JACKPOT!

The Blazers have won the NBA Lottery.

I am truly stunned. That looks even better typed on my laptop screen that it did on ESPN.com.

I've been a die-hard Blazer fan for my entire 28-year existence on this planet, and tonight's lottery was one of the top-ten best Blazer moments of my life. The great news keeps on coming for Portland. As Greg Anthony pointed out, Portland already had one of the most impressive collection of young players in the league, and now it's about to go off the charts. Last year, Portland utilized the draft to fleece Boston of Brandon Roy, Chicago of LaMarcus Aldridge, and Phoenix of Sergio Rodriguez. This year, they got lucky with the lottery and will be selecting Greg Oden.

A few selections from around the 'net:

"Jackpot! The Blazers are a good fit for Oden. With Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, the Blazers have an extraordinary young core and will be a playoff contender next year." -Chad Ford, ESPN.com

"It really is an amazing moment for the Portland Trail Blazers. Now Kevin
Pritchard gets to do all his gamesmanship magic and try to freak out the rest of
the league -- who know that he'll do some bold stuff because he did it last
year...for the record, I trust Pritchard with this decision." -Henry Abbot, TrueHoop

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the odds and won the right to settle the Greg Oden-Kevin Durant debate. With just a 5.3 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick, the Blazers won the NBA's draft lottery Tuesday night, earning the right to draft a potential franchise player from what's considered to be a deep class. Represented by Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy, the Blazers got a head start on landing next year's top rookie. -Associated Press

"They're going to help us right away. They can come into the NBA right away and play. I'm just excited about sitting back and knowing our general manager has the choice of drafting either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden. Either one, you can't go wrong. So I'm excited we have the opportunity to choose between the two." -Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazers

My favorite part of the lottery? The smile on Brandon Roy's face when the vice-commish announced Seattle as the #2 pick. He knows, we know, and the nation is soon to know, that there's something special brewing in Portland.

Go Blazers.


-Moderator