Let's start a Kevin Durant discussion

Hindsight my, um, eye.
Bowie had injury problems throughout his career at Kentucky and was known to be fragile. He missed two full years because of injuries. TWO FULL YEARS.
Even if he was 100 percent healthy, he wasn't physically strong enough to be a great NBA center, and all anyone had to do to see this was watch him play in college. He averaged 10.5 points in his final college season.
The ONLY people who thought this wasn't a crazy pick were the Trail Blazers. You didn't need hindsight to know they'd screwed up. You only needed to have seen two or three games in your lifetime.

 

There's the Straw Man. I never said taking a big man was a bad idea. I didn't say big men are flops. I said I think Durant is the better player, period. I think Oden is a great player, I just think Durant is better.
I also don't believe in hard and fast rules when it comes to drafting. You don't always take the QB over the TE, for example, because you might be passing on the greatest TE ever to get Ryan Leaf.
You don't always take the center, though, because just being 7-0 doesn't mean you are going to dominate in the NBA. You can win without win and you can lose with one.
You win with great coaching and great players. In this case, I'll take the great player and hope I have enough around him to make up for not having taken the big man.

 

Okie gets it.

I don't believe in blanket rules like "you've always got to take the 7-footer."

It's a great cover-your-ass rule, like in the case of the Blazers, but that's how you make colossal blunders. I don't know how anybody, regardless of who they already had on their team, thought that having Sam Bowie was better than having Michael Jordan. No, I'm not claiming I knew MJ would be the best player ever, but it didn't take a genius to see he was great player.

 

Oden is not "a" center.
He is "the" center of his generation. Players such as him come along about once every 15 years. This is not Olowokandi or Yao Ming. This is a guy who, if remains healthy, will be a Hall of Famer and will win championships.
The list of teams that have won championships without a great low-post center is pretty much limited to Michael Jordan and a few Pistons teams. We're talking about more than 50 years of NBA history and only about 10 exceptions. If you can get one of these guys, a guy like Oden, you get him.

 

Uhhhhhh, are you seriously lumping Olowokandi and Yao Ming together? As in, they're roughly the same kind of player?

Because if you are, you're an idiot.

 

Only in the sense that I'm lumping them below the elite, where the arguments in favor of drafting someone like Durant over "a" center can be entertained.
Ming is a fine player, but he is not now and never will be at the level Shaq and his predecessors have reached.

 

Certainly not; Shaq was a true once-in-a-lifetime player.

Yao is coming into his own. IF he can stay healthy, and the Rockets can actually put some talent around him, he's good enough to lead the Rockets to a title someday.

But that's a big if.

 

OK, but isn't it this line of thinking that led the Pistons to take Darko Milicek (sp?) over Carmello? How'd that turn out? I know the Pistons won a title after that, Darko played none that season. Carmello would still be helping them.

 

Carmelo? How about D-Wade?

Let's go back and re-do that draft...how would you pick, knowing what you know now?

I'd go:

1. LeBron
2. D-Wade
3. Bosh
4. Carmelo
5. Josh Howard
6. Boris Diaw
7. Kirk Hinrich
8. Leandro Barbosa
9. Luke Ridnour
10. Chris Kaman

 

That was off the top of my head, so I'd forgotten Wade was in that class. You're exactly right, and that futher proves my point.
I know Oden is a different kind of play even than Darko was supposed to be, but both were/are supposedly big men who could dominate the game.
Clearly there were several other, better players who Detroit should have taken instead. That's all I'm saying.
Basically, I don't believe in the idea of a can't-miss player. So, in most cases, you take the one you think is best. I think it's Durant. Others may say Oden. It's a difference of opinion.
Let's have this coversation again in 15 years and see who was right. Maybe we'll all be wrong and some guard from a mid-major will end up being the best from this class.

 

Not too long ago, the love Durant's getting now went to Glenn Robinson. Like you said, there are no can't-miss prospects.

 

Yeah, but Big Dog wasn't 6-10, didn't have a 7-5 wingspan and couldn't jump out of the gym like Durant.

It's the physical attributes, coupled with the obvious skills, that have people so excited about Durant's potential at the next level.

But, like someone else said earlier, if both come out this year, whichever team winds up with the No. 2 pick ain't gonna be complaining when it's all over.