Canzano: What's Blazers F/C J.J. Hickson's Trade Value?

John Canzano of The Oregonian considers the possibility of the Portland Trail Blazers trading forward/center J.J. Hickson in advance of the Feb. 21 trade deadline.

Anyone who has ever spent any time around owner Paul Allen knows that he'll be irked if Olshey loses the 24-year-old Hickson at the end of the season without getting something for him.

That's not the tricky part. Because even as the Blazers love Hickson, there are a number of league executives who don't believe he has trade-deadline value beyond, maybe, a couple of future second-round draft picks.

...

So it goes that Olshey would face trading the inspiring, hard-working Hickson for a couple of marginal draft picks in the middle of a run at trying to become the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. Could Olshey sell that to his owner? Fans? Himself? And also, to complicate matters, consider that if Portland should be successful in scratching into the playoffs, they'd lose their 2013 first-round NBA draft pick (protected to No. 12 to Charlotte as part of the Gerald Wallace trade).

The 20-16 Blazers play 18 games between today and the trade deadline: nine at home and nine on the road. 10 of those games are against teams not currently in the playoff picture.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter