The Portland Trailblazers selected 20-year old forward Victor Claver with the 22nd pick in the NBA Draft last night. Claver played in 121 games in his 5-year career in Spain and he averaged 10.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. While he is a tad soft he did shoot 56.6% from the floor which is probably what caught the Blazers’ eyes. Still, better players seemed available when this pick came up.

The Trailblazers have acquired rookie point guard Jerryd Bayless and power forward Ike Diogu from the Pacers for Jarrett Jack, first round pick Brandon Rush and F/C Josh McRoberts. This was a steal for the Blazers as both Diogu and Bayless have big time upsides. Bayless might start at point guard as a rookie for the Blazers. He’s got nice size at 6′3″, 200 pounds and he shoots well from long range (40.7% on three pointers). Bayless started 30 games in his freshman year at Arizona and he averaged 19.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Ike Diogu is a power pack at 6′8″, 255 pounds. All he needs is playing time to show how dominant he could be and the Blazers might be willing to give it to him. Diogu played in 30 games (1 start) for the Pacers last season and he averaged 10.3 minutes, 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Look for him to definately come close to doubling those numbers with the Blazers this season. Diogu has now played in 158 games (17 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 13.3 minutes, 6.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. The Blazers made a very nice trade here as they are a better team because of it.

The Blazers selected Taurean Green in the 2nd round with the #52 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

The Blazers drafted Josh McRoberts in the 2nd round of the draft with the 37th overall pick.

The Trailblazers traded guard Derrick Byars who was drafted in the 2nd round and sent some cash to the 76ers for the rights to shooting guard Petteri Koponen from Finland who was selected with the 30th pick in the first round.