I'm a durant fan but I'll say this about oden. I believe it was earlier in this thread that some stats from past franchise big men in college were posted and none of them were that impressive. the college game really doesn't favor the big man. it never has, for example before the nba zone you couldn't guard a big man before he received the ball with double in the nba. you can and always were able to in college. if a big man isn't a skilled shooter, he is at a disadvantage in college. see shaq and and the origins of the hack a shaq that started in college. college ball is really a shooter's game. so I wouldn't put too much stock in oden's perceived lack of production. he is still very raw offensively. the catch though is that as others have pointed out, the rule changes in the nba don't favor the big man as much anymore.
Your last statement is why I put Durant in front of Oden. I remember Shaq in college and he displayed an awesomeness beyond anything Oden can dream of. You could see Shaq was an extremely special guy who could go on to do very special things in the NBA. I'm not ready to say that about Oden, yet. I am definitely ready to say that about Durant. In terms of potential, I put Oden below Dwight Howard. He reminds me a little of Alonzo Mourning. I need to see him play more.
You have to keep in mind too, Oden is still recuperating. He's shooting free throws with his left hand (and he's right handed) and really just starting to play with some authority. If I was going for someone in the draft who can play all over the court, I would pick Durant, but if I wanted someone to be the inside of an inside-out offense and a paint presence on defense, I would pick Oden. I guess I can't say that I would pick one over the other as number one without looking at the needs of a team. If I recall correctly... Shaq was about equal to what Oden is showing right now in his freshman year. It wasn't until O'neal's sophmore season that he showed any sort of dominance. I know most of the SEC had no fear of him his frosh year... but his soph and junior year it was like taming a lion *who apparently didn't foul
If you're bulding (or re-building) a team from scratch, you start with Kevin Durant. If you're 1 player away, you draft Greg Oden. They are both going to be very special players in the NBA. Durant has the ability to carry a team with his scoring and rebounding...very much in the mold of KG. Oden, as all bigs do, needs a team to get him the ball and could make a good team into a dominant team, a la Tim Duncan (yes, I know the Spurs stunk in the season before Timmy but we all know they tanked).
Some excerpts from an interesting article about Durant, not sure how much I buy this, but interesting nontheless:
I'd place more of the blame for the T-Wolves not putting a winning team around Garnett on his salary.
That's what I remember. He was being abused (fouled hard with no calls) so much that Dale Brown said publicly during the season Shaq needed to leave.
With Tmac's back I would consider trading him for the number 1 pick to take Kevin Durant...he is that good. DD
something must be wrong with my memory then.. I could have sworn he spent three years there... 89-90 90-91, and 91-92 cause I know he was drafted in 1992. Hopping back on thread... did yall hear Bill Walton talking about Durant and Oden tonight on ESPN? He called in (or they called him) during the Ohio State game and they were talking about big men in the NBA. I only caught the tail end of it though.
i think thats crap. that is looking at things way too close. put garnett on the suns or replace him on some of those old spurs teams and they would both win some championships
How do you guys feel about this article? If you were Durant, would you stay or go to the NBA? http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/021507dnspodurant.39f04c.html That last part I bolded about him "desperately" wanting to win a national title at Texas...I mean wow, can't get enough of him. He truely is gonna be something special.
There's no way he doesn't go. NBA locks in top 5 always go. The quotes from that article are just the standard replies I think all those type of players have to say to "promote" a stay in school motto. There's no way Durant passes up guaranteed millions.
He will probably leave. His father is saying exactly what he should say at this point. It's good for Durant to focus on the task at hand until the final horn of the last game. When the season is over, everything will change.
Uh, he will have those same guaranteed millions next year or the year after whenever he declares. This is a player who will be a NPOY candidate with freakish skills any year on campus. He would go 1 or 2 next year if he chose that route provided he stayed healthy.
I don't know if he would want to stay...there is always the risk of injury I would love for him to stayq
Really? There have been many that have passed up millions to stay in college. Tim Duncan is the most glaring example in basketball. I'm about 95% sure KD is gone. That's down from 100%. He does and says all the right things. 3.0 in the fall and is trying to improve on that this semester. If he goes, I'll say, 'Thank you. It was sure an honor to watch you play." If he stays, we're looking at possibly the #1 team out of the gate next season.
