Do you wish you had Durant?

But Oden all day long.

For this team, I take Oden, simply because defense is our biggest issue.

For exactly the same reasons as before the draft; no change.

Durant was always more game ready and polished. Oden was always going to be he long term potential guy; the guy you build a franchise around, and let him mature into a champion.

Ask they guys at the Celtics blog which of the two is going to win the most rings.

You could put a crappy Celtic like Eddie House or Rajon Rando on the Thunder and they could score as much as Durant. I take Oden for his D, and over the long run.

I don’t look at it the way some fans do. I look at it from “Who best fit our team?” perspective. Kevin Durant is no doubt going to be a great player and will be able to score at will, however we already had a player that we thought (it is turning out to be that way) could do that same thing, namely Brandon Roy. We had a pretty good ceiling with LA and a spot up small forward in Martell or TO. That leaves us two positions we needed at the time we were drafting Greg. PG and Center.
So the question was do we take someone we to fill a role that we felt we already had? Or do we take someone who could fill a role that we needed at the time? Namely our Center? We couldn’t fill the point guard with Durant so we decided for the defensive center with offensive capabilities.
I for one think Greg is going to be an All-star contender for years to come. Maybe not the starter but definetly in the mix for the back-up. Besides when you miss you are supposed to miss big in the draft right?

Just my 2 cents that might not be worth a penny :)

If you look at their stats

http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&=o&p1=odengr01&y1=2009&=d&p2=duranke01&y2=2009&=&=

On a per 36 minute basis Oden, is almost as good and when you compare usage % the difference is not that much as Durant is coming in with a 27-28% usage while Oden comes in at 17% which means that only 17% of the plays the Blazers run go through Oden while 28% of the plays go through Durant, meaning that if yhou want to compare apples to apples you have to times Odens per 36 min stats by about 1.55 to compare.

Odens eFG and TS% are better, and pretty much every stat is better on a per 36 minute basis except for ft%, ast, and stls but not by that much.

With a team as loaded as ours with an all star-ROY in Brandon, a do it all, inside-outside PF like LMA and a lot of established vets, Oden does not need tom come in and set the world on fire, but rather have a huge impact on D and rebound at this time.

All of this is not to mention that he sat out an entire year, not playing basketball and stepped in to the best league in the world without any PT under his belt and he has done well if not grand, yet.

I suppose I can sum all this up with this truism: In the NBA there are players that play for stats and money, such as Zach Randolph, Maggette, and Al Jefferson. Then there are guys who would rather sacrifice their stats simply to win games.

Even though Odens stats at first glance do not look all that good, if you put Oden in the same situation as Durant and even say a rookie O’Neal, Hakeem, or Robinson where the O was built from the ground up around them, Oden would have much the same stats as they have.

In the end the only # that matters is that we have 26 wins and OKC has 9.

18 pts 14 rebs don’t lie my brotha.

A bunch of people who are sleeping when Oden is playing (and are unhappy they couldn’t draft him) think he’s not playing well.

Shocking.

Fun to watch, able to score from almost anywhere, but little-to-no defense and not always the best split-second decision making.

Good player, not a player you want to build a franchise around.

• Greg Oden is going to become much more than just a defensive presence himself despite what many pundits said early on after he was coming off the injury. It becomes more visible with every game.

• Imagine we had taken Durant. Then we would be set for good at SF which right now we are not really, but instead still be looking for a franchise center to build around. Joel is best in class as a backup, but definitely not an offensive force and too old to pin all hopes on. You usually can’t trade for a franchise center, you have to draft and develop him. Acquiring a really good foward is much easier. Recent case in point: The Bucks got one for mediocre pieces.

• How many small forwards have led their team to the championship as the main guy? Who were the great small forwards of all time? Pippen? Dr. J? Baylor (no ring)? Who besides LeBron who is much more than a traditional small forward (more like a point-forward handling the ball) could even be capable among the current players? Melo might be the closest thing to a franchise small forward. Who else? Granger? And then KD (who is many things but no LeBron)? It’s getting thin, easier to name great franchise power forwards.

No, Greg was the right decision no matter how well Kevin scores.

…predicted that Durant would make all-star teams and probably win scoring titles. But they also predicted that GO would win titles.

Watching Durant at Texas, he reminded me of Tracy McGrady. That’s no knock: McGrady is a fantastic basketball player. I’ve always loved watching him play. But his teams haven’t even been able to get out of the first round. Great centers—and GO will become one of those—simply have more impact than great perimeter players. Much of that impact doesn’t show up in stat sheets; it just helps win games.

Even as rusty and raw as GO is right now—and even as clueless as his teammates are about how to utilize him offensively—GO is impacting games. That impact will increase exponentially in the coming years.

this question isn’t fair to either player right now.

