This topic contains 66 replies, has 18 voices, and was last updated by AvatarAvatar BKKnicksfan 13 years, 3 months ago.

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  • #23802
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    I 100 percent agree with this BTW

     

    What if Portland had taken Kevin Durant over Greg Oden?

    Here’s what we knew about Oden heading into the 2007 Draft: owned Ewing-like potential as a rebounder and shotblocker … struggled with a broken wrist during his freshman year at Ohio State … only played one "Wow!" game (the ’07 NCAA Championship: 25 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks in defeat against Florida’s Joakim Noah and Al Horford) … his right leg was one inch longer than his left leg (a red flag for potential knee/feet/back issues) … openly admitted that he didn’t love basketball and once wanted to become a dentist … frightened everyone in Portland with a jittery pre-draft workout … looked and walked like a thirty-six-year-old man.

    Meanwhile, Durant lived and breathed basketball, became a national phenomenon during his only Texas season, crushed his Portland workout and had no conceivable offensive ceiling. Throw in Portland’s tortured history with fragile centers and, as the years pass, it’s becoming harder to fathom that the Blazers willingly decided, "Screw the sure thing, let’s take the big guy with uneven legs who played one great college game." But that’s what they did. Because we love revising history over time, owner Paul Allen and then-general manager Kevin Pritchard have been protected by the "Come on, anyone would have taken Oden, you always take a franchise center, it’s not their fault he keeps getting injured" defense. That presumes Oden was considered a sure thing — like Kareem, Ewing or Hakeem — and ignores those six months everyone spent wondering about him before the 2007 Draft. Like me, Boston GM Danny Ainge liked Durant as the top pick for one reason: Durant was the sure thing, not Oden. If you followed Durant in college (and Ainge fell head over heels for him, as did I), you knew about his work ethic, leadership, character and scoring DNA. I thought Durant was a genetic freak: like Tracy McGrady crossed with Plastic Man, someone God created to make baskets and get to the line. Oden left you hoping he stayed healthy, hoping basketball would become more important to him, hoping his spotty college year wasn’t an aberration, hoping he developed a low-post game and a killer instinct … for a sure thing, you sure were doing a lot of hoping. How was that any different than the Bowie/Jordan dilemma 23 years earlier? When Durant became the youngest scoring champ ever and placed second in the 2010 MVP balloting — as Oden recovered from his second season-ending knee injury, no less — Portland’s decision barreled into the "What If" chapter six years earlier than expected.

    So what if the Blazers picked Durant instead of Oden? They become the fledgling Western Conference juggernaut of the 2010s (not Oklahoma City); Portland becomes a legitimate 2010 destination for LeBron; any successfully unconventional decision would be called "a Pritchard"; and everyone in Portland would be so perpetually happy that it would never rain there again. Instead, we have to start bracing for the 2029 or 2030 Draft, when Portland wins another lottery and finds itself stressing between Sure Thing Potential Superstar Scorer X over Possibly Fragile Franchise Center X as everyone else wonders, "Wait a second, we’re doing this again?" One of these generations, the Blazers will get it right.

     

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  • #453945
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    ilike.panochas
    Participant

    These are things we already know, its nothing new. Obviously Portland took the wrong player, but who’s to say Durant wouldn’t have had the same bad luck/curse as Oden if he was with Portland?

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  • #453949
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    So the only thing good about Greg Oden was the one game he played against Florida lol? Come on now Bill Simmons! You know better than that…

    And Oden’s right leg isn’t a full inch shorter than his left. It’s more like a half an inch, which isn’t that unordinary.

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  • #453951
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    Greg Oden really wasnt impressive in college…he was just big. He didnt have any "FU, im a man among boys games" like he should have.

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  • #453954
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    So the only thing good about Greg Oden was the one game he played against Florida lol? Come on now Bill Simmons! You know better than that…

    But then who did he have big games against? He didn’t play ANY real big man prospects/players who were respectable IMO.

    And Oden’s right leg isn’t a full inch shorter than his left. It’s more like a half an inch, which isn’t that unordinary.

    Chad Ford said it was a full inch last time on the BS report when discussing Oden. I remember that because he went REALLLY full depth about it.

     

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  • #453956
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    sheltwon3
    Participant

    Oden healthy is a very good player and I guess since he is not healthy it is easy for people to take shots.  Some of his injuries just like Bynum’s have been freak injuries.  He may need to do yoga and other stretching to help prevent unneccessary injuries.  I think once Oden is healthy people will see how good he is but unfortunately Portland will not be that team.  Also Roy had knee injuries as well and a history.  That gamble did not see so bad but Portland seem to think they could do it again.  They have gotten some good pieces though.  Pritchard only made one mistake it appears unless you want to add not trading Rudy when his stock was higher.

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  • #453958
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    So the only thing good about Greg Oden was the one game he played against Florida lol? Come on now Bill Simmons! You know better than that…

     

    I’m not agreeing with him but thinking about it: what other big games did he have against NBA level bigs?

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  • #453959
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    What most of you are missing is,

    A. Oden had injuries written all over him

    B. Durant was a cant miss player.

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  • #453960
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    kyrie he didnt…

    He put up like 15 and 8 all the time. You would think a guy who was suppose to be dominating the NBA with his size would be dropping 25-15 regularly.

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  • #453964
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    Im Your Father
    Participant

    How did he have injuries written all over him? He had no history of major injuries prior to that broken wrist. Hindsight is 20-20, but he is drawing some conclusions now that can only be made in retrospect, no one could have seen those things at the time. 

    And Knicksboy, obviously he wasn’t going to dominate a lot his players his caliber, because almost every Center of his size and skill was in the league. He didn’t have that many opportunities to dominate similar big men. 

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  • #453965
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    JJeff6
    Participant

    Andre Miller

    Brandon Roy

    Kevin Durant

    LaMarcus Aldridge

    Marcus Camby

     

    Pretty damn good.

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  • #453966
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    And Knicksboy, obviously he wasn’t going to dominate a lot his players his caliber, because almost every Center of his size and skill was in the league. He didn’t have that many opportunities to dominate similar big men.

     

    No, he just didn’t dominate. I’m looking at his game log right now. It’s nice but not against any real teams with big men. He should have been a 20-12 guy like a Ewing and Hakeem were close to in college

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  • #453968
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    It’s not Oden’s fault that the best big men he faced were Joey Dorsey, Roy Hibbert, Joakim Noah and Al Horford. He played very well vs them.

    And I know Oden’s high school coach, Jack Keefer and there were a lot of untrue things floating around about Oden during draft time. That he had a bulging disk in his back. False. That one leg was a full one inch longer than the other. False. That he’d had knee problems during high school and during his entire life. False.

    Other than the wrist injury, he’d NEVER been injured.

    Oden showed up at the draft combine just like every other top pick and did every physcial. Nothing irregular came up. He participated in every drill except weight lifting. He tested numbers that were amazing for a big man.

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  • #453969
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    read the article. His legs arent the same size. He missed the first half of his only college season. How does he not have injuries written all over him?

    Either way, even if Oden was a healthy 19/10 guy, would he be better than Durant?

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  • #453971
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    It’s not Oden’s fault that the best big men he faced were Joey Dorsey, Roy Hibbert, Joakim Noah and Al Horford. He played very well vs them.

    You sure?

    17-9 against a 6-7 Dorsey

    13-9 vs Hibbert

    7-6 in game 1 vs Florida

    25-12 in game 2 vs Florida

     

    I’m going out on a limb….those numbers from what we believed to be a " Future superstar big man" looks VERY average other then the last game vs FLA

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  • #453976
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Here’s his game log…it’s not very impressive if you look at the box score and see the lack of bigs he played

    http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/60049/gamelog

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  • #453978
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    McWinning
    Participant

    He had no big games? what about 25, 14 game against #20 Tennessee? thats not good?

