I wanted Oden in 2007 and that was absolutely the right choice. But knowing right now, would you trade Greg for Kevin?
No. We have our core and I think it will go further than our team with Durant on it. First off, he'll take a lot of shots from Roy, make him worse by giving Roy less touches. He'll just keep on shooting and shooting...maybe Roy can be his Pippen? but seriously...Roy is almost MVP-quality.
What's your point. Generally, big men in the league have won rings. When Oden returns, he'll be fine and him, LMA and Roy will be a dominant trio in the L. We have too many swingmen already + they are a dime a dozen....While Durant has great potential, to say he's Jordan or even Pierce is ridiculous. We've seen when Oden is in the game, he changes things on both ends. As he gets more expeirence, he will get less tick-tack fouls and draw more double/triple teams.
I won't vote yet. Would I trade him...probably not. I don't know I'm torn. I thought that Oden was going to blow up because I bought into the hype. If you look past how he gets into foul trouble, Oden has put up pretty good numbers in reality. But his injury history concerns me. I think that Durant may have been the overall better player. He and Roy would be a crazy good combination. Eh...I'm sure picking Oden was right. It fits better with the team. It helps to have a big man like that. Think about this. At least with the center the pick is "safe" because you usually take the size. Look at how Michael Beasily has turned out after his great year in college (a la Durant....not quite).
We should have drafted Hakeem. Right now I'd take Oden. If he completely falls apart several years down the line then I'd obviously say Durant. But the key here is to be patient for a little longer.
Wut u sayd. 100% aynd wood mayk tha swytch ryt nowe if pos Wuz ryte choyeez en 07. Budt Duryant iz speshal. Styl thingk Owden wyll bee relee gud in hiz owen ryght, ayd styl wyll paee off. eye styl cee shampeonchips.
I don't think saying he's Pierce is such a stretch. Pierce wasn't exactly a god for the majority of his career. He's been a regular All-Star, but not top-5 by any means. He's not Wade. He's not Kobe. He's not LeBron. I think Durant will definitely surpass Pierce, and there's a very good chance he'll be in the same echelon as Wade.
Sadly, yes. Its the injuries and questionable passion that pushes Durant ahead for me... I think Oden's ceiling is going to be much more dominant and condusive to winning, but I worry about the big guy, mainly whats in between his ears. Hopefully this is taken more as a compliment to KD than an insult to Gregory. Bayless, Roy, Durant, Aldridge, Przybilla (lots of trade bait to look for a center as well). Blake, Rudy, Batum/Webster, Outlaw off the bench. I really like that team.
Durant is so much more talented than Greg it's not even funny. The gap is like D-Wade and Tyson Chandler level. At the time you had to take Greg. He was an athletic freak coming off a beast of a National title game and a legit 7'0" Center. A true center. Injuries and the fact he's a mental midget only makes it tougher to stomach that we took this guy over Durant. Live and learn. It's not the first time we took the wrong guy.
Career done, 50 games in. Nice to see. As for the poll, no, I wouldn't. You can put that lineup up there, but if we drafted Durant, there's a good chance our lineup looks like Blake, Roy, Durant, Z-Bo, Aldridge. Bayless wouldn't likely be here. Do we draft the same after taking Durant? Is Rudy picked? Maybe we think we have enough scoring with Durant being chosen, and not trading Zach to make room for LMA and Greg. Does Roy ever become an All Star? Doubtful. A lot of fans whine and bitch about our coach, so then let's assume Durant is playing the Webster role, standing in the corner shooting 3s, so we still have Zach dominating the ball, Roy defering mroe to LMA, Zach, and Durant, and Durant as primarily a spot up shooter. And not a single defender to be seen. Yipppeeee! Sign me up for that clusterfuck of a team. No thanks. Greg is going to be just fine. I just hope everyone giving up on him stays that way. Please.
Would we have gotten a Pippen and Rodman to help MJ win 6 rings? Or Phil Jackson as a coach? As awesome a player as MJ was, he couldn't do it alone. We don't even know if Jordan would have become the same player in Portland. It is a pretty sure bet he wouldn't have started over Drexler his first year. There would have been article after article questioning who should play. Who know what the fuck would have happened? If things in Portland went exactly the same as they did in Chicago, then the result would be the same. Otherwise it is really hard to say.
Oden has played very well this year, as a rookie, and has suffered no career-altering injuries. These smaller injuries this season have been annoying, but certainly aren't enough to make me change my appraisal of his future. Based on his performance when he's been on the court, I still think he's on track to be a superstar center. Durant is performing as I expected (I fully expected him to establish himself as one of the great wings in the league) and Oden is still on the track I expected for him, so I wouldn't deal Oden for Durant. Both players are still who I thought they were, and I agreed with drafting Oden over Durant.
This. A thousand times this. Though this sort of discussion is fun, I do find it odd that people believe where a player lands has little to do with that player's development. I think it is huge. How does their first coach feel about young players? Are their team mates willing to give them help, or do they freeze them out? Which player does management choose as the cornerstone of the team? These all determine the future success of a player. Bayless and Sergio are prime examples. If OKC had drafted Bayless instead of Westbrook, I am guessing his stats would pretty much match Westbrooks. If Phoenix had kept Segio, the whole league would be creaming themselves about the second coming of Nash since Segio is a perfect fit for the SSOL offense. But that didn't happen, both players are on Portland. In Sergio's case, the offense Portland runs is almost the exact opposite of what would make him successful. In Bayless's case, Nate does believe in him enough to play him more then spot minutes. It may very well be that Oden is another such case.