Durant could blossom into a full on superstar, he could improve his D or just generally become a great player, but right now we’re only seeing him in year 2.

The same goes for Oden times 10. We see what kind of player he can be with lots of minutes and no foul trouble, but he’s still inconsistent.

Two fairer questions might be:
1. Who would we rather have right now?
2. Who would we rather have in 3 years?

With regard to number 1, it’s easier to say Durant because of the huge offensive numbers. I’m sure a spot could be found for him along side Roy, but certainly our offense would look different and we would have no post game. I think you would see a lot more inconsistency with a Durant lineup than an Oden lineup because of the extra reliance on jumpshots and less defense/rebounding. The Blazers are in a special situation compared to the rest of the league. We’ve got the offensive firepower to turn down a great scorer like Durant.

With regard to number 2: if the careers of both of these players trend upward like most expect, there is even less reason to take Durant. There’s no doubt that Durant can score and will probably only get better at that. However, that’s not what we need. Oden on the other hand brings rare commodities to this team. Furthermore, I would argue that Durant is far less likely to develop a defensive game than Oden is to develop an offensive game.

Durant is more likely to become a superstar, but Oden is more likely to be a player that you can win a championship with.

when the Wiz helped in the lane, GO gobbled up offensive rebounds. So they stopped and we started getting to the rim (and the lead grew and grew). Even when they really started to concentrate on blocking him out (I saw Blatche block him out face-to-face once, like we used to do to Shaq), Oden was able to knock rebounds loose. It changes the dynamic of the game as much as a great scorer like Durant does

but for this team, I want my go to guy to be Roy, so ill take Oden to compliment him.

Durant’s raw production may ultimately be higher, but great centers are a much much rarer commodity. Getting 90% of Durant’s theoretical max production from elsewhere is quite a bit easier than getting 90% of Oden’s theoretical max production elsewhere.

The only thing that makes me think about it is the durability question, but you gotta shoot for the moon to win championships so gimme Oden.

Apparently, we like us some Oden and are broadly patient and satisfied with your progress.

A lot of people have touched on this, but I’ll reiterate the point that Durant is a volume jump shooter who, while a great talent, would not help the team/fit the roster as much as Oden at this point as especially going forward. The Blazers already have a go to guy in Roy, and the starting PF is a outside in player. Joel is a great backup center, but even now he isn’t the offensive force on the block Oden is. On a team of jump shooters, Oden is a needed back to the basket threat. Defensively, Durant’s deficiencies are well known, and even if Oden’s offensive game doesn’t grow (and it will/already has) his rebounding and defense make me think that in the absolute worst case scenario (aside from injury – which would be the nuclear option) GO will be a Robert Parish type center for Portland, and as a Boston fan you already know that’s a pretty good piece on a title threat.

for a thoughtful fanposting and for playing Devil’s Advocate on, from what I read, both sides of the question.

Now those of us who came out for Greg better scurry over to CelticsBlog and demonstrate why this is a question of Apples vs Oranges and why we prefer out Apple

on a crappy team he would have the same numbers as Kevin Durant. I am not impressed with him. Roy is a better offensive threat. Oden plays better defense. How can you honestly justify a guy who plays almost all 48 minutes, has the offense run through him and your team only has 9 wins. Plus I think Durant is already as good as he will be. Oden has something Durant doesn’t……… potential.

more like a plateau or a mesa…… lol

Oden all day long. There is a Durant every year in the draft.

As Oden said just last week, "I’m in the worst shape of anybody on this team".
Until just recently we have only seen short little spurts of "THE BEASTY ODEN".
IMHO you can’t be a beast while out of shape because it takes intensity, and intensity takes conditioning. Despite coming off MF surgery, someone who hasn’t played in 11/2 years is going to be behind the curve in getting in shape.
Oden’s numbers for the 2nd half of the year will not compare to his 1st half numbers, we are just now starting to see that.

At this point it’s still unfair to ask us to look at his 2nd half (season) numbers, because that’s still not enough time for him. Even so, when we see those numbers, we won’t be having this discussion.

Both of them are special player, base on how they will fit and use their talents for their teams. If you swap Oden And Durant, No one ever going to see those productions between this 2 players.

They have their own ability that well fit on their own team. I never been a fans of comparison between 2 players. Even Kareem Abdul Jabbar never been happy on his first team till he was traded to LA Fakers and become great because of Magic Johnson.

Oden is here in Blazers because he is the one needed by Blazers not because of whatever talent he has as well as Durant on Seattle Supersonics ( sorry, i dont like OKC Thundress ).