     

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  • #453982
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    andxxx
    Participant

     Its easy to say this in hindsight, but at the time I heard on ESPN most gm’s would’ve taken oden with the 1st pick

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  • #453983
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    The first game vs Florida was his only his fifth game of the season. They double and triple teamed him the entire game. He also struggled with foul trouble.

    17 points, 9 rebounds and 1 block vs Dorsey in only 24 minutes? Yea… I’d call that a good game.

    13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks vs Hibbert (projected as a lottery pick) in only 20 minutes? Yea… I’d call that a good game.

    25 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks vs Florida (two projected top ten picks)… Yea… I’d call that a good game.

     

     

     

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  • #453989
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    JJeff6
    Participant

    Kinda Like Darko in a way now, cept not as bad.  Big man bust, expected to be great, drafted in front of a great player in durant, like darko was.  Dont hate on Oden for not living up to unreachable potentials, hate on the trail blazers for setting the bar too high on him and their stupidity for drafting him number one.

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  • #453990
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    ilike.panochas
    Participant

    You have to remember that Ohio St team was incredibly deep with perimeter players, Oden did not have to carry the load offensively, all he had to do was anchor the defense. And he was basically playing with one hand (his off hand for that matter) and still managed to average 16PPG and shoot 60%. I believe if he never had his wrist injury that year, he could have potentially put up 20PPG and 10RPG his freshman year.

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  • #453985
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    No… They’re going to ignore the 24 point, 15 rebound, 4 assist and 3 block game vs Tennessee because there was no NBA caliber big man he faced.

    They’re going to ignore the OUT OF THIS WORLD block he got vs Tennesse during the tornament to win the game.

    They’re going to ignore how he played with an injured wrist on his shooting hand the entire season.

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  • #453992
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    Good point.

    There were reports about Oden complaining because he wasn’t getting the ball. He said all the coach wanted to do was let the guards shoot three’s while he rebounded and played defense. He wanted the ball.

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  • #453993
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    He had no big games? what about 25, 14 game against #20 Tennessee? thats not good?

    – Go look at Tennessee’s lineup, they were SUPER small.

     

    Indiana- you keep calling them good games but is a superstar big supposed to have just good games? I mean, Durant had monster games. 6-7 Dorsey he had only 17-9? I call that alright but not great. 13-9 vs Hibbert isin’t fantastic. The only reason why he got 25-12 in that last game was because OSU had Conley playing at a better level then last time and Cook was hot. People forget, Noah patroled the WHOLE paint and was man to man alot. It was alot of Horford vs Oden in that game.

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  • #453995
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    andxxx
    Participant

     Indianabasketball has pretty good points and the only injury he had at the time was the wrist with those type of numbers its hard to blame the blazers

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  • #453996
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    Im Your Father
    Participant

    He was also a freshmen coming back from a wrist injury, those are pretty damn good numbers. He also absolutely dominated on defense.

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  • #453999
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    You have to remember that Ohio St team was incredibly deep with perimeter players, Oden did not have to carry the load offensively, all he had to do was anchor the defense. And he was basically playing with one hand (his off hand for that matter) and still managed to average 16PPG and shoot 60%. I believe if he never had his wrist injury that year, he could have potentially put up 20PPG and 10RPG his freshman year.

     

    That was a 4 man team. Oden, Conley, Cook and Lewis. Let’s not act like they were a shoot first team. Once Conley took over, it was a inside-out team.

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  • #454001
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    Here are the facts… Greg Oden wasn’t the offensive killer that Kevin Durant was. His high school coach had to demand that he took 20 shots per game. It just wasn’t Oden’s nature. All he wanted to do was rebound, play defense and dunk it when he had it in the paint. He didn’t care about acolades or accomplishments… Only winning. IF that meant him having 20 rebounds… He’d do it. IF that mean 20 points… He’d do it. He just wanted to win. And win is all he did. He NEVER lost a home game during high school and college.

    2005 and 2006 PARADE High School Player of the Year
    2005 and 2006 Gatorade Nat’l. Player of the Year
    2006 McDonald’s All-American
    2006 Naismith Prep Player of the Year
    2007 Second Team All-American

    Are people just forgetting these things? OKAY… Oden’s career has been full of injuries, but let’s not act stupid and not remember why he was the top pick.

