The Portland Trail Blazers hold the No. 6 and No. 11 after the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery was conducted on Wednesday night in New York City. The New Orleans Hornets took home the No. 1 pick, the Charlotte Bobcats got the No. 2 pick, and the Washington Wizards received the No. 3 pick.
The Blazers hold the No. 6 pick from the Nets as part of a March trade that sent forward Gerald Wallace to Brooklyn for center Mehmet Okur and forward Shawne Williams. Brooklyn would have kept their pick had it landed in the top-3 of this year's Lottery. The Nets finished with a regular season record of 22-44.
The No. 11 pick is Portland's own courtesy of a 28-38 regular season record.
The Blazers also hold the No. 40 and the No. 41 pick in the second round.
Blazers guard Wesley Matthews represented the team at the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery. Portland's pick had a 0.8 percent chance of landing at No. 1.
The Blazers hosted their first round of pre-Draft workouts on Tuesday. Further workouts are expected to take place in June.
The 2012 NBA Draft is on Thursday, June 28.
Here's an excerpt from a team press release.
The Portland Trail Blazers hold the 6th and 11th picks of the first round of the 2012 NBA Draft as a result of today's draft lottery. This year's draft marks the first time Portland has had two lottery picks since the lottery was introduced in 1985.
"This is tremendous news for us as we begin to reload our roster and start a new chapter of Trail Blazers basketball," said President Larry Miller. "To have two lottery picks in what is considered a very deep and talented draft puts us in a position to significantly improve our roster."
Chad Ford of ESPN.com has the Blazers selecting UConn center Andre Drummond at No. 6 and UConn guard Jeremy Lamb at No. 11.
The Blazers need size and Drummond is huge. He's a major project, but in the right team environment, Drummond could be another Andrew Bynum.
The Blazers really need a center or a point guard. But with Lillard off the board, I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled the trigger on Lamb, who could go anywhere from No. 6 to No. 13 on draft night. Portland's scouting staff has been high on him all year and, while he wouldn't fill a primary need, he has the talent to eventually earn a spot as the team's starting 2-guard.
Here's the full 2012 NBA Draft Lottery order.
1. New Orleans Hornets
2. Charlotte Bobcats
3. Washington Wizards
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Sacramento Kings
6. Portland Trail Blazers (via Brooklyn Nets)
7. Golden State Warriors
8. Toronto Raptors
9. Detroit Pistons
10. New Orleans Hornets (via Minnesota Timberwolves)
11. Portland Trail Blazers
12. Milwaukee Bucks
13. Phoenix Suns
14. Houston Rockets
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter