Remember when the Hornets drafted Emeka Okafor ahead of Dwight Howard? Everyone felt he was the safe choice and obviously it's clear who the better player was. Anyone else starting to wonder if Durant should have been selected ahead of Oden?
It's pretty obvious that he should have. Oden hasn't proved much and is injury prone. Durant is already a top 10 player in the league IMO. I'm not saying Oden doesn't have all-star potential, but Durant is already an all-star talent and has the potential to be an MVP one day.
I think you meant the Bobcats. You're getting the current Charlotte team mixed up with the old one there pal. And yes, they absolutely made a mistake. I was thinking Durant should have been the first player taken in that draft anyways, but there was so much hype surrounding Oden with everyone calling him the next great big man. He certainly hasn't lived up to that, but he has shown flashes. If he ever wants to be a great offensive player, he's going to need to work on his post moves. He doesn't really know how to operate down there right now and really relies off that freakish athleticism of his to score, much like Dwight did when he first came in the league. The kid though, has the potential. He's already solid on defense and on the glass, so if he can ever put it together offensively, he can very easily be one of the top 5 big men in the league. However, when they passed on Durant, they passed up a dynamite scorer who would have made the All Star game had his team not been in the gutter of the NBA. He's going to win his fair share of scoring titles throughout his career, and at some point is likely to be a 25/10/4 guy. He's got gobs of potential and he's just going to continue to get better on both ends of the court. I really think the Blazers made a mistake passing up on him, but that's just my opinion.
Another obvious comparison here is Bowie-Jordan : Oden-Durant. Bowie was drafted by the Blazers, and had a solid career but he was riddled with injuries. Jordan turned out to be the best player in NBA history. Oden will have a much better career than Bowie (unless his injury problems are serious) and Durant won't be as good as Jordan, but it's a comparable situation.
This is what I'm thinking....Shape you losing it man? First getting the Bobcats confused with the Hornets & the pick too?
For what the Raptors wanted, yes. He has improvements so much. Remember, those teams did not have a Bosh to compare with. Roy and LA pretty much are a lot of that team and Gay really, minus this year, was free to shoot and still is.
Well I know this guy sucks, but the blazers did have zach randolph and you have to remember he is probably one of the biggest ballhogs in the league. But it is true they didn't have a Bosh type player. I'm happy to see Bargs playing better.
I agree he's a ball hog. I think the Blazers had settled the future with Roy and LA while Bosh was the future in Tdot, and Bargs was the guy to elevate him. Was 2006 KP's first draft in Portland?
Too much beer. LOL. Damn. Let me try again. All the draft experts had Okafor ranked ahead of Howard and the Magic were criticized for drafting Howard instead of the sure thing at the time, Okafor. I think Okafor ended up winning ROY and people were questioning if Orlando made the right decision.
He already is that under Brooks, since being moved away from shooting guard. He's averaging 30/9 in 2009 and is the league's leading scorer since January 1st. I think he averaged nearly four assists and 10 rebounds a game in January and his numbers in February are insane too. Not to mention he's shooting nearly 50% from the floor and 43% from downtown on the season which is pretty amazing given his first month and a half. Injury permitting, this is a guy who is going to score 25,000+ points in his career and probably average 30 a game at least one season. He's a year younger than Mayo and only five days older than Derrick Rose too. It's sad as a Sonics fan as Presti has done a really, really good job with this team. Adding Chandler to the core, not to mention three first rounders in this year's draft, ensures they will be a playoff team within two seasons. PJ was a horrible appointment but Brooks has been a revelation. This should all be happening in Seattle and it sucks balls. And there is absolutely no question Portland stuffed up, but then I reckon a lot of people secretly knew that on draft night.
portland made the right pick. no matter what happens in their careers, you can't go back in time and change that oden was the best prospect to enter the league since lebron(yes, a better prospect than dwight, paul, etc). portland made the absolutely no brainer decision that the media tried to hype up as a tough choice between two guys(just like the media did with yao/jay williams, lebron/carmelo, etc). obviously, up to this point things haven't quite worked out for oden like they have for durant individually. that doesn't change that he was the correct choice.
they definitely could have a good team very soon. if they can come away from the draft with james harden and another guard like jeff teague, eric maynor, or ty lawson, they could be well on their way to becoming an above .500 team in the near future.
Really, based on what? Oden struggled a fair bit at Ohio State (in fairness he had that wrist injury) while Durant put up one of the best college seasons ever seen. There are numerous rumours of Portland wanting Durant but being too scared to pass up Oden. It wasn't even close to a 'no brainer'. Well, it does really.