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  • #454003
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    And no, no and no.

    Noah, Horford AND Richard was triple teaming Oden in the championship game. He wasn’t defended one on one. Oden didn’t seen one on one coverage the entire season.

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  • #454004
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Another thing: Can we stop hyping up the "Wrist" thing? I didn’t see ONE game where you watched and said "Damn, Oden’s wrist is not letting him play tonight"

     

    Don’t say you did either because you know you would be lying.

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  • #454005
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Are people just forgetting these things? OKAY… Oden’s career has been full of injuries, but let’s not act stupid and not remember why he was the top pick.

    His height made him the top pick in all reality.
     

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  • #454008
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Excuse me, I stand corrected

    Height and Upside. The posion of NBA GMs for the past 30 years. Portland just fell for it instead of taking Durant.

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  • #454009
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    He shot his free-throws left handed lol. How can you say his wrist didn’t impact him?

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  • #454012
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    He shot his free-throws left handed lol. How can you say his wrist didn’t impact him?

     

    Never said it didn’t impact him. I said in quote: "Another thing: Can we stop hyping up the "Wrist" thing? I didn’t see ONE game where you watched and said "Damn, Oden’s wrist is not letting him play tonight"

     

    Did you see a game where the reason he had a TERRIBLE game was because of his wrist…be real now.

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  • #454013
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    Oden was the best big man prospect since Tim Duncan. He didn’t just pop up on the scene like Michael Olowokandi. He’d been closely watched since his freshman year of high school. NBA scouts were at his high school games. They were at his AAU games. They were at Nike Camp watching him go up against Al Jefferson, Robert Swift and countless other bigs. They were at all of the camps.

    There were GM’s that said they’d have picked him over Dwight Howard in 2004 with the top pick.

    IF not for these sad freak injuries, he’d be competing with Dwight Howard for the best center in the leauge right now. He was never going to be a great offensive player (like Dwight), but he’d be dominating the paint at both ends of the floor. And yes, I’d take that over Durant’s 30 points.

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  • #454017
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Oden was the best big man prospect since Tim Duncan. He didn’t just pop up on the scene like Michael Olowokandi. He’d been closely watched since his freshman year.

    Keyword: Prospect.

    There were GM’s that said they’d have picked him over Dwight Howard in 2004 with the top pick.

    There are tons of stupid GM’s in the NBA, what can I say?

    IF not for these sad freak injuries, he’d be competing with Dwight Howard for the best center in the leauge right now. He was never going to be a great offensive player (like Dwight), but he’d be dominating the paint at both ends of the floor. And yes, I’d take that over Durant’s 30 points.

    Foul prone, did good against average centers in the NBA, always got ticky tack injuries and left games for periods of time: Smells like the 2nd best center in the NBA to me. Let’s forget allllll about Andrew Bogut, or Brook Lopez, or Andrew Bynum, or Roy Hibbert. You could argue Oden would be comparable stat wise to Tyson Chandler, even when he played.

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  • #454020
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    llperez

    i love hindsite. The vast majority of people i spoke with and heard from and things i read all had oden going number 1. Of course we know now it was a mistake. But simmons has said things that didnt come true and im sure made plenty of bad predictions himself.

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  • #454022
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    i love hindsite. The vast majority of people i spoke with and heard from and things i read all had oden going number 1. Of course we know now it was a mistake. But simmons has said things that didnt come true and im sure made plenty of bad predictions himself.

    Yea but everyone knew Oden was going 1, it was almost set in stone.

    Also, Simmons wrote he wanted Durant and believed he was gonna be a better player BACK THEN. Remember, his Celtics had a terrible season and he wrote a nice little piece in a article that he wanted Durant.

     

    I liked Durant over Oden because he reminded me of a Tracy McGrady guy but with the fire and heart to get better. I’d be lying if I told you he’d be a top 5 NBA player but I thought at least he’d be a 20-7 type guy. I compared him to a young James Worthy ( my thinking: he’d get more on his frame) but I was WRONG.

