Who would you rather have now?
It was a big debate a few years ago when the Blazers had the #1 pick in the NBA draft and the Sonics had #2. Would it be Greg Oden, or Kevin Durant. Back and forth it went. Well, the Blazers took Oden #1 and the Sonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder, took Durant #2. Since then Oden missed his rookie season, was just ok his sophomore year and got hurt again this year. Durant meanwhile, leads the NBA in consecutive 25+ point games and is an all-star. Tonight I shot the Thunder as they beat the Blazers by double digits. Durant was his usual awesome self scoring 33 points as the Blazers missed 15 consecutive 3 point attempts in the second half. He was all over the place. They just could not stop him. So Blazer fans, who would you rather have? Is Durant Michael Jordan and Oden Sam Bowie? If you could do it all over again, would you want the home team to take the all-star? My take? I would still take Oden. He was/is the right fit for this team. They already have too many forwards…Outlaw, Webster, Batum, Aldridge, Rudy…I don’t think Durant would be nearly as successful on the Blazers. He is the go-to guy on his team. Could he and Brandon Roy co-esist? Would he get as many touches? Would Roy be as good if Durant was here? Who knows, but it’s fun to talk about. What do you think?
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February 10th, 2010 at 6:53 am
I agree, I like Oden. Durant was awesome to watch tonight, but he would clash with the rest of the blazers if we had him. I just hope Oden can actually come back strong and not be the next Bowie. We need a championship.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:12 am
I guess the question might be; who would you rather pay your hard earned entertainment dollars to watch play ball– a Jordan-caliber player who is, as you said, all over the place and definitely his team’s go-to guy, or some big body in the middle, even if he was healthy. To me, it’s more than just a matter of “good fit.” No doubt Roy wouldn’t be the “go to” guy on the Blazers if Durant had carved out a place here, and lots of the other Blazer players doing somewhat well would have far less of a chance to show their stuff… but my take on Roy is, he’s a great player, but Durant’s a better player. Roy doesn’t always make his teamates around him better, as they tend to defer to him quite a bit. If he and Durant were on the same team, maybe they’d both be better, but If I had to pick one, it would be Durant. When you remember Jordan and his success, he was surrounded by team players and role players who did their job in supporting his rare talent, not just in handling the ball, but in leading his team, carrying them on his shoulders, taking responsibility to win… they all stepped up. Did they have the dominant center? No. A couple of journeymen centers were all it took for 6 championships. Durant is way ahead of where Jordan was at this time in his career, and he could still be a senior at Texas. Between Durant and Oden, I’ll give you one guess which one of these guys will be an NBA icon before it’s all over. Just wait until he hits a major market team. He’s buried in Okla-freakin-homa, and never makes tv games, at all. Just check the NBA tv schedule. Anyway, I saw this coming since being a huge fan of Durant as a freshman a Texas, and just groaned when I felt the mood of Portland during the draft days. Oden had “fragile” written all over him back then, both physically and personality-wise. He’s just not, and will never be, one of the NBA future tough guys. He’s just too damn nice. Durant breathes fire when it comes to basketball. That’s something you can’t coach or teach someone. His type comes along very rarely, and probably Portland will never again have an opportunity like they had. It’s all about reaching for the stars, not just filling a hole.
Anyway, you asked… so that’s my take. Cheers, and I do hope Oden actually becomes a fully functioning center for this team for years to come. Seriously, I do hope that, because I’m a Blazer fan all the way. But I’d sure love to be watching Durant play ball and to be seeing his evolution. Damn…! Oh well.
Cheers Craig.
February 10th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Durant better than Roy? Don’t think so. Roy rebounds better, defends better, goes to the rim better, draws fouls better and passes better, and shoots the three better. He had a similar scoring streak this year as well, and it took half the team being gone for Durant to do well against the Blazers.
Oden changes the game when he’s on court. Durant doesn’t.
As for Oden
February 12th, 2010 at 6:19 am
Current stats: Games Played – Durant 51/Roy 40; PPG – Durant 29.7/Roy 23.1; Minutes per game – Durant 39.8/Roy 38.3; FG% – Durant .485/Roy .484; 3pt% – Durant .381/Roy .353; FT% – Durant .880/Roy .792; Reb – Durant 7.4/Roy 4.6; Asst – Durant 2.9/Roy 5.0; TO – Durant 3.8/Roy 2.2; Steals – Durant 1.41/Roy 1.03; Blocks – Durant .84/Roy .13; Fouls – Durant 2.3/Roy 2.3; Double doubles – Durant 16/Roy 1
I rest my case.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:58 am
One more thing. Age – Durant 21/Roy 25; Experience – Durant 2 yrs/Roy 3 yrs; Physical stats – Durant 6′9 230 lbs/Roy 6′6 211 lbs.
Durant is ahead of Jordan at this age and years in league. The Thunder are currently ahead of Blazers in standings. Most of their losses over last couple of months are by 1-3 pts, they could be even further ahead. Durant is obviously making a huge difference in that team, and I would say he changes the game when he’s on the court for the better for his team. And he makes the players around him better. He’s a clear MVP on that team. With the Blazers, sometimes they actually look like a better team without Roy in there, and definitely they play better as a team with Prsybilla compared to Oden. I’m not dissing Roy, but he’s not nearly the difference maker Durant is, or will be in the next 5 years. Feel free to disagree, but obviously we’ll just have to see. But, it doesn’t really matter since the Blazers didn’t draft him.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I don’t want to get in the midst of this argument, but…
How does Durant NOT change the game when he’s on the floor? Let’s be honest, Oden doesn’t make that big of an impact. At least not thus far. He might account for a couple extra wins in a season. One problem though, he’s never on the floor. From what I’ve heard, he hasn’t played a full season since 8th grade.
I like to refer back to this article by Chad Ford and Bill Simmons. –> http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=nbamockdraft/070627
Durant for MVP.