AKA “My last writes.” Bad pun. Oh, well.

Anyway, a huge day in Rip City, and I’m just starting to get my head around what all happened. Let’s take it (roughly) chronologically.

1. Blazers select Greg Oden with the first pick of the NBA draft. Not really a surprise to anyone, yet the whole town let out a collective sigh of relief because the management had us just twisted up enough about where they were going to keep us a little off balance. As I said earlier, this was the right pick. Kevin Durant may end up being the best pure scorer the league has seen in years, but unless your initials are MJ, that doesn’t matter in a league where the center is truly the key.

2. Blazers trade Zach Randolph, Freddie Jones and Dan Dickau to the Knicks for Channing Frye and Steve Francis. My feelings are really, really mixed on this one. On the one hand, I’ve been a big advocate of moving Zach for quite a while now. On the other hand, I don’t know that we got anywhere close to even value in this trade. The going theory that I’m seeing around is that Steve Francis will never wear a Blazers uniform. Widely known as a locker-room cancer and far from his exciting and productive past, Francis’ real value is in the opportunity to buy him out and create some cap space. So, this trade ends up being Z-Bo, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau for a back-up C/PF and some cap room. Eeek. The guys on ESPN were saying that Channing is a good character guy and would make a really good back-up, and that in the smaller market of Portland he might actually thrive. Still, I’d say New York walks away with the steal of the day here.

3. Blazers buy Phoenix’s #24 draft pick, Rudy Fernandez, for cash. Fernandez, from what I hear, is a tweener guard who shoots well and will make a capable back-up at both the SG and PG positions. That said, we’ll have to see what other moves the team makes this summer to see if he cracks the roster or gets shipped off to Europe to mature a bit.

4. Blazers trade second round pick (#42) and cash for Philly’s #30 pick, Petteri Koponen from Finland. This guy has some buzz around him and was apparently being scouted by the Spurs and Phoenix. That said, he’ll be in Europe for at least the next season. I figure he’ll serve as a bargaining chip next draft, or in some other trade down the road.

5. Blazers draft Josh McRoberts from Duke with the 37th pick of the draft. Interesting. McRoberts is a 240 lb forward/center. We seem to be getting a lot of these. He and Greg Oden are good friends, so I figure he’s not going anywhere and will be a capable bench player.

6. Blazers select Taurean Green with the 52nd pick of the draft. For those of you who watched Oregon make its deep run in the NCAA tourney, Taurean Green was the bastard who kept on putting 3-point daggers in the hearts of Duck fans everywhere. He’s a great shooter and was the leading scorer for the NCAA champs. A solid pick-up, and he’ll make the roster this year.

7. Blazers select Demetris Nichols with the 53rd pick of the draft. Honestly I know nothing about this guy. ESPN’s Chad Ford calls him one of the best shooters in the draft. He’s a small forward, which we need. So no major complaints, I guess.

Lots of new names on the roster, and a few old ones moved. So, let’s see what our roster looks like now.

Center: Greg Oden / Joel Pryzbilla / Channing Frye / Josh McRoberts
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge / Channing Frye / Josh McRoberts / Travis Outlaw
SF: Travis Outlaw / Demetris Nichols / Martell Webster
SG: Brandon Roy / Martell Webster / Rudy Fernandez / Taurean Green
PG: Jarrett Jack / Sergio Rodriguez / Taurean Green / Rudy Fernandez / Petteri Koponen

This, of course, assumes that Steve Francis and Darius Miles never see any playing time, which given the depth at almost all of our positions seems safe.

I don’t see this as being over, of course. We still need a stud small forward and we have some cap space and some depth to work a trade with. What’s coming?

1. Joel Pryzbilla or Channing Frye will move on.
2. Jarrett Jack is nearly certain to be a goner.
3. Martell Webster is looking more tenuous on this roster every day.

What do I predict the roster to look like when the season begins?

Center: Greg Oden / Channing Frye / Josh McRoberts
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge / Channing Frye / Josh McRoberts
SF: Unknown stud / Travis Outlaw / Demetris Nichols
SG: Brandon Roy / Rudy Fernandez
PG: Sergio Rodriguez / Taurean Green

There’s room in there for a veteran PG to back up Sergio, or to start for us for awhile. Think Steve Blake.

Who will the stud SF be? I don’t know. I have no clue. If we had Z-Bo, we would’ve traded contracts and that’d make it easier for me to figure out. But at this point I’m at a loss. I have to assume that in pulling the trigger on the Knicks deal and not drafting a SF higher up, Kevin Pritchard has a plan. A mad genius plan, hopefully.

So, the NBA draft is over. Portland’s roster gets a major overhaul, there’s a huge buzz in town, and if you don’t get season tickets soon you’ll be screwed. It was a long, fun, night, and I suspect that the shot in the arm to the franchise from this will last for quite awhile.

What do I expect next year? If we get the stud SF, I suspect we make it to the play-offs for sure, and maybe even bust through the first round. I suspect in three years we’ll be competing for the Western Conference title. I suspect in 4-5 we’ll be playing for the league championship.

Blazers fans, our time has come. Rip City has returned. Bingo Bango Bongo and all that stuff.

And I, for one, couldn’t be happier to be back home in the land of Blazermania.