Durant going pro

[Boobie Miles]

If Oden hadn't come into this year with all of the hype there wouldn't even be a discussion. Durant was much less heralded coming out of high school (for whatever reason) but I really think the only reason Oden is in the conversation for the #1 pick is that we've been told for two years how great he is. He'll definitely be a very good pro, but based on what each did this season there is no question who is the better player.

Oden did have a broken shooting hand, which forced him to shoot with his left half of the season.

Also, just because Christian Laettner won every piece of hardware during his Duke days before he entered the draft, that didn't necessarily mean he would become the best pro. I like Durant, but like all good players -- Oden included -- there are questions.

So because Christian Laettner had a great college career and a solid pro career (you'd think it was worse because of how much people hate him, but 12.8 ppg and 6.7 rpg is far from terrible) the same will be happen to Kevin Durant? You could go through the history of the player of the year awards and probably find an equal number of future all-stars and players who never reached that level in the NBA.

I never said Durant would be a great pro because he won every piece of hardware, I said he's a better basketball player than Greg Oden and should be the #1 pick hands down.

And, Oden had a broken hand? Really? I would have thought I would have heard about that, thanks for the scoop. I said he was going to be a very good pro... he just isn't as good at the game of basketball as Kevin Durant is right now and it's my opinion that down the road Durant will be the better pro.

Here's one way I look at the argument:

A true, dominating centers equals championship rings. A great all-over-the-court player like Durant -- well, how many rings do Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett have?

True, particularly in Garnett's case, those guys haven't always had great players around them. But the presence of a true stopper in the middle, whether it be Shaq or Duncan, has a far greater effect on a game. Playing against Oden, a team is going to have in their minds that when they go inside, Oden is very likely to stuff them. Plus, the final game showed how good an offensive player Oden can be. I think Thad Matta put the wraps on him more than Dean Smith did on Jordan.

Plus, Oden doesn't block shots into the seats -- he blocks them to his teammates, or to himself so he can whip an outlet pass down and start the break. Even if he barely scored, his defense and ability to start the break is a huge lift for any team. Plus, Oden, in a stunningly rare case, wants to be a center. You don't have to worry about him getting the idea to jack threes.

Durant will have a great career. But of the two, I go with Oden all the way.

That's one way to look at it, sure, but I think position in basketball can be overrated. Give me the best player and you can have the biggest (albeit a very talented big guy) and I'll be happy. Garnett and Nowitzki may not have a ring but neither does Yao or Patrick Ewing. It's a bit too simplistic for me to say big guys win more. Kobe's never won without Shaq, but Shaq's never won without him or Wade. Jordan won 6 without anything resembling a great center. Duncan and Robinson were two great big guys and they won. The Pistons won with five good players, none great. The Rockets won with the Dream. The Pistons won the first time around led by a great backcourt. The Lakers and Celtics won with great teams top-to-bottom, although each team's best player wasn't a center.

I think it's clear that it takes more than one player, at any position, to win.

 

[Totally Krossed Out]

Oden without a doubt.
As dominant as he was on defense in college, that impact will be more profound at the next level, where the 3 isn't as prominent and teams can't avoid him.

Durant will likely be good, but it's not like he's the second coming of MJ. Or LeBron for that matter. As good as he was in college, I wouldn't say he's a sure thing.

The dude is skinny as a rail. You have to see him up close to really understand how skinny he is. His rebounding at the next level will suffer dramatically. Remember, Melo averaged about 10 rebounds per game in college. And offensively, physical players at the next level will push him around.

Dirk is the best comparison to Durant. But it took him a while to really blossom into what he is today.

All that being said, I think Durant will be great. I just don't thin he's any more of a sure thing than Oden.

 

[Boobie Miles]

Fair enough. My opinion is no more right than anyone else's, it's just an opinion. I respect your stance more because you at least back it up with specifics about these two individuals, and not some general "Big guys are better, therefore Oden is better" rational.

 

[MavRick]

For those who are more in-tuned to the national high school/AAU scene and the NBA, if there hadn't been the age requirement what pick do you think Durant would have been if he went to the draft after high school?

probably 2nd. ive watched the kid since he was a junior in HS. well about as much as you can watch a HS kid from maryland while you live in texas, but you get what im saying. i was slobbering at the prospect of seeing him in carolina blue and was saddened that Roy decided not to hold his scholarship while he got his grades up.

all that being said, he has always been a special talent. i think he was over-shadowed b/c of the hype of oden (duh!). that and the fact that he was slight of frame. he really opened eyes at the McDonald's game. we've just never seen anyone like him in college. we've seen it in europe and in the nba (interestingly enough, with european players). there have been the tall kids that could shoot in college (pittsnogle, etc) but none that could post, dribble, create his own shot and rebound. imagine how much better he couldve been if he had a coach that actually had a clue of how to use him.

however, as much as i love KD, i would take oden to build a team around. and this comes from a man that was one of his most vocal critics in january. from HS til then, i just never saw what made him possibly one of the all-time greats. defensively, he was a game changer defensively but his footwork on offense was horrendous. he played timid at times and generally looked lost. but the growth in his game from january til april was astounding. he literally got better every game. and im not talking about the "wrist injury". the kid became more fluid, more aggressive and just a spectacular player. you mix that with his attitude and you have all of the ingredients for, yes, an all-timer.

how many great centers are in the league right now? oden becomes top 5 at his position the second he shakes david stern's hand. durant, while great, wont be. not yet anyway......

 

[boots]

Durant is the truth and nothing but the truth. When he fills out, he's going to be something special, not that he isn't already.

 

[Mmac]

There are any number of reasons why, at the time, Bowie wasn't a terrible pick at all. Kareem was dominating the West and the idea of having a defensive stopper AND a big man who had the range to draw Kareem out of the post was pretty enticing. Throw in that the team had three all-stars in Drexler, Kiki Vandeweigh and Paxson (can't remember his first name). Then, they had Mychal Thompson at the 5 and thought he would thrive when moved to the 4.

Bowie over Jordan looks TERRIBLE now. But if Bowie stayed healthy, that Blazers team could have been nasty.

That said, give me Oden. The way he played in the Final Four was enough to prove that to me. To think he was that dominating defensively (and offensively, for the most part) for most of the national title game as a 19 year old is flat out scary to me.

Uhh, No, maybe the pick didn't look as horrendously historically bad as it does now, but it was incredibly stupid then also. At the time of the pick, Bowie was already broken down: he was a 23-yr-old 5th year senior who'd only played in 3 of his 5 seasons at UK because his absurdly brittle and injury prone legs kept breaking, he barely averaged 10 ppg as a senior, and was clearly less mobile and athletic than he'd been as a freshman 5 years earlier. Conversely, Jordan had just been the National Player of the Year, was about the best athlete anyone had ever seen, and was uniformly projected as a future great pro (although we had no idea just how great). I don't care how much the Blazers needed a center, that pick was fairly indefensible from any perspective.

 

[boots]

But I can't fault the Blazers. Everything you say is true but NO ONE knew that Jordan would take off like he did. Back then, it was a big man's game and Portland desperately needed a center.