Billy boy is "tweeting" some old pre-draft links and they make for a pretty good read. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=nbamockdraft/070627 2007 draft: Then again he thought Joe Alexander was going to be pretty good the following year
Somewhere within that same draft time frame, he was saying Portland should take Durant. Keep Zach, and also sign and trade for Rashard Lewis. I don't think he wanted to see us play any defense whatsoever.
History has not rendered its final judgement on Greg Oden yet. Simmons still has time to be wrong. I don't see Kevin Durant with any rings on his fingers, either. Sometime, somewhere (hopefully it's in Portland), Greg Oden will have the last laugh on his detractors.
holy cow. taking delusional to an all new level. "mom i just scored a goal.... i know hun... you are the greatest"
Oh come on Mixum it was a mistake at the moment to take Oden thats pretty obvious. The fact of the matter is Oden could come back and absolutely dominate, he is only 22 and should have no real lasting effects from his surgeries. There is probably a bigger chance he will become a bust but since there is no way we can get a big man with near his potential anytime soon we might as well take a chance on him with a 4 year contract that expires the same time as Roy's.
I was wondering during last night's game, what was Roy's value at the time of the Oden/Durant draft debate? His knees weren't widely regarded as a ticking time bomb back then, were they? I can't help but think he could have been sufficient trade bait to land the #2 pick and take both guys instead of having to choose. Boy would that have been nice in hindsight, having a productive player out of that top pick and not having Roy's contract for a bench player. Oh well, wishful thinking. We probably would have missed out on getting our butts kicked by Houston in the playoffs.
Hindsight. Is. 20. 20. It's been said a thousand times: every GM in the league would've taken Oden #1. Remember the Orlando pre-draft camp that year, when Durant couldn't bench 200 lbs even once (and he was the *only* guy who couldn't do it)? Yeah.
Actually this was Bill Simmons before the draft, so it's actually foresight. And for KD's sake I'm glad basketballs only weigh a couple of pounds ...
It should be mandatory for anyone who calls themselves a sports fan (or reality TV fan, or gambling fan, or ...)
Simmons is basically a comedy writer. I love his stuff, and he wrote a great book about the NBA, but picking Durant in a phony draft had almost no downside for him. If he's "right", he looks great. If he misses, oh well, it was just goofy Bill Simmons in a goofy mock draft.
I disagree that Alonzo didn't have the will. That guy played with serious intensity but never had good enough teammates to win it all (of course he DID win it all in 2006 as a role player). I mean, look at KG. If he never gets traded to Boston, he never wins a title. Would that mean KG never had the "will"? I take exception to that.
