How would you feel if Portland took Durant?

And we were ?left? with Oden. I have a feeling Portland will try to atone for taking Bowie over Jordan back in 84. Thoughts.

 

I mentioned this in another thread. It seems like the Seattle media is already putting Kevin Durant in the Sonics lineup when nothing is set in stone. The 1984 draft is a great point. If Durant turns out to be the next superstar wing in the NBA similar to LeBron or Wade, the Blazers don't want to be the team that missed out on both Jordan and Durant. I don't think Portland has made up their mind on who they are selecting yet (considering they've had less than 24 hours to process everything that has happened) so it's too early to consider Durant a member of the Sonics.

The good thing is that both Oden and Durant have the potential to be great players in this league. They can also both make a huge impact right away which is something both the Blazers and Sonics need. Right now, I think the Blazers are leaning towards Oden because a Roy-Oden duo looks pretty scary on paper. Who knows what will happen in the next few months though. Workouts usually the shape the draft and change some things around. If Spencer Hawes, Al Horford, or some of the other big men in this draft destroy Oden in workouts, then Portland could lean towards Durant. So many questions remain to be answered so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

 

Portland should take Durant. If they did I would be happy getting Oden just because he would almost single handlily shore up our defensive deficiencies.

In my opinion it is more exciting for us to obtain Durant because it is going to make our front office work in order to keep a balanced competitive team. It is also going to expose Ray Allen for being the phony that he is when it is revealed that he is doing more to stunt Durant's development than assist in it.

Ray is not going to defer to a 19 year old sensation, just because he really hasn't had to defer to anyone in his entire career. I can imagine already how much Ray will complain that the ball isn't moving or that Durant needs to look for his offense more in the post than with jumpers, etc. -- especially if Sweet Lew is in the mix.

Ray has just come off a career scoring year where he had free liberty to do whatever he wanted under Bob Hill. Hill is known for catering to the star players. I wonder if whomever we hire will allow for Ray's poor shot selection, monopolizing the ball, and selective attempts to defend when we have two other viable first options on the floor with him.

Ray Allen is a very good player, but he is not a very good leader. I hope that we somehow bring in a coach who can do the leading for this group b/c outside of Mike Wilks (and Sweet Lew to an extent) this team is in dire need of some vocal leadership.

I don't want to be a pessimist but Ray Allen is going to have to change his ways for this to work as effectively as I believe it could. The trust has to be there to know that there is enough balls for Ray, Sweet Lew, and Durant -- let alone secondary players like Wilcox, Collison, and Swift.

 

I love Oden and the play he made against Tennessee where he tracked the guy across the lane and jumped over his own dude to swat away the potential game winner was incredible.

But offensively he's very raw and he seems to be a better help defender than he is playing a guy straight up (see the game against Hibbert).

Plus then we have to make decisions about Swift, Petro and Sene. Maybe stockpiling those 7 footers was wise after all and we can trade one or two of those guys for picks or a PG.

 

I wouldn't care much either way, but Durant is a more exciting player and personality. Oden fits in more with the low-key nature of Seattle, but drafting him would give the front office an excuse to let the roster stand pat besides unloading some of the young big guys.

 

Durant is a great fit and replacement for Lewis. Plus Oden would basically mean 3 wasted drafts for the Sonics since they drafted 3 centers.

 

I'd be happy with either player, both are franchise-changing talents. The fact that we've taken centers every year for the past decade doesn't mean much to me because Oden is on another level and i'd gladly trade a Petro or Sene or Swift if we had Oden at center. That being said, I would rather have Durant because he is the best player in the draft in my opinion. I've been on his nuts since the McDonald's All-American game and I shall latch on to them throughout his career.

 

BTW: Remember when the Blazers passed on Jordan they already had someone that played the position in Drexler. Plus Bowie was a Walton-esque passer for a center and I believe they were looking to rekindle the Rip City team.

So it'll be interesting to see if they pass on Durant because they already have guys at the 2, 3 and 4.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Iron Shiek Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Portland should take Durant. If they did I would be happy getting Oden just because he would almost single handlily shore up our defensive deficiencies.

In my opinion it is more exciting for us to obtain Durant because it is going to make our front office work in order to keep a balanced competitive team. It is also going to expose Ray Allen for being the phony that he is when it is revealed that he is doing more to stunt Durant's development than assist in it.

Ray is not going to defer to a 19 year old sensation, just because he really hasn't had to defer to anyone in his entire career. I can imagine already how much Ray will complain that the ball isn't moving or that Durant needs to look for his offense more in the post than with jumpers, etc. -- especially if Sweet Lew is in the mix.

Ray has just come off a career scoring year where he had free liberty to do whatever he wanted under Bob Hill. Hill is known for catering to the star players. I wonder if whomever we hire will allow for Ray's poor shot selection, monopolizing the ball, and selective attempts to defend when we have two other viable first options on the floor with him.

Ray Allen is a very good player, but he is not a very good leader. I hope that we somehow bring in a coach who can do the leading for this group b/c outside of Mike Wilks (and Sweet Lew to an extent) this team is in dire need of some vocal leadership.