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  • #454023
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    Hale
    Participant

    At the time, very few people would’ve taken Durant over Oden. I called that one though (due to my bias towards wings and guards)!

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  • #454026
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    IF not for Oden’s injuries and missing the on court time he needed to improve and get better, I don’t think this is even a discussion.

    And don’t let me post all of Bill Simmons’ predictions that have been wrong… Because there are a lot. He’s not the genius that he makes himself out to be.

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  • #454028
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    llperez

    i liked durant too. WHen i first saw him in the mcd’s game i thought of mcgrady as well. But oden had some crazy potential. Bigs are naturally gonna get more hype at the draft becasue they are harder to come by. WHen oden would go up for blocks/dunks, he would explode and have his head around the rim. He didnt look like a stiff to me. I figured worst case scenario for him would be about 14points with 10 boards and 2-3 blocks while overall controlling the paint which is huge for teams trying to win in the post season.

    Props to anyone who had durant ahead of oden all along since you guys obviously would have made the right choice.

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  • #454029
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    And don’t let me post all of Bill Simmons’ predictions that have been wrong… Because there are a lot. He’s not the genius that he makes himself out to be.
     

    Noone claimed he was…..He just made the correct prediction on this topic.

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  • #454030
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    llperez

    bill simmons knows his stuff and is a very entertaining writer. If it werent for the fact he was such an admited laker hater, i might be more of a fan. He must have said at least 5-6 times during the course of last season/playoffs that ron artest would destroy the lakers season. He kept bringing it up and said any laker fan who doesnt know its coming is blind. That made the fact ron was argubaly the best player on the court in game 7 all the more fun.

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  • #454031
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    Bill Simmons is an idiot.

    Part of his reasoning for liking Durant over Oden was because of the way both players walked.

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  • #454032
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    FastAndFurious
    Participant

    Come on now, I know its easy to say now who should be the number one pick, but Oden wasn’t an offensive type of guy so him putting up 25,30,40 points on a nightly basis wasnt going to happen plus ball dominant Mike Conley was on that team along with Daquan Cook, Ron Lewis, Ivan Harris and Jamar Butler who all got buckets as well so he didnt have to dominate offensively like Durant did.

    And also if you REALLY watched that Ohio State team play you would have seen how many shots Oden altered and how scared opposing teams were to even think about going inside he was a game changer and back then it really was a toss up of who should be number one, Durant was not the clear cut winner.

    Dont forget Oden made it to the championship as well, while Durant was home, no knock to Durant tho dude a beast but i think this is really unfair

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  • #454034
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    sheltwon3
    Participant

    Oden also was playing with one hand pretty much and shooting better than howard and Shaq from the line with his off hand.  I saw  Oden play and I saw Durant play a lot and I would have picked Durant because i live in Texas and saw more of their games and knew he was a can’t miss prospect but it would have been tough because Oden was like a once in a decade big man.  They compared him to Duncan.  It would have been tough to let him slide.  I think had it been reverse Oden would not have been injuried as much and would be dominating down in OKC.  They would have a line up of Westbrook, Harden, Green, Ibaka, Oden.  That would not have been a bad team.  Oden and Ibaka in the front court would make up for Durant offense.  Also Harden would get to score more and some would Green.

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  • #454036
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Bill Simmons is an idiot.

    Is he a idiot because of his pick of Durant ( the right pick by the way) or is he a idiot because you mad he disagreed with you and saw what most people didn’t see 3 years before it happened? Come on now, don’t be all hating and stuff.

    Dont forget Oden made it to the championship as well, while Durant was home, no knock to Durant tho dude a beat but i think this is really unfair

    – Durant was the only good player on his team ( D.J. Augustine wasn’t ready) while Oden played with a good shooter and point guard, who he played high school basketball with.

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  • #454039
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Oden and Ibaka in the front court would make up for Durant offense

     

    What?

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  • #454042
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    FastAndFurious
    Participant

    IDC if Oden played with a good shooter and a PG he went to highschool with…….Oden only hand ONE FRIGGIN HAND basically the whole year, no excuses and dont say Augustin wasn’t ready, when Durant left he tore the BIG 12 up, he might have not played to his potential because of Durant, but he was ready and Durant also played with a very good shooter as well AJ Abrams….

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  • #454045
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    Demarcus Oneal
    Participant

    Apparently playing on one of the top teams in the nation, facing constant double teams as a freshman averaging nearly 16 and 10 and playing with basically one hand with his broken wrist is just a case of Oden being big. You must have not watched Oden play at all because in college he was a beast and impacted both sides of the ball greatly. It is easy with retrospect to say that Durant clearly would be a better player then Oden and that pick I believe 29 other gms would of made the same choice. Oden is not a bust due to his lack of skill level, He simply is one of the most injury plagued people on the planet Earth. Also you can never play the what if game because what if Durant goes to Portland does not mease with the team and struggles greatly while Oden becomes the big man of the future in OKC and is injury free you can never predict the future on draft picks just use all the resources available to make the most informed decision you can.

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  • #454046
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    The Simmons haters are laughable. He doesnt just look at stats he really looks at the way guys actually play.

    This is like when people are arguing stats vs Lebron.

    "He had 15 and 10, that was pretty good."

    Durant was dropping 35 in college all the time…I was one of the few (admitted FEW) that would have taken Durant. He seemed much more polished. And i watch an abundance of big man fall short throughout the 90s to the wingman. So the whole "Big men win titles" is quite false. Outside Duncan, its consistantly been teams with perimeters.

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  • #454047
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    IDC if Oden played with a good shooter and a PG he went to highschool with…….Oden only hand ONE FRIGGIN HAND basically the whole year, no excuses and dont say Augustin wasn’t ready, when Durant left he tore the BIG 12 up, he might have not played to his potential because of Durant, but he was ready and Durant also played with a very good shooter as well AJ Abrams….

    A) Your right, he NEVER used his injured hand AT ALL when he played at Ohio St

    B) I guess you don’t understand the boost Oden gets by playing Conley

    C) Oden played with Cook and Conley, 2 NBA guys in a 2 team Big 10 down the stretch ( Michigan and MSU were alright, Illinois was too but they didn’t have the talent to beat OSU and WIS) Durant played in the Big 12 where they finished 3rd but it was tough ( 8 of the 12 had at least 17 wins) A Freshman team was lucky to finished 3rd in that league. Also, A.J. Abrhams was a good shooter, not good at anything else.

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  • #454048
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    "I was one of the few (admitted FEW) that would have taken Durant."

    Well, congratulations lol.

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  • #454049
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Gotta take pride in picking my players right lol.

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  • #454050
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    Okay, we get it. There were zero reasons (other than being tall) why Oden should’ve been the top pick, yet 100 reasons why Durant should’ve been.

    It’s hilarious how everything Oden did was negative somehow (even the games he played well are conceived as a negative since it wasn’t against a lottery pick big man), yet everything Durant did was somehow positive.

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  • #454051
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    IndianaBasketball
    Participant

    The things people will say four years later lol.

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  • #454053
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    I admit Indy that the consensus was Oden. Theres no denying that. But i KNEW KD was gonna ball in the NBA. He was on a bad team with a bad coach and made them look good. Oden was a part of a very good team, but until the NC game it was Mike Conley and Ron Lewis that were winning OSU tourney games and hitting clutch shots. Oden if healthy would have been a dominant rebounder and defender, but im still not sold that he would have been a bigger difference maker than Durant.

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  • #454054
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    Im Your Father
    Participant

    Mr. Knick, you may have liked Durant better and I’ll give you credit for that, but don’t act like it was obvious that Oden was a bust and you could see all his injuries coming, and that he underachieved in college.

    Hindsight Bias: The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. 

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  • #454057
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    FastAndFurious
    Participant

    So I guess I can gone ahead and pencil in University Of Central Florida in the NCAA Championship game for 2012 since the Jordan brothers who should be oooooo so comfortable with each other get to play together….gimme a break.

