MAILBAG: Is it More Beneficial for the Trail Blazers to Make the Playoffs or Keep Their Lottery Pick?

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We'll be rolling out mailbag responses over the next several days this week, but first I want to do something I don't do nearly enough, which is pause to celebrate my own wins.

The Associated Press Sports Editors, the most prestigious organization in sports media, which this site has been a member of for two years, unveiled the top-10 finishers in their annual writing contest last week, and for the second year in a row, I made the cut.

I placed in three categories: breaking news (for finding the WNBA's "Portland Fire" trademarks), explanatory (for this behind-the-scenes look at the scouting process for Yang Hansen) and columns (for a collection of four stories, including this one, which is aging very well at the moment).

If you look at the outlets listed, it's not a whole lot of one-man subscription operations. There are only three or four among the outlets honored, which are mostly newspapers and bigger digital publications.

On that note, I was very happy to see my guys Tyson Alger and Ryan Clarke get some much-deserved recognition for the great work they do in our market as well.

You don't get into this business to chase this kind of stuff, but it's always cool to have your work recognized on a level like this. And it's not lost on me that I'm able to do the work I'm doing right now because of all the support from my subscribers, who have stuck with me for what is almost through four full seasons now.

If you're not a paid subscriber yet, the stretch run of the season would be a good time to get on board. I have a lot of travel coming up between now and the end of the season (I'm on the next five-game trip later this month), and if the WNBA and WNBPA ever get their CBA done, the Portland Fire's inaugural season will be here very soon.

On to the first part of the mailbag...

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What are your thoughts on the benefits of actually making the playoffs (i.e. winning one play-in game) and getting our players experience being in that environment AND conveying our future pick to Chicago, which will allow us significantly more trade flexibility in the near future versus not being in the playoffs and potentially getting a relatively high pick in a lucrative draft class with someone that could be a great young asset at a cheap price?

- Eric W.

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