I don't want to be a pessimist but Ray Allen is going to have to change his ways for this to work as effectively as I believe it could. The trust has to be there to know that there is enough balls for Ray, Sweet Lew, and Durant -- let alone secondary players like Wilcox, Collison, and Swift.</div>

I almost typed up the same thing last night. Let's not forget that Ray called Bob Hill 'the best coach I've ever had'. Likely because he let Ray do whatever the hell he wanted on offense and didn't hold him accountable on defense (not that that's saying much with our team).

 

<div class="quote_poster">Roland Hood Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">BTW: Remember when the Blazers passed on Jordan they already had someone that played the position in Drexler. Plus Bowie was a Walton-esque passer for a center and I believe they were looking to rekindle the Rip City team.

So it'll be interesting to see if they pass on Durant because they already have guys at the 2, 3 and 4.</div>

What guys do we have at the 3? Our 3 position sucks big time, so the top two best players in this draft are both big needs for Portland. Ime is good, but he needs to be replaced.

As a Portland fan I am on the draft Oden board just because he brings so much on the defense side of things and he is a pretty good offensive player. I think he will be really dominant on the offense having both his hands handy.

 

Well I thought Outlaw was coming on and Miles was still in the mix.

Anyway, I can see Nate pushing for Oden, maybe he'll start trapping more on defense and let the big fella swat away whatever gets through.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Roland Hood Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well I thought Outlaw was coming on and Miles was still in the mix.

Anyway, I can see Nate pushing for Oden, maybe he'll start trapping more on defense and let the big fella swat away whatever gets through.</div>

I think Portland wants to get as far away from Miles as possible. Yes, they probably will play him next year (sucks), but he really is useless. John Nash was a terrible GM for Portland, but he did two right things, drafted Telfair and Webster which got us Roy, Alderidge and Oden/Durant.

As for Outlaw, meh, he did show up and in a big way at the end of the season, but really, I would take his game at the end of last season with a grain of salt, basically I don't think he will be what he was at the end of last season. But if Portland does not take Durant in this draft, I would hope they start Outlaw at the 3 over Udoke, just because Outlaw is athletic and can really swat the balls.

 

I disagree that Ray Allen wouldn't be a good role model for Durant. While he is somewhat of a ballhog, he does have a fantastic work ethic. I attribute the way Ray played this past year more to Bob Hill than any selfishness on his part. When Weiss was the coach, Rashard got the ball a lot more and Ray had no problem with it.

 

I think Durant would Fit well in Seattle, It just seems, I can see Oden in a Portland jeresy. But you never know, maybe Oden can drop to the 3, not possible, but could happend.

 

Taking the thinking out of it...

It may be an odd thing to say, but I prefer the second pick in this draft to the first. As fans we have literally no chance of being upset with our team on draft day. It may turn out that retrospectively we look back and say we should have taken Horford or Brewer or something like that, but on draft day there are two choices, and it isn't our choice. With the changes in the front office, particularly the addition of Wilkins, we have a zero percent chance of taking Yi, we have no choice but to shine on draft day. It's a good time to be a Sonic fan again!

 

I agree 100% with you Odde. Dez and I were talking about this, it's pretty much a coinflip between Oden and Durant and it's a blessing that we don't have to make that decision.

It's also great to have Lenny Wilkens in the front office because he's always been very fan friendly and loves the franchise enough to not pull a dick move and draft Yi because of his potential or something. He knows they need Durant or Oden to stay in Seattle and i'm sure that's what he wants.

 

<div class="quote_poster">odde23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It may be an odd thing to say, but I prefer the second pick in this draft to the first. As fans we have literally no chance of being upset with our team on draft day. It may turn out that retrospectively we look back and say we should have taken Horford or Brewer or something like that, but on draft day there are two choices, and it isn't our choice. With the changes in the front office, particularly the addition of Wilkins, we have a zero percent chance of taking Yi, we have no choice but to shine on draft day. It's a good time to be a Sonic fan again!</div>

You are right, I have expressed this as well, as a Blazers fan I think it's better to have the #2 pick over the #1 pick. Only way to seprate the two is if one does terrible at workouts and stuff and that's when it is best to have the first pick. However, I believe that both Oden and Durant will be if not susperstars, then great players at least. They both have the bust factor of course, but I don't see it happening with these two.

 

I think the Sonics are one of my fav teams right now.

 

<div class="quote_poster">odde23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It may be an odd thing to say, but I prefer the second pick in this draft to the first. </div>

Ditto. In many ways it's the only thing of interest now, plus really, we could blow both picks in the second round and still come out with a great draft.

 

<div class="quote_poster">MrJ Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Plus Oden would basically mean 3 wasted drafts for the Sonics since they drafted 3 centers.</div>

Ridiculous comment - if you can draft a franchise-changing anchor like Oden, it doesn't matter who you've drafted in the past. Plenty of teams would be interested in Swift if he was up for trade anyway.