Durant or Oden?

[JoseA]

Which guy would you draft if you had the 1st overall pick?

I would take Durant. I mean the guy is a phenom, he can drain the 3 and snag rebounds. Never before have I seen a player in college that manhandling. He has all the skills to succeed in the NBA.

Meanwhile Oden is sort of developmental and has to work on a lot of aspects of his game. He may take a while to produce.

So who do all of you take?

[dlb]

I'd take Durant, too. I think Oden is fairly immobile and not very highly skilled. I'd put him at the same level as two ex-Tar Heels, Eric Montross and Brendan Haywood. Tall, but not much more than that.

[BravesRule22]

Oh man......

I dont even think this is close, its Oden hands down. Watch the Title game and Oden showed you what he can do, he simpley dominated the game. If they got any type of outsider shooting Odens performance wouldnt have gone overlooked.

I will put it like this who is Durant compared to ?

TMac, KG right ?

And how many rings do they have ? ZERO......

Now you move to Durant he is being compared to Duncan and David Robinson and even Bill Russell in terms of his defense

Now I ask you how many rings do they have ? I wont even count Russell but just go with Duncan and Robinson they have what 5-6 rings ?

The Center wins rings, you dont pass on the Franchise Center for the franchise SF.

[Jennings85]

I think it depends on who you are for instance the top 6 picks right now

Memphis = Greg Oden
Boston = Greg Oden
Milwaukee = Kevin Durant
Phoenix = Greg Oden
Charlotte = Greg Oden
Philadelphia = Greg Oden

[BravesRule22]

I dont care what team you are....

If you are the Bucks you take Oden too, you play Bogut @ the 4 and Oden @ the 5

Bogut is more of an Offensive force than Oden is.

Look @ the Spurs they already had Robinson but they took Duncan, it doesnt matter if you have a big man already you still dont pass on Oden.

[aCutb]

Oden, and it isn't even close. Durant was the best college player the past year, but he had to carry his team. Oden didn't have to carry his team to be successful, so didn't have the great stats. I would like to have both of them on my team, but I know that will not happen.

[JoseA]

Originally Posted by BravesRule22

I dont care what team you are....

If you are the Bucks you take Oden too, you play Bogut @ the 4 and Oden @ the 5

Try saying that to the Trail Blazers, who drafted Sam Bowie, and passed on Michael Jordan!

How many titles did the Bulls win?

I believe this may be a similar situation, Durant is just that good, plus he rebounds better than MJ could have. He has very similar skills compared to MJ.....

[BravesRule22]

Wow....did you just compare Durant to MJ ?

Yea Bowie was a miss step but you are also forgetting that Hakeem the Dream was in the draft too. And Bowie and MJ were NOT on the same level, Bowie was not nearly as touted as MJ was.

MJ is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to Centers vs G/F's......He is the one case you can find when pointing out that taking the Center didnt work over the G/F.

Durant isnt anywhere close to the player MJ is, they dont even have the same game really.......

If you are comparing Durant to people its going to be to KG or TMac

[JoseA]

Originally Posted by BravesRule22

Wow....did you just compare Durant to MJ ?

Actually I did and I am Never has there been such a talent like Durant in college basketball, and he is only a freshman. Also never had a freshman drawn that much attention.

Obviously his game is not exactly similar to MJ, but on the icon level it may amount to the same. Durant is a beast and is a dominating force. A player with his talent may carry the game, exactly like MJ did throughout his career. Once Durant won player of the year, he now has a mystique/legend that will carry on with him, much like MJ had entering the pros

[dlb]

Oden isn't a franchise center. He's an average player who happens to be tall. I say he's the next Sam Bowie.

[Zen653]

He is the one case you can find when pointing out that taking the Center didnt work over the G/F.

NBA GM's make this mistake all the time, not just the Jordan year. It happens to some degree almost every season.

1998: 1. Michael Olowokandi, 2. Mike Bibby, 3. Raef LaFrentz, 4. Antawn Jamison, 5. Vince Carter, 6. Robert Traylor, 7. Jason Williams, 8. Larry Hughes, 9. Dirk Nowitzki, 10. Paul Pierce.

None of the centers contributed at a high level in the NBA. Olowokandi is now a third-string center on the Boston Celtics and Raef LaFrentz is a backup on the woeful Trailblazers. Without looking it up, I'm not even sure what Tractor Traylor is up to these days. Now don't you think the Clippers (#1) or Nuggets (#3) would have been better off with Nowitzki, Carter or Pierce, instead of the bigman stiffs they drafted? I'd say there's a good chance that Olowokandi, LaFrentz and Traylor will all be out of the league within the next two years, while all the other players on that list continue to contribute at a high level. Nowitzki, Carter and Pierce are All-Stars; Bibby, Jamison, Williams and Hughes are all above-average veteran rotation guys.

