I honestly don't know, folks. I don't follow the daft closely enough or know the draft tendencies of what teams are looking for nowadays. Now the MLB Draft is going on, you want to talk the why the Braves build around young HS position players or the Yankees go for college pitchers 9 out of ten picks, I can tell you their reasoning. But how the game of basketball has evolved sine we took Oden, I got a vague understanding of organizational strategies and that it.
Pre-draft comparisons for Durant was a thin T-Mac. Oden was Bill Russell/David Robinson/Mutumbo. http://www.nbadraft.net/players/greg-oden http://www.nbadraft.net/players/kevin-durant
Sad to say, had we drafted Durant instead of Oden in 2007 we'd still likely have watched Durant win a ring with GS yesterday...........
Wow. Good point. Hadn't thought of that. Kind of like if we hadn't drafted Bowie we wouldn't gotten Buck. I realize it's of small consolation but it does exist.
Sure the game has changed and hindsight is always 20:20, but at the time of the draft, 29 of 30 GMs said they would have taken Oden over Durant. He was going to be the best center since Shaq and his defense was being compared to Bill Russell, David Robinson and Hakeem. Of course, if you gave that survey now, most (all) GMs would say Durant, but they have seen how this movie ends. Not only do they know how the game has changed, but they know all about Oden's injuries and that Durant just won a ring and Finals MVP. But ask yourself this, even knowing how the game has changed, if Shaq was in this draft, would he not be the consensus No. 1 pick? What about Bill Russell? Tim Duncan? David Robinson? Hakeem? Other than maybe the 2003 draft, when LeBron went No. 1, any of those guys would have been the No. 1 pick in the draft this year, last year, next year, every year in the last 40 and likely every draft in the next 40. If healthy, Oden could have been a once a generation, game changing player at both ends of the floor. Even though his offense wasn't highly polished, he was physically overpowering and had a nice touch around the basket with both hands (ironically, the wrist injury forced him to learn to use his left hand). On the other end, his defense was game changing. His rebounding was elite on both ends. A healthy Oden, combined with a healthy Roy and Aldridge would have made us contenders for a decade. Injuries robbed us of Oden and Roy. It happens. At least in Roy's case, the red flags were there. He'd already had multiple knee surgeries. Not so, in Oden's case. Too bad it didn't work out... BNM
In his first two seasons, these were his Defensive Ratings: 104 and 100. So he was good defensively as a rookie (after coming back from an injury) and great as a second-year player. His Rebound Rate was 18 as a rookie and 19.5 as a second-year player. But no one really disputes his defensive and rebounding potential. It's his offensive potential that a certain someone thinks was lacking. So how productive was he in the NBA? First Year: 116 Offensive Rating / 18.1 PER / .599 TS% Second Year: 118 Offensive Rating / 23.1 PER / .647 TS% Clearly, an offense-killer in his first experience with the NBA. Oden had no clear flaws as a player (aside from, unfortunately, health). He had the potential to be a defensive anchor and offensive centerpiece. The only issues he had in those 82 games he played his first two years was with fouling and turnovers. In other words, the two things you'd expect a very young player to struggle with in his first NBA experience. Both highly correctable and not at all uncommon in young players. There's little question in my mind that, given his scouting pedigree, college dominance and NBA productivity, he would have been an NBA superstar had he remained healthy.
D69 and I both picked Durant then and for the same reasons I'm sure we would do so now regardless of it was a small-ball era or not.
When Pritchard said one would win multiple scoring titles and one would win multiple championships, I assumed he was speaking about the differences between the two players. I didn't realize he was referring to the sma player in his comment.
Where he was, where Portland was.... That fateful night in December.... We could have been so good, Oden could have been so good.,.
I remember that night too. I remember mike and mikes call over it. Oden on the ground, dent in his knee, carted off. Fuck man, posts like this make me remember, he was playing really good too before the injury. I was looking forward to seeing him improve. Then Roy.... Time to drink at 5 AM
Like I said, I don't see in him what you did. I wouldn't have drafted him over Durant, even without 20-20 hindsight. No amount of bullying is going to make me change my mind. Noah wasn't all that great for a few seasons in the NBA, either.
