I think he and Anthony are comparable in all those respects. Durant may be a slightly better defender (average, while Anthony is just below average) but Anthony is a slightly better passer. It's been a knock on Kobe, but I don't think a fair one. I think he's been a very good passer for a wing pretty much his entire career. Phil Jackson has said that Kobe Bryant functioned as the Lakers' de facto point guard, and I agree with that. Players like Derek Fisher and Shannon Brown and other guards playing alongside Kobe were not passing play-makers. Kobe isn't LeBron James, but he's a good initiator and was even when young. Hmm. I'd place him behind LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard. On the same tier with Kobe Bryant (who is just past his prime now) and a few other players. So a top-ten player, but perhaps not a top-five. At his age, though, he certainly could reach that exalted company, but I think he'll have to become a better passer to do so.
He led the league in scoring, was All-NBA first team, was 3rd in PER, and finished 2nd in the NBA MVP vote. On top of that, he set a scoring record for Team USA and led a young team to a world title at the age of 21. That's pretty much Top 5 at this moment, isn't it?
I don't place much emphasis on international tournaments for NBA status, personally. I think the argument could be made for him being in the top five...after all, I only named four I consider clearly ahead of him. Placing him in a group for the next tier makes him only questionably top five to me, but definitely top ten.
So ... where do you put Oden right now, and where do you see him after this season in terms of NBA status?
Hmm, I have no idea where to rank Oden. Not very high, since season impact is what matters to me. Once you get outside the top 20 or so, it's pretty hard to rank players. #50? #100? No idea. I think if he has a season like last year's, but stays healthy, he'll be at least a top-15 player. He also needs to cut down his fouls to get into the top-10. If he suffers another major injury, then he's not really "worth" ranking, so to speak. Since I can't predict his health (there are competing issues there to me), I can't predict whether he will do those things. Just that that's where I'd see him if those things happen.
if you're talking about "projection" I think you also have to factor in game time. If you looked at Durant after 82 games, he wasn't polished at all. He made a decent step up on his offensive game from Yr 1 to Yr 2, and then a leap overall for year 3. I think with more games (obviously it's going to be difficult if he stays injured/gets injured again) Oden will naturally overcome the foul issues and get more comfortable on the court ..and since it's D that's his strength, with a defensive-minded coach and system, I think the improvement projections for Oden will be quicker than Durant's were. That said, I would take Durant today for Oden today if OKC called. And I'm one of Greg's biggest homers.
Personally, I'm a Noah fan. I think he's full of fire that spread to his team. Let's say it's draft time, again. We know what we know now. Durant if off the board and P-town needs a center. Would you select Oden (knowing what we know) or Noah? (Noah averaged a double/double last year. He shot 52% fg average in the last two years. He had nearly 2 blocks a game and shot 75% from the line.)
Noah has also played in an average of 73 games over the last three seasons and steadily increased his contributions.
Based upon what actually happened the past 3 years, sure, you take Noah. But it's a flawed question, IMO. Suppose Noah goes out in the next pre-season game and suffers a career-ending injury, while Oden recovers and plays without significant injury the rest of his career. Based upon talent and size, GO was the correct choice at the time. Only playing out the rest of their respective careers will reveal whether it was the best decision in actuality.
