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bigdog
03-03-2007, 05:25 PM
The kid is absolutely incredible. He's made Texas the most fun team to watch in college basketball this year. Who as a freshman has ever been more dominant? In the last 20 years, guys like Carmelo Anthony and Chris Jackson have had incredible seasons, but Durant has got to be #1. He leads the Big 12 in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Incredible! I know Oden's potential is huge, but I would never in a million years pass on Durant in the draft.

NYC Duke Fan
03-04-2007, 04:45 AM
Two things that you cannot teach are speed and height. Durrant is the better player right now but Oden has to be your number one pick.The Spurs never win a championship without Duncan nor do the Lakers and Heat without Shaq. Denver has not and never will win a championhip just because of Carmelo.

Make no mistake about it Durrant, in my opinion, is the best high school player to play college basketball that I probably have ever seen, but NO , Oden has to be my first pick in the draft.

BGDR
03-04-2007, 11:50 AM
Denver has not and never will win a championhip just because of Carmelo.


So how then did Syracuse win the 2003 NCAA championship despite the fact they had Carmelo?

CDu
03-04-2007, 11:59 AM
The kid is absolutely incredible. He's made Texas the most fun team to watch in college basketball this year. Who as a freshman has ever been more dominant? In the last 20 years, guys like Carmelo Anthony and Chris Jackson have had incredible seasons, but Durant has got to be #1. He leads the Big 12 in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Incredible! I know Oden's potential is huge, but I would never in a million years pass on Durant in the draft.

It's a tough call, because you're comparing one player to an injured player. We really have no idea how good Oden can be with a healthy wrist. The knock on Oden is that he's not dominating games yet. But he's averaging 15, 9, and 4 with a bad right wrist. He's shooting free throws with his left hand (he's righthanded). Some have speculated that he's not playing full-out yet, for fear of falling and re-injuring the wrist.

They're clearly the top two in the draft, though, and it's not close. I don't think you go wrong with either player.

dukie8
03-04-2007, 12:14 PM
It's a tough call, because you're comparing one player to an injured player. We really have no idea how good Oden can be with a healthy wrist. The knock on Oden is that he's not dominating games yet. But he's averaging 15, 9, and 4 with a bad right wrist. He's shooting free throws with his left hand (he's righthanded). Some have speculated that he's not playing full-out yet, for fear of falling and re-injuring the wrist.

They're clearly the top two in the draft, though, and it's not close. I don't think you go wrong with either player.

it could like an akeem/jordan dilemma. you can't knock houston for taking akeem, who would go on to be a hall of fame center, over jordan (bowie is another story). oden was hurt A LONG time ago. if his wrist still were hurt, how is he using it every time he catches the ball? i've never seen him wince in pain. i still think that he is very very good but he's not a shaq at this point. he can overpower most college centers but the guys he will go up against in the nba will be as big as he (but look younger) and will have much more developed offensive games. he's not going to show up next year and average 20/10 a night whereas i think durant will show up and be an instant star.

phaedrus
03-04-2007, 12:16 PM
So how then did Syracuse win the 2003 NCAA championship despite the fact they had Carmelo?

seriously? you don't see the difference between winning an nba championship and winning in the ncaa?

here's a list of recent (since '90) nba champions who have won without either michael jordan or a dominant center (or 2 very good big men, a la pistons '04):

CDu
03-04-2007, 12:38 PM
it could like an akeem/jordan dilemma. you can't knock houston for taking akeem, who would go on to be a hall of fame center, over jordan (bowie is another story). oden was hurt A LONG time ago. if his wrist still were hurt, how is he using it every time he catches the ball? i've never seen him wince in pain. i still think that he is very very good but he's not a shaq at this point. he can overpower most college centers but the guys he will go up against in the nba will be as big as he (but look younger) and will have much more developed offensive games. he's not going to show up next year and average 20/10 a night whereas i think durant will show up and be an instant star.

I don't see how you can speak in such absolutes about something you have no idea about. Yes, Oden's wrist injury happened a long time ago. But, he definitely came back before he had full range of motion in the wrist (playing with a soft cast). And, he still doesn't have enough range of motion or comfort to be ready to shoot free throws with his dominant hand (still shooting left-handed). Based on those facts, I'd speculate that the injury is still limiting him in some form. And as I said, while the injury may or may not be mostly physically healed, he may still be playing tentative right now, because the wrist isn't at full strength and he's concerned about re-injuring it before the draft. While you speculate that Oden's fully healthy and not a dominant presence, I speculate that he's not fully back, and probably won't be back until he has an off-season of strength rehab, and thus we're not seeing remotely close to a finished product.

Truth be told, I don't know for a fact how limited he is physically or psychologically right now with regards to the wrist (and neither do you). And that was my original point. We really have no idea how good Oden can be, because we don't know how much the wrist is or is not bothering him.

For that reason, I believe it remains to be seen who should be the #1 pick. If what we're seeing is what we're going to get, then yes: Durant is the better choice. But if Oden is being held back (either physically or psychologically/intentionally), then it is very possible/probable that he's the guy.

A-Tex Devil
03-04-2007, 02:25 PM
Oden's wrist is definitely not a hundred percent and I don't think anyone close to the situation has insinuated that it is. One problem Oden has is that he plays with a bunch of chuckers that don't get him the ball on offense. UT tries to get Durant the ball as much as possible.

Still -- if you want to go based on potential, you have on one hand, Oden who might be one of the 5 greatest centers ever when all is said and done versus Durant, who has the potential to be one of the 5 greatest PLAYERS ever (a Simmons comparison which I agree with). The former is much more likely than the latter, but the latter may be hard to pass up.

If you have a top 2 pick you can't go wrong (unless you are the Hawks who will certainly draft Brandan Wright or Jo Noah).

But honest question here -- if Oden is 100% on the defensive end, has he really shown anything more than Alonzon Mourning? I mean Mourning has had a great career, but he's hardly been transcendant. If Mourning is Oden's ceiling, then that's great, but it's hardly the once in a generation player people made him out to be.

phaedrus
03-04-2007, 03:08 PM
If you have a top 2 pick you can't go wrong (unless you are the Hawks who will certainly draft Brandan Wright or Jo Noah).


excellent point, the hawks really have a dearth of players at the 3-4 spots. hell, if the hawks get the #1 pick maybe josh should come out - he could go #1.