The Blazers came into draft night with three first round picks and they used those picks to select two players: Zach Collins from Gonzaga and Calebe Swanigan from Purdue. Television voice of the Blazers, Kevin Calabro joined the Rip City Drive with Travis and Chad to discuss the two draft picks and their fits with the Blazers going forward.
Calabro believes Collins is going to be a nice compliment to the Blazers big three.
"With Zach Collins, you have somebody thats definitely on the career arc of Dame, C.J. and Nurk. You have the two guards under contract until 2021. We know what Nurkic means to this club. And we know what the Blazers look like in the month of March. I think there's enough there, a sample size of 16 games at 13-3 to give you a pretty good indication as to what they foresee for the club next year."
Calabro is also very excited about the addition of Caleb Swanigan.
"The Swanigan selection, I thought was so creative, so sensational, I was really thrilled. Obviously a tremendous personal story, but a guy that's 18-12 and shoots nearly 45% from three in the Big Ten, Big Ten Player of the Year a year ago, Second team All-Academic -- The improvement that he has shown losing all that weight from eighth grade on despite all the craziness in his own life -- I thought they were two very intriguing picks for the Blazers."
Calabro also gave his thoughts on whether the Blazers might be able to shed some of their salary before this year's trade deadline.
"I just don't think any of those guys really attained the level of proficiency that they thought they would last year. So to me, it's going to be hard to move a guy that didn't excel last year."
Take a listen to the great interview below and sure to tune into Rip City Radio 620 next week when Collins and Swanigan make their debuts here in Portland.