Durant is a fine player. One of the best small forwards in the league already. He has shown marked improvement from last year and will probably continue to improve his game. But he’s not a playmaker, a pure scorer and finisher through and through. Scoring is a commodity that is common in the NBA. Guys like Oden can be more than a scorer to their team which is why I would pick Oden over Durant.

Is a crime..

do again. For those of you who think that when drafting for the #1 pick is all about taking the best player, think again. In this case, we all felt like BOTH Durant and Oden were going to be fine players. KP definately made his choice by deciding who would be the better fit. With Roy and LMA already drafted the year before meant that offense was no longer a concern, sure Durant would have made us even better on the offensive end, but NEEDED defense more! Plus Championship Centers are much harder to find than a wing player that scores 25ppg. Can you imagine what drafting Durant would have done to this roster. Rudy’s minutes would suffer, Outlaw’s effectiveness too, Webster would be riding the bench and we’d have to play Przybilla and Hill at Center! Not to mention how this would effect Roy and LMA. Remember Roy’s 52, well that would not happen if he had to share the ball with LMA and Durant!

And I wonder how many PPG KD would score on our team? He would not have the green light to shoot it from anywhere on the court with us. I think he’d probably average about 12-15PPG.

………………….. Still, as nice a player as Durant is, we’ve got a shooting guard already, see… Err, make that two of them.

Centers are where it’s at a the next level. And while Oden will never be mistake for Wilt or Kareem or Bill Russell or Hakeem, he is POTENTIALLY a pretty darned good player and is already throughly acceptable against teams that don’t have real centers — which is about half the league.

The Blazers are lucky enough to have two real centers and I honestly wouldn’t mind a third.

Not the sure what the heck we’d do with a third shooting guard though.

love,

timbo <——————— banned on Celtics Blog for NOTHING.

when drafting always choose talent over need. I like Oden, he has talent to be top 50 centers of all time. Durant could be top 50 players of all time. At worst, you can trade him for pieces and parts, while a need based pick is less valuable.

And please… Durant is learning to play D just like many young Blazers are, but his game is getting better there.

I doubt KD will ever be as good as a Kobe or a LeBron on D, let alone a Jordan—but he doesn’t have to be to be an awesome player in this league.

How much effect would Durant have in a game where he only gets 5 to 9 shots?

Oden averages ~5 FGA/Game, Durant averages nearly four times that! KD is looking to have grown into a legit volume scorer in the NBA, but the Blazers already have 1.5 or 2 of those (Roy, Aldridge), so that is/will be covered. To add on to this is the drafting of Nicolas Batum, who looks closer to being the perimeter defender at SF we need than KD.

Now let me ask you this, if OKC/SEA had the #1 and picked KD over Oden who could they have grabbed in this last draft to fill their need at C (assuming same picking order)? One of the Lopez twins? Jason Thompson?

No disrespect to those players, but they ARE NOT Oden. If you happen to be up late and catch a blazer game, watch under the basket when Oden is playing. Don’t watch the ball, don’t watch the shot go up, just watch the area under the rim. What you will see is Oden clearing out an entire side for the offensive rebound, unless he is boxed by two bigs. If a wing is sent to help, it will limit the area he can rebound, but not much.

Defensively he affects everything around the rim, so long as it isn’t a PO’d Shaq or a result from a complete breakdown on the perimeter (happens for us more than a Celtics fan is used to seeing). And again watch him COMPLETELY seal his man from rebounding position. Once Oden gets his man on his hip, that guy is lucky to have both feet inside the baseline. And it looks effortless (I’m not saying it is, but Oden certainly makes it look that way).

This is something that doesn’t come along every draft. This last year there was wing scoring, even same bigs who can score, but how many are dominating the rebounds as a rookie? How many were heralded for their defense? Robin Lopez was the only big that was picked for D, and he plays sporadically. Greg has a skill set that is hard to come by, and anything short of KD becoming Jordan makes their respective values a no-brainer.

Oden (along w/ Przy) is an integral part of why the PTB are now one of the top rebounding clubs this season, and has been a HUGE key to us winning. I doubt KD would have helped us in controlling possession much. At best he would increase our offensive efficiency and have no effect defensively, BUT we have been in the top 3 of offensive efficiency all season already.

 If any fan should understand that there is more to winning than scoring you think it would be Celt’s fans. How many points does KG score now? How about all those scorers that the division rival Knicks picked up over the past few seasons? I mean were Curry, Randolph, Marbury, Richardson, and Crawford really all that imposing?

They all were great scorers when acquired, but their skills were redundant (and thus easily defended) when on the court together. And that is what KD would have been for us, redundant. Roy is a scoring machine, so what would KD be when Roy was on?

If we had Kevin Durant he would be getting Jerryd Bayless minutes.

*nuff said

stockpiling talent and gunners is not the way to win titles. Chemistry does matter. As previously stated we are already one of the most efficient teams on offense in the league. I will take it a step further by saying that I would take Tayshaun Prince over Kevin Durant for this team to fill in our cracks. Oden will be just what the doctor ordered.

I didn’t think Greg would get 90%, so it is nice to know that many Blazer fans are not second guessing the big man at this point in his career. Oden will be the better player when all is said and done. That is why the Blazers drafted him.

Keep watching. He is starting to put some pretty nice games together. Consistency will come soon.

I remember talking with my brother about the pick back then and he thought that Durant could develop into KG with even more offensive moves after he builks up.. so I think that it is ironic that this was posted by a Celtic fan..

but I’d still take Oden not only because I think that Durant will never develop into the type of defensive presence that KG is but because I hold to old school values that a franchise center can everything on the court.

Short of Durant becoming the combo of Kobe and KG my brother though.. I’m pretty sure most Blazer fans will not regret this like past draft picks that didn’t go great.

Would be to pick up Durant in free agency and pair him with G.O. Because, Durant should and will seek to flee that festering sinkhole of a city/state in which he is now imprisoned. This is the dream I dream.

Centers win you championships. It’s that simple.

Last year, Kevin Durant – not coming back from surgery – had 15.85.

who would I rather have, the answer is clearly Durant.

But this is Durant’s second year and Greg is a rookie, so is the comparison really fair?

See me in five years and ask the same question.

G. O. Would Dunk Durant thru the hoop and then Freak his girlfriend at the after party!!

oh wait, you’re serious!

Ye of little patience. Honestly a number of blazer fans are suffering through that and some obviously agree with you. Less than I thought.

#1: Oden as a player has not put up amazing stats. His surgery has definitely hindered him. Durant had a year to develop and Oden is still warming up.

#2: Offenses bend around Oden’s defense. Yeah, he may not have great stats RIGHT NOW, but teams are still struggling to get around him. he alters shots. He’s doing this while looking amazingly ugly out there.

#3: Oden has improved by a large amount since he started playing at the beginning of the year. He’s faster, his shot is looking better, and he’s looking nimbler. He’s still amazingly out of Bball shape and will only improve.

#4: Durant had to be close to MJ amazing to be a good fit for the blazers. Blazers have weaknesses and Durant didn’t really fill them ENOUGH. Oden only has to be good. He has the potential to be amazing, but frankly… even just being good he upgrades the team about 5 notches. Joel is an awesome guy, but he can’t handle some centers and he’s weak on offense. Oden isn’t and when he gets his groove on, there won’t be a single center in the league he can’t hold his own against.

#5: KP picked him. Frankly, KP has shown pretty good judgment in talent. He had the inside scoop and plenty of experts with him, and they all still picked Oden. It’s unfortunate that greg had to have surgery, but wait until you see what this guy can do NEXT YEAR! This year, he’s just warming up.

has replied to any of these comments? It’s like he threw a fresh steak into a cage of lions and then drove back to Boston, not even bothering to call the lion tamer to see what happened.

GO = BEAST
            Durant = Bony Gunner.

…he has touch. He can make shots. I swear, with dog as my witness…he will develop a mid-range game that will be at least as good as Amare’s. Not this year, but soon, and for the rest of his life.

let the guys play, they dont play different positions, and every game moves us further away from the 2007 draft.

if we were to compare it would be in 10+ years, when both these guys are age 30+

I wish I had Durant on my team. I made the mistake of taking Gilbert Arenas in the 8th round, which was a gamble that didn’t work out. My team could really use another scorer – especially since Amare Stoudemire is not scoring at the same level that he was at last season. I’m glad I took Brandon Roy in the 4th round, but I made mistakes on draft day. Durant would be most welcome on my team.

Oh, wait, you mean on the Blazers? Of course, the Blazers would take Durant. Although not at the price of Oden……

in a box. I’d ship him off to Antartica so you fools would quit talking about him…

90% of 629 votes says more than 352 comments does.

Someone questioned why I haven’t been responding to any of your comments (thanks for all of them, by the way), and as my friend from CelticsBlog who was sticking up for me explained, I have been very budy of late during weekdays. As a Celtics homer, who indeed knows what it’s like to be a homer, I understand the overwhelming suppport of Oden. That’s not to say that many of you didnt have valid reasons for you choice, but clearly you all have tons of reason to be biassed. As I tried to explain in my post, and I hope you all realize, I wouldnt be suprised at all if Oden ends up becoming the better player. Right now, I think that Durant has the edge, and I think that there are a lot of people out there (besides in Portland) who would agree with me. Again, thanks for all the great responses. I read every one of them, altough I have to admit that there were so many so fast that in responding I wouldn’t have even known where to start.

Thanks,
Toine43