THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Keeping one eye, at least, on Blazers, Zags in Thursday’s NBA draft

The NBA draft does not generate nearly the interest that the NFL draft does.

But it is much quicker.

People set aside time in their lives to watch the NFL draft, and some even flock to the site of the draft, to experience the festivities of the selection process firsthand.

I understand — sort of. But the NFL has taken something that is not really an event, and packaged it as an event.

The NBA draft is a little bit different.

In the “old” days, if memory serves, the draft started at 10 a.m. Pacific time on a weekday.

TV? Hah!

I was working in downtown Spokane in June of 1978 when the NBA draft rolled around. And if memory serves, I found out that the Portland Trail Blazers selected Mychal Thompson with the No. 1 pick by purchasing the afternoon newspaper from a rack on the street corner during my lunch break.

A couple years later, still pre-internet of course, the draft was either shown on tape-delay or on replay that night.

Home from work by that time, I went outside and shot baskets until the Blazers picked again in the next round.

THE NBA Draft lasts only two rounds these days, though it still tends to drag on for nearly four hours. If you’re still watching in the second round, you might doze in and out of consciousness, and miss some of the picks, especially when teams select overseas guys you’ve likely never heard of — and guys that will never play in the NBA.

If you were still awake in the second round, you probably didn’t raise an eyebrow when the Denver Nuggets took a big guy from Serbia named Nikola Jokic with the 41st overall pick in 2014.

Jokic, of course, just led Denver to its first NBA title, and is becoming one of the faces of the league.

And now there are some who think his success in the league could raise the NBA draft hopes of a certain Zag big man — though their games are hardly similar.

Anyway, I will watch the NBA draft on Thursday — at least the first three picks — to see what the Blazers do with the No. 3 pick.

Will they keep it, and take some 19-year old and hope he’s the answer? Will they trade it? Will they get distracted, and forget to make the pick?

Though they only had a 10.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick in the lottery, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief that the Blazers did not win the lottery and the chance to select Victor Wembanyama, the 19-year-old French sensation.

Why? Knowing their luck, “Wemby” would have turned out to be injured, or a bust — or both.

That’s just the luck the Blazers have had with high draft picks.

Bill Walton led Portland to its only NBA title, but foot injuries eventually cut short what should have been a dominant pro career.

You probably don’t need a reminder that the Blazers drafted Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan in 1984.

And, of course, Brandon Roy was the sixth overall pick out of U-Dub (and Garfield High) in 2006 — and had his promising career cut short by knee injuries.

Thompson, of course, won two NBA titles — after the Blazers traded him to the Lakers in 1987.

THE BLAZERS are good about that — giving away good players so they can go from a losing situation to a winning environment, after they’ve served their time in Portland.

In recent years, the Blazers “freed” CJ McCollum so he could experience the playoffs with the New Orleans, just as the Blazers did in 1995 when they “freed” Clyde Drexler so he could help Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets repeat as NBA champs.

Perhaps the Blazers are considering “freeing” Damian Lillard so he can experience a shot at an NBA title with some other team.

Perhaps they are considering trading the No. 3 pick for another star to pair with Lillard — forgetting, of course, that they had a player of that caliber in McCollum, and still were mediocre.

Naturally, one of the “stars” being mentioned as a possible trade option for Portland is Zion Williamson — better known as “The oft-injured Zion Williamson.”

The same Zion Williamson who, because of assorted injuries to his knee, thumb and foot, has played in just 114 of 318 regular season games in his four NBA seasons — including just 23 of 82 games this past season.

The same Zion Williamson whose ballyhooed Duke career consisted of losing to Gonzaga, blowing a shoe against North Carolina, and failing to lead the Blue Devils to the Final Four.

Keep Dame? Trade Dame?

While the Blazers have made the playoffs eight times in Lillard’s 11 seasons, they’ve made it as far as the conference finals just once.

EVEN IF Portland lands a generational talent at No. 3 — or even trades for one — it might not matter, for the Blazers don’t look like they have a plan for what they want to do out on the floor anyway.

I see a guy like Gary Payton II flourish in a specific role at Golden State — then be a poorly utilized part of the furniture in Portland — until he was “freed” to rejoin the Warriors.

In Portland, Jokic probably would have been shoved into the low post and yelled at for taking outside shots.

But we’ll still pay attention to the NBA draft on Thursday — not only to see what the Blazers do, but also to see what kind of love the Lovable Zags get.

It’s still pretty good television, after all.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.