Portland, Really Screwed up. Again.

[KG Living Legend]

 K.D. Is Unreal. And who really thought he wouldn't be.  The only person that looked half as good as him in the last fifteen years in college was Carmelo Anthony.

 Except this kid is 6'10".   Dribbles between his legs from twenty eight feet like Iverson, then pulls up and cans a three like Lary Bird.

 He Is the next great thing and Basketball. And everyone could see it coming.  If you just took ten nights, or so to watch him when he played for Texas, you would have known this kid was going to be special. I know he was skinny. But come on. So was Reggie Miller. And this Kid was already 6'10" With handles quickness, and a lights out shoot when he was a Freshman. Eighteen Years Old. Come On.

 And "They" actually made most of us think it was a close Choice.
Maybe you do take the 7 footer. Over the next chosen one. Well no you Don't. You never take Sam Bowie, Over M.J. And you never take Greg Oden
 over K.D. With him and Brandon Roy, that team would be serious and soon.

[Neurotic Guy]

At the time, it was pretty much consensus for GO over KD.  You may have known differently at the time, but most of us rely on the clarity of hindsight.  I'm sure Portland wishes they had a do over. 

Oh, and you are correct that you pick MJ over Bowie (also a clear hindsight choice), but you do recall Cleveland picking Brad Daugherty over one Len Bias.  Sometimes the 7-footer pays off.

[TradeProposalDude]

I see your point. But you cannot blame Portland for picking Oden. They already had Brandon Roy, Martell Webster (who is one of the game's premiere perimeter defenders today), and Travis Outlaw. Even though Durant was considered an NBA ready player around draft time, the Blazers had a gaping hole at center which they needed to fill. They already had a lot of depth at the perimeter spots.

In hindsight, the Blazers should have probably traded Outlaw and/or Webster for a big man in order to make room for Durant. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that this move will cost them like taking Bowie over Jordan did.

[KG Living Legend]

 They also had Joel Pryzbilla, and L. Aldridge. If you Draft Durant you start those two as the bigs, Then Durant And Roy, at the wings. With Blake as your Point guard, "at the time" That team would be Awesome. Then live with your superior depth at the two and three and wait to you can fin a good deal for another Big Man. Bottom line take the sure thing. Not the big man who is injured in one year of college.

[More Banners]

I remember it as a position thing.  Center was/is hard to fill with a "true" center.  Oden was that guy...the once-in-a-generation talent at the position hardest to fill.  Durant was/is a great scorer, but there is a scorer in almost every draft (though he certainly excels).  Tough call, but teams take position into account in the draft.

They made quite a few incredibly good moves on draft night in recent years, though.

[guava_wrench]

I see your point. But you cannot blame Portland for picking Oden. They already had Brandon Roy, Martell Webster (who is one of the game's premiere perimeter defenders today), and Travis Outlaw. Even though Durant was considered an NBA ready player around draft time, the Blazers had a gaping hole at center which they needed to fill. They already had a lot of depth at the perimeter spots.

In hindsight, the Blazers should have probably traded Outlaw and/or Webster for a big man in order to make room for Durant. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that this move will cost them like taking Bowie over Jordan did.

Durant was considered to have NBA ready scoring ability, but not an NBA ready body or defense.

Hindsight doesn't work, because you don't know how things play out any other way and because we don't know how things will still play out.

It is also pointless to evaluate decisions based on future events. Choosing between the 2 was a coin toss. Oden can still be an all star center.

If Durant becomes the kind of player who can take over finals series like Jordan, than it will have been a big loss. If he merely becomes a transcendent scorer like AI, it will be harder to evaluate.

The Bowie criticisms are often bereft of thought. Was Hakeem a bad pick at #1? Of course not. Bowie had a great skill set, but a bad foot. What if Bowie had the Hakeem career while Hakeem had the injury? Then we sit here saying how dumb Houston was picking Hakeem, esp when they already had Sampson.

[pearljammer10]

You forgot passing up on Chris Paul... When they needed a point guard! Oye to the Blazers.

[KG Living Legend]

 All the nonsense people come up with, on how they justify the reason why they took Oden over Durant.  Fact is it was the wrong Pick.
 Oden has been a sack of potential his whole life. He was never that good in college. Fun to watch and hope, Yes.

 But Durant was the real deal from day one. And he has kept getting better from the first game I saw until now.                            My point is in basketball, don't draft for position, don't draft on need. At the top of the draft, take the best player, and that year the best player was, and is Kevin Durant. Thank You. Amen.

[QuinielaBox]

You forgot passing up on Chris Paul... When they needed a point guard! Oye to the Blazers.

THey could have had Paul Pierce for that CPIII pick. Water under the bridge.

[KCattheStripe]

You forgot passing up on Chris Paul... When they needed a point guard! Oye to the Blazers.

That was the Hawks. CPIII was off the table by Portland's pick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NBA_Draft

[cdif911]

and remember, the 2001 draft, Celtics take Joe Forte at 21and could have had Will Solomon, who fell to 33...one's a perennial all-star and future HOF and the other is best remembered for wearing a Scooby-Doo T-shirt during the playoffs...according to Wikipedia

[MBz]

Yeah you can't really blame them.  No body expected Durant to have the strength to be this good in the NBA.  His rebounding was good in college because he was bigger then everyone else and he wasnt a great rebounder in his first year in the league, he's really improved on that the last two years.  Also it's much easier to find a franchise swing then a franchise big man.  So sometimes you take the risk.  That's why in the draft, you hardly see a swing man go #1 unless they are a sure thing LeBron James pick.  You will see it in this draft.  John Wall will go first just because he's a point guard even tough Evan Turner may be the better player.

[DarkAzcura]

You forgot passing up on Chris Paul... When they needed a point guard! Oye to the Blazers.

That was the Hawks. CPIII was off the table by Portland's pick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NBA_Draft

Portland had the third pick. They traded it to Utah for the 5th pick and something else..don't remember.

[kozlodoev]

Martell Webster (who is one of the game's premiere perimeter defenders today)

Erm, really?

[Moranis]

You forgot passing up on Chris Paul... When they needed a point guard! Oye to the Blazers.

That was the Hawks. CPIII was off the table by Portland's pick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NBA_Draft

Portland had the third pick. They traded it to Utah for the 5th pick and something else..don't remember.

It was #3 for #6 and a future first.

Utah moved up to take Deron Williams, it too could have had Chris Paul.