Safe to say the blazers made 2 of the worst draft choices EVER?

This thread is ten years away from possibly being relevant as far as Oden is concerned. Way, way too early to say anything about it.

 

Two words:

Jack.Haley.

 

Hindsight is 20/20, especially regarding Oden. There are only a few players per decade that come in the mold of Oden. I wouldn't blame Portland too much for selecting him over Durant.

 

It's difficult to fathom how the Clippers messed up in such a talented class with that Kandi Man pick.

 

It was actually Bowie over Olajuwan (who was drafted 2nd), which is worse as we actually needed a center but had no use for Jordan, who would not have stayed in a small market for long anyway.

I've never seen Olden or Jordon play, so I can't comment on those guys.

 

My guess is that you can find similar pre-draft concerns about many players who've had long careers - but yes, there were concerns.

 

That is incorrect. Hakeem was drafted first. Bowie second. Jordan third.

The Blazers lost the coin flip that could have given them Hakeem.

 

And they would have taken Hakeem (then Akeem) if they had wont the coin flip.

BNM

 

Correct. However, being that Ramsay was the coach at the time, and the prevailing wisdom was that the Blazers needed a big man to compete with Jabbar in the West, plus the fact that the Blazers had drafted Clyde Drexler the year before, there was no way in hell that the Blazers would have drafted MJ. None. And any other GM in the league in the same situation would have done the same. Bowie was a stud in college, 2nd team All American and came up huge for Kentucky in the 1984 NCAA Tourney.

 

Yeah, his wrist sure held him back. So did his disc problems. He was the concensus no.1 pick, so I think it made a lot of sense for all the other teams to be whispering they're concerned about his knees. They were in no position to take him so might as well try to make him slide.

 

And in 5 years at Kentucky, he played in about 3 seasons worth of games due to injuries.

Sorry, but Bowie was a terrible pick. A great player from the neck up - but his injury problems were well documented. Everyone agreed that Hakeem was #1 - but there was no consensus that Bowie was #2. Even the Blazers' own scouts wanted Barkly - but were shouted down by Ramsey and his obsession with Bowie as the best passing big man since Walton.

 

As far as I'm concerned, Oden isn't officially a bust until the day he leaves the NBA. His raw ability is shows the potential of an all-star, and I won't give up on him until he calls it quits.

BTW, am I the only person who doesn't think Roy and Durrant could successfully co-exist?

 

As far as bad choices (not taking into consideration somewhat unforeseeable injuries), one could argue that giving up the chance to draft Chris Paul (or Deron Williams) to take Martell Webster, was the worst draft choice the Blazers ever made.

 

Let us not forget that Rod Thorn offered us the #3 pick and another player so he could take Bowie. No one knew what Jordan would become.

 

If they put good players around Durant, he will win a championship. If they don't, he won't. Won't reflect on him either way. He's a stud. He might win MVP this year.

 

Bullshit. Pippen/Jordan won titles. Pierce/KG/Allen won a title. You need more than one star to win. And both Roy and Durant are better than Melo and Iverson.

Furthermore, Durant may be better than Roy. In which case, if you're correct (which I don't think you are), then you trade Roy.

Or are you still set in your ways that we shouldn't have drafted Jordan because we already had Drexler?

We fucked up. Should've picked Durant. Doesn't mean we can't win with Oden. But we should've drafted Durant.

 

The Bulls knew.