    Just because Oden and Conley played together in highschool doesn’t mean anything, Oden was not an offensive guy so Conley being there really didn’t benefit him that much besides the fact that he had a good friend on campus.

    O please man Durant being there took away from Augustin and Abrams, they were good players, for god sake Augustin and Conley are at about the same level right now in there proffesional careers just like they were in college, and Abrams was not a good shooter, he was a GREAT shooter, he shot 42 percent from three the year Durant was there lol you cant be serious

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  • #454058
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    Ghost01
    Participant

    At least Oden had a coach lol

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  • #454106
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    RUDEBOY_
    Participant

    OMG!! Most of these guys are so bias..With all this what IF Crap..

    Oden dominated and played half the season with a cast on his hand..smh..Oden averaged 15 points/9 boards/3 blocks and shot 61% from the field….

    Most players would’ve sit out the season,but this guy lead his team of mostly freshmen into the final game against the defending champs…And to say he had only 1 good game that college season..Is BS…

     

    Urbanovreverything maybe you werent born when Olajuwon won back to back titles in the 90’s…Or when Shaq beat the greatest wingman of all time in Micheal Jordan and lead the Magic to the Finals in 1995..And David Robinson was still a top 10 player when he helped Duncan win the title in 99….

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  • #454122
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    Muggsy
    Participant

    I don’t understand why everyone assumes it would have been a lineup with both Durant & Roy. Realistically if they drafted Durant they would have improved enough to not even be in range of drafting Roy.

    This is why you leave the past how it is, you change one thing like Portland drafting Durant and it creates a domino effect of different outcomes and rosters, for instance Roy would be elsewhere.

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  • #454126
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    Im Your Father
    Participant

    What do you mean? They drafted Roy first.

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  • #454131
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    Forte IV
    Participant

    The real questions iws what if the Thunder landed the #1 pick and got Blake two years ago? Or if they took Tyreke instead of James Harden

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  • #454225
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    tuck243
    Participant

     I just had this argument with a co-worker of mine.  2 arguments in 1.   First off Im going to start with a quote from Phil Jackson, "if I were building a team from scratch, I would pick Dwight Howard over LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Chris Paul."   

    Why?  Because out of all the scoring champions in recent NBA history only one has won the championship and thats Kobe.  While HE WASNT the scoring champion.   I love Kevin, he might go down as the best ever, BUT when you have the opportunity to draft a once in a decade big man you do IT.  Because basketball games are won by playing defense and rebounding.  Thats what Phil Jackson understood.   If you are able to protect the basket and rebound you are putting yourself in the playoffs EVERY year.  In contention for the the Championship EVERY year.  It doesn’t matter how many points or blocks Greg Oden put up as long as he deter shots and rebound.  And for the idiot who said playing with one hand (while that one hand is your off hand) isn’t a big deal, shoot your dominate hand and do EVERYTHING with the healthy one.   See if you can use scissors correctly or bowl, or score 15 points and grab 5 rebounds against folks.   Non-sense.  Im with Indiana its easy to say NOW that Durant was a better pick than Oden, BUT we aren’t talking about NOW.  Are we? We speaking about ’07 when Greg Oden got finished playing for a national championship while KD was sent home early in the tourney.  And thats what we have to go on.  If this same scenario happens again, I would do the same thing.  

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  • #454285
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    midwestbbscout
    Participant

    the Blazers are now getting punished for being dumbasses and firing the best GM in the league…..first order of business, overpay the balls off Wes Matthews…. 

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  • #454291
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    BKKnicksfan
    Participant

    Mr. Knick, you may have liked Durant better and I’ll give you credit for that, but don’t act like it was obvious that Oden was a bust and you could see all his injuries coming, and that he underachieved in college.

     

    Wasn’t the case at all. When I first heard about Oden, all I heard was: The Next Great Big Man. I liked Durant early and thought Oden would be alright in the NBA. I thought Durant would be good and Oden alright. Don’t know where you got that I act like he was a bust and saw the injuries coming. Please point out where I even acted like that.

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