If we had drafted Durant instead of Oden....

I'm willing to give Oden this (contract) year to prove that he was worth the #1 pick. And I will be rooting for him. But I think 4 years is certainly enough to look back and make a decision on who was the correct/incorrect pick of the draft in my eyes.

Obviously some will think that is too short, and some won't make a decision until the careers are over. But as for myself, I think 4 years is fair. I'm confident if he gets steady playing time and is healthy he can contribute, but right now I am worried about him being able to play at all. Also, Durant looks phenominal.

But either way, my opinion of who the right pick was in that draft doesn't matter, because hindsight IS 20/20. At that time, you had to pick Oden. Most anyone would have said that. So I will just continue to root for him.

 

Just imagine if Minny hadn't traded Roy to us, Randy Foye would be backing up our superstar sg, Rudy!

 

What is ridiculous about what MM said?

Nate has done all of the things mentioned to Oden, why not Durant?

Maybe Nate would have changed his entire approach to the game of basketball if Portland had drafted Durant but it's not likely.

 

Durant would have came in with only Roy and Aldridge entering their second years, before Roy was an all-star and before Aldridge avg 18/8. He would have been apart of that process of playing together and building from the beginning.

Oden, otoh, came in during Roy and Aldridge's 3rd season, after Roy was an all-star and Aldridge averaging 18/8. You can't just slide Oden in and change everything from day 1, and McMillan has done his best working Greg in, and it was working before Greg went down.

It would have played out much differently.

 

Durant is a super-duper deluxe version of Rashard Lewis. How'd that cat do under Nate?

 

Wow, never thought of that....It's fascinating that the year after Nate left Seattle, Rashard's numbers all went up and he became an allstar. Interesting stuff.

 

Also interesting that that Seattle team went from 2nd round in the playoffs to no playoffs at all...

 

Like Nate's previous seasons in Seattle.

 

You should read coach Dean's recollection of that year. It was the only year they decided to coach the way they wanted, instead of instill the system forced on them by the front-office... and it was a huge success.

 

Why are we arguing about Nate McMillan? We've been over than and over that. This thread isn't about beating a dead horse. It's about questioning whether Portland made the right selection, when they selected Oden over Durant, considering that if they had drafted Durant, Durant would be on their roster now.

 

It seems like the only people that don't think Nate is a quality coach post on this board.

 

You talking about Rashard's contract year?

 

It just occurred to me--if we'd drafted Oden, Durant would probably be a Thunder.

Oh wait, that happened.