2003: 1. LeBron James, 2. Darko Milicic, 3. Carmelo Anthony, 4. Chris Bosh, 5. Dwayne Wade, 6. Chris Kaman, 7. Kirk Hinrich, 8. T.J Ford, 9. Michael Sweetney, 10. Jarvis Hayes.

Do you think the Pistons might like to have Anthony or Wade over Darko?

2005: 1. Andrew Bogut, 2. Marvin Williams, 3. Deron Williams, 4. Chris Paul, 5. Raymond Felton, 6. Martell Webster, 7. Charlie Villanueva, 8. Channing Frye, 9. Ike Diogu, 10. Andrew Bynum.

Bogut over franchise point guards like Chris Paul and Deron Williams?

We'll see about Oden vs. Durant. I think it's going to depend on the team. As a Celtics fan, I'm still not entirely sure what I'd do if I had the No. 1 pick. I watched a lot of Oden this year and was rather underwhelmed for the most part. That said, he's still so young, and he really does change the game dramatically at the defensive end. He also had a bad wrist most of the year and seems to be developing a lethal jump hook. The rebounding skills should develop in due-time and the shot-blocking ability is off the charts. The Celtics already have an alpha dog scorer in Paul Pierce and I'm not sure how Kevin Durant would complement him. I don't know that two top scorers can play together effectively, with both of them calling for the ball at crunchtime. The Celtics score plenty of points, their problem seems to be more at the defensive end. With Al Jefferson and Oden both in the paint, opposing teams would have a hard time securing rebounds. Then again, Durant actually rebounded at a higher rate than Oden and is a multi-dimensional offensive player (although a liability on defense, something which will come out more at the NBA level.) Jefferson could play center (especially in the Eastern Conference) and Durant could grow into a Garnett-style power forward. It's a tough call. I'd be thrilled with either one of them - and I hope we get the No. 1 or 2 pick - but I'm not sure how I'd choose between them if given that opportunity. Durant seems like a safer bet to be a perennial All-Star, whereas Oden might just be a serviceable center in the mold of what we already have in Kendrick Perkins. It's quite a dilemma.

[BravesRule22]

With all fairness, none of those C's you listed aside from Bosh were on Odens talent level.

Even Bosh wasnt as hyped as Oden

Oden isn't a franchise center. He's an average player who happens to be tall. I say he's the next Sam Bowie.

Does hes Offensive game need work ? Sure

But hes NCAA championship game displayed showed what he is capable of. He dominated the FLA bigs. He is a powerhouse on D and IF he can get his O on a nice level then he will surely be a franchise Center.

[dlb]

Bredan Haywood used to dominate 6' 10" guys, too. It was only when he went up against quality players who were 6' 11" or taller that his mediocrity became apparent. Oden is slow and not very athletic. It's possible he'll someday be an average NBA center, but he needs a lot of work to get there.

Many people have made the mistake of thinking a big man was a savior because of a great showing in the big dance. Usually, however, that opinion is the result of his team winning it all. Oden's team lost to FL. Obviously, he was not a game changer.

[Zen653]

Oden can hardly be blamed for Ohio State's perimeter shots not falling. As a general rule of thumb, I think it's unfair to evaluate a player's talent on the basis of team success. There are so many other variables that play into whether a team wins a game. There have been a plethora of top athletes in every sport who were individually spectacular, who on a different team would have won numerous championships. I don't fault a player for not having had the good fortune to be on the right team at the right time, with the right coaching staff. Ted Williams is still a top tier Hall of Fame baseball player even though he never won a World Series Championship. Charles Barkley is still one of the greatest power forwards in basketball history even though he never won an NBA title.

[BravesRule22]

Originally Posted by dlb

Bredan Haywood used to dominate 6' 10" guys, too. It was only when he went up against quality players who were 6' 11" or taller that his mediocrity became apparent. Oden is slow and not very athletic. It's possible he'll someday be an average NBA center, but he needs a lot of work to get there.

Many people have made the mistake of thinking a big man was a savior because of a great showing in the big dance. Usually, however, that opinion is the result of his team winning it all. Oden's team lost to FL. Obviously, he was not a game changer.

Come on.......comparing Oden to Haywood ?

All you have to do is look at their college tape to know that Oden is worlds better and its not even close.

And as Zen already said blaming Oden on the FLA loss is a complete joke. The guy DOMINATED florida if OSU just hit 25 % of their 3's instead of like 10 % they would have won the game and it would have been because of Oden. He was the LONE bright spot in that game for OSU.