T1B

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

it was nice havin' ya

it was said on this board before he was recruited, he was a 1 and done. believing anything different was being foolish and a homer.

the coaching staff knew he was gone after a year, so it shoundlt of been a suprise.

At his age, he should probably have a few good years left.....

So who goes 1st in the draft, Oden or Durant?

For my money, I'd take Durant.

depends on whos drafting 1st

Oden.

After considering it......a dominant big man will take you FARTHER than a KJ type. Look at Shaq....even in declining skills he's still a game changer on offense and defense.

What's the old cliche....you can't teach speed...errr....height?

And so it goes.......

Oden...a solid big man can keep your team a contender for a decade plus.

Durant is great, but the league is full of scorers.

Disappointing to see. I guess all the talk that he liked college and wasnt ready mentally for the NBA was just a bunch of BS. Oh well.

Oden. Hands down. Every time.

Oden will probably be the best 5 in the NBA within a few years. Durant is a great package of length, athleticism, range and ability to rebound on both ends of the floor. However, given that true centers are going the way of the dodo bird, to have a big man of Oden's skill set would be a great piece to build around if you're a team looking for a cornerstone for your team. If Boston gets Oden...he becomes one of the two or three best pivots in the East. Shaq doesn't have many years left...when he's gone, Oden could dominate the conference at his position. Durant isn't as rare of a player because the NBA has plenty of those combo guards/swing men that can play inside and outside. It would be interesting to see Oden defend a guy like Nowitzki who is a 4/5 but doesn't play with his back to the basket. Can he defend outside the paint or will he stay at home and patrol the 3-second area the majority of the time?

Hateto branch into NBA talk, but Oden will take his frosh, soph and jr lumps. Once he has a few deece years in the NBA, he will get the star treatment and become the next Tim Duncan.

I'm not even sure how this Oden/Durant thing became a debate. Durant had a great year, no question about that, but he's a dime a dozen at the next level. A dominant center like Oden is an extremely rare commodity. This reminds me of back when there was a Peyton Manning/Ryan Leaf debate. It was evident to anyone with half a brain who the right pick was and that's how I see the Oden/Durant thing. Or as IndyFrisco said: Oden, hands down, everytime.

What’s the latest? I heard yesterday that Oden’s dad said he’s going, but his adviser (Mike Conley, Sr.) said it’s not a done deal, that he’ll be talking to Matta today, and that a decision will come after that.

I’d take Oden too, but Durant reminds me a lot of Len Bias.

Nobody is stupid enough to forgo being the #1 pick and the millions that go with it to go play for the medium-level salary that OSU pays him...ERRRR...I mean "go back and play for free."

Goober McTuber wrote: Durant reminds me a lot of Len Bias.

maybe a potentially better version of Sean Elliot or possibly a healthy Manning, but i'm not seeing the Bias comparison really.

I think he means that Durant looks like the type that would horf a mountain of blow and die.

Shine wrote:Durant had a great year, no question about that, but he's a dime a dozen at the next level.

Wrong. There aren't a dozen players in the NBA with his talent.

How much did you actually watch him play? The statement above makes me believe that it was very little.

Gee, a complete fucking ballhog threw up big numbers in a shitty conference...MOVE OVER, MICHAEL JORDAN!!!!!!!

We'll be having this discussion years from now, so we shall see. My take is that Durant will have a much greater impact than Oden on whatever teams they respectively land on.

Durant, while certainly no MJ (who is?), is much closer to that level than Oden is to Shaq.

I have gone back and forth but the fact of the matter is....there are a lot less players of Oden's SIZE then Durant's. Durant is more NBA ready at this point but Oden definitely has the greater potential. Period. Six foot whatever scorers are plentiful while 7 foot 270+ lb centers are NOT. Oden has a nice baby hook and wait till he refines his back to teh basket skills. It's there....you can see it.....like a diamond in the rough.....wait till they polish that....it'll be another Hope Diamond. He's that good.

Oden will impact the game outside of the boxscore and that you cannot quantify.

Dinsdale wrote:Gee, a complete fucking ballhog threw up big numbers in a shitty conference...MOVE OVER, MICHAEL JORDAN!!!!!!!

I really don't know where you get this "complete fucking ballhog" thing.....how many times did you watch UT play this year? Did you watch even one game? Durant will pass. The ball-dominating, too much dribbling problem with that team was DJ Augustin. Durant would absolutely make passes. This line of reasoning just isn't true......or your trolling.....either way doesn't matter.

Most teams would be better off picking Oden number 1 for the reasons almost everyone has mentioned. However a team like PHX would be much better served with a player like Durant. PHX owns Atlanta's pick as long as it isn't top 3 and there are rumors that they would try to package a #4 pick (should they get it) and Shawn Marion for the #2. Personally, I don't think they can pull that off but Kevin Durant would look pretty damn good in Phoenix uniform.

You really can't go too wrong either way.

Dinsdale wrote:I think he means that Durant looks like the type that would horf a mountain of blow and die.

based on what?

Mook wrote: I really don't know where you get this "complete fucking ballhog" thing.....how many times did you watch UT play this year?

Watched several games. The last time this came up, I cited Durant's assist stats...which decreased as the season went on, and rapidly approached "zero" by the time the tournaments came around.


Statistics, while they may not tell the whole story, sure tend to agree with me.

With all the double and triple teaming he saw, the complete lack of even "blind squirrel" assists should be a major cause for concern to NBA GMs. He's done absolutely nothing to lead anyone to believe he'll make his teammates better.

Clearly we disagree on the Durant ballhog thing but I think you are picking out one statistic that may or may not have merit. Durant was fourth on the team in assists with 46 on the year. Augustin led with 233 and the next two in order had 54 and 52. So obviously the whole team other than Augustin was incapable of picking up easy assists. Like I said, Augustin DOMINATED the ball in the offense. There weren't many assists to go around after he was done. Suppose Durant kicks out of a double team to Augustin who passes to Abrams for a jumper....no assist but not in anyway selfish. Anyway Durant played comparable minutes to Augustin, Abrams and Mason. They all averaged over 35/game. Durant shot 47% from the field and 40% from the three point line. He averaged 11.1 rebounds per game (a stat that I would also think NBA GM's would look at) Good rebounders are effort guys and every NBA team needs more of these. If the guy was really selfish his shooting % would be lower because he would be taking more and worse shots and he wouldn't be hitting the boards like he does because he'd be leaking trying to get easy buckets.
I maintain that Durant is as good/polished/NBA ready freshman as I have seen in my many years watching college hoops.

Dinsdale wrote:

Mook wrote: I really don't know where you get this "complete fucking ballhog" thing.....how many times did you watch UT play this year?

Watched several games. The last time this came up, I cited Durant's assist stats...which decreased as the season went on, and rapidly approached "zero" by the time the tournaments came around.


Statistics, while they may not tell the whole story, sure tend to agree with me.

With all the double and triple teaming he saw, the complete lack of even "blind squirrel" assists should be a major cause for concern to NBA GMs. He's done absolutely nothing to lead anyone to believe he'll make his teammates better.

Bad take.

While assist ratios and the like will be relevent at the NBA level, they really don't translate well from college. That and the fact that he was a frosh, practically carrying the team on his back. He's definately going to be no worse than a #2 pick, not a shabby feat for a guy who played on HS hardwood a year ago. Durant is solid, whether he can bring his play to the next level remains to be seen. How's Kobe's assist ratio doing?, Melo's ? The only worthy arguement is whether a slashing scorer is more valued than a back-to-the-basket throwback is. The answer is in who actually owns the pick.

I'd take Oden if it were my pick. I agree he has more upside than Durant.