This Tuesday’s draft lottery is almost certain to become the first sentence in the next chapter of the Portland Trail Blazers story. The Oregon franchise has the sixth-best odds, a 9% chance, at the number one pick. They have a 37.2% chance of moving up into the top four. Conversely, they have an 8.6% chance of finishing sixth, 29.8% at seventh, 20.5% at the eighth, and a 3.8% chance of finishing 9th or 10th. Their final position won’t be known until Tuesday evening, but that doesn’t stop us from talking about it.
For the purposes of this piece, I’ve divided the Blazers’ fortunes into four categories.