A draft to finally feel good about

Usually, seeing what the Portland Trail Blazers do on draft night is an exercise in angst.

But this year, because of shrewd scouting and/or dumb luck, the Blazers might have stumbled onto a couple worthy picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

Forward/center Zach Collins of Gonzaga, the 10th overall selection, and forward Caleb Swanigan of Purdue, taken in the second round. might give Portland the offensive balance it needs, and at least move the Blazers closer to competitiveness in a Western Conference figured to be ruled by the Warriors for years to come.

Emphasis on might.

But at least the picks were a step in the right direction, a sign that maybe, just maybe, the Blazers’ front office is starting to figure out how to use the draft to its advantage.

THIS IS not normal in Portland.

We don’t need to open the Sam Bowie-instead-of-Michael Jordan wound of 1984.

And the recent NBA Finals are another reminder of taking Greg Oden instead of Kevin Durant in 2007.

Maybe you remember LaRue Martin over Bob McAdoo with the top pick in 1972.

Just pick a year — nearly any year — and you wonder what they were thinking.

Granted, they hit home runs with guards Damian Lillard in 2012 and C.J. McCollum in 2013. But before that ...

There was Meyers Leonard (2012), Nolan Smith (2011), Elliot Williams (2010), Victor Claver (2009) and Brandon Rush (2008) as their first-round picks. Tyrus Thomas and Joel Freeland in 2006, Martell Webster and Linas Kleiza in 2005, Sebastian Telfair and Sergei Monia in 2004, Travis Outlaw in 2003, Qyntel Woods in 2002.

Zach Randolph was a pretty good first-round pick in 2001 — but sadly, he’s had most of his NBA success as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies.

You can’t blame them for thinking Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje was going to be the answer to their questions in the pivot in 2001.

Well, yes you can.

At least he was a second-round pick, so sometimes you roll the dice with those. But in a two-round draft, all picks should count. Draymond Green was a second-round pick by Golden State in 2012, so there is value to be found in that round.

You have to go back a ways for some of Portland’s better second-round picks over the years: Clifford Robinson (1989), Jerome Kersey (1984), Johnny Davis (1976), Bobby Gross (1975) and Dave Twardzik (1972).

Larry Steele (1971) was a third-round selection.

Some of Portland’s second-round picks of late: Jeff Withey and Grant Jerrett (2013), and Dante Cunningham, Jon Brockman and Patty Mills in 2009. Mills, of course, also went on to have success elsewhere, with the San Antonio Spurs.

Joey Dorsey and Omer Asik in 2008. Josh McRoberts in 2007.

Other than Randolph in 2001, before the Blazers took Lillard in 2012, you have to go back to 1996 and Jermaine O’Neal to find a productive first-round pick. And, naturally, he ended up with the Pacers.

Before that, you might have to go back to Terry Porter in 1985.

Two of their best drafts might have been in 2016 and 2014, when they didn’t pick anybody.

I remember getting excited in 1981, when they took Jeff Lamp and Darnell Valentine with the 15th and 16th picks.

That excitement didn’t last long.

Back when the Blazers took Mychal (father of Klay) Thompson at No. 1 overall in 1978, the draft was early enough in the day that the news made the afternoon paper in Spokane — back when Spokane had an afternoon paper.

A couple years earlier, the Blazers took Wally Walker in 1976. He was on their NBA title team as a rookie. These days, I work with a Wally Walker. I don’t think he’s the same guy.

AS FOR that other Zag, Nigel Williams-Goss should get a lot of love in Utah, where Jazz fans have been Zag fans since that Stockton fellow showed up in 1984. He’s already 2-0 in Utah’s home arena. Other than Stockton and Malone, NBA standouts are more likely to leave there than come there or stay there, and it would help NWG and the Jazz if Utah could keep Gordon Hayward in town.

BACK TO Collins and Swanigan.

We saw what Collins could do in his brief time as a Zag — play facing the basket, play back to the basket, protect the rim. Swanigan is a beast inside.

If they can pan out, and can earn the trust of Lillard and McCollum, the Blazers will be a tougher team to defend. As it is, Lillard and McCollum now take most of the shots on that team because, well, somebody has to score. They take a lot of tough shots, but they make a lot of tough shots. But they also miss a lot of shots — shots that might come easier for Collins and Swanigan, if defenses aren’t able to just key on Lillard and McCollum.

It’s been 40 long years since Walton and Lucas and Hollins and Twardzik and Davis and Gross and Steele led Portland to its only NBA title. At least the Blazers won theirs two years before the Sonics did, so there is that.

Since then, Portland has had brief flings with greatness — there was Drexler and Kersey and Duckworth and Williams and Porter and Robinson, but they couldn’t beat the Bad Boys or the Bulls. Nearly a decade later, a Portland pickup team couldn’t beat Shaq and Kobe and the Lakers.

Other than that, there hasn’t been much to get excited about.

So for long-suffering Blazers fans, it would be nice if the new kids on the block worked out.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.