season so they are loaded there assuming that they can all stay healthy.

The Trailblazers have four free agents coming into this summer but they won’t have many hard decisions to make. Joel Przybilla has a early termination option in his contract but he’s not going anywhere. Juwan Howard would be a player the Trailblazers would like to keep as long as the price is right. Travis Diener is another player the Blazers might want back if he plays for the league minimum. Patrick Mills is a restricted free agent and the Blazers won’t match a decent offer if Mills gets one.