Can it be said that Portland messed up taking Oden now?

Ito · Post #41 » by **Ito** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 8:15 am

Flash3 wrote:
Ito wrote:even if Oden end up being that 15/10/2 guy we expecting, Durant would still be twice, three times better.

With Durant, the Blazers would easily be the best team in the league by next season
Did Kobe and the Lakers exit the league or something?

Any team with Kobe and his current supporting cast, and PJ on his side is currently better than any team in this league, Spurs included.

I mean yeah you probably right, but a team with Roy and Durant, and decent role players would give the Lakers major competition IMO

D-31 · Post #42 » by **D-31** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 8:17 am

You can't say Portland screwed up until Durant makes the playoffs.

Right now Durant is nothing more than a ballhog who can't win anything.

Ito · Post #43 » by **Ito** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 8:21 am

D-31 wrote:You can't say Portland screwed up until Durant makes the playoffs.

Right now Durant is nothing more than a ballhog who can't win anything.

Why the hate? Durant have done everything right so far, and is showing everybody that he is going to be better than we thought... You can't expect a young team like that to make the playoffs in the West right away.. but I think they will make the playoffs sooner than we think...

Garamond · Post #44 » by **Garamond** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 8:35 am

EGame · Post #45 » by **EGame** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 8:43 am

Ito wrote:
D-31 wrote:You can't say Portland screwed up until Durant makes the playoffs.

Right now Durant is nothing more than a ballhog who can't win anything.

Why the hate? Durant have done everything right so far, and is showing everybody that he is going to be better than we thought... You can't expect a young team like that to make the playoffs in the West right away.. but I think they will make the playoffs sooner than we think...

Uh why not? Portland was, I believe, the second youngest team in the league last year behind Golden State and even if I am mixing up my facts, they are still very young and were able to make it in the playoffs. Why can't OKC? This is kind of why I laugh at people claiming Durant is better then Roy NOW. Maybe in the future he will be (most likely), but not now.

Anyway, Durant is better then Oden, but no one can say Portland has messed up yet without at least seeing Oden this year and see what he produces.

Post #46 » by **DaVoiceMaster** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 9:10 am

Buckeye-NBAFan wrote:Oden isn't Hakeem, but Durant isn't Jordan.

Oden can still be an all-star center in this league. Durant is (going to be) the better player, but if Oden becomes the 2nd best player in that draft class, Portland will be fine.

Bingo!

rumdiary · Post #47 » by **rumdiary** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 9:11 am

Kosta wrote:If they had a chance to redo it, they'd take Durant, so yes, they did in that sense. But Oden could still end up being great, just the odds of him being what he was hyped up to be, has been greatly reduced.

DumbyTheWizard · Post #48 » by **DumbyTheWizard** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 10:02 am

Hakeem wasnt a bust because Michael was selected after him, (and everybody knows michael was better...)

If Oden will be a very good player but not as good as Durant, then no, Portland did fine. If he will be like Bowie and will be a nice player that always gets injured then yes, Portland did wrong.

its too soon to know now where will oden end on this scale...

Tirion · Post #49 » by **Tirion** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 10:38 am

Durant is an NBA superstar on the rise, possessing freakish physical abilities, amazing skill-level, great scoring instincts and good leadership qualities to boot. Pairing him with Roy would be just unfair to other teams. Do you realize that Durant's last year's scoring #s are better than, for example, Ray Allen's best season? That kind of scoring prowess is unheard of for a 20-years old. And it's not like he's standing pat, he's actually working like a maniac to improve even more. And the word around the league is that he's going to get much better as soon as next season. So to catch up to him Oden's gonna need to progress like three times as fast, which is completely impossible. That train has already left for Greg. In fact the gap is so wide right now, that all this talk about Oden being a "better fit" or a "defensive presence" sounds pretty silly. Blazers had a chance to draft a modern version of Jordan-Pippen combo and with great supporting cast to boot. And they blew it.

dznutzz · Post #50 » by **dznutzz** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 10:39 am

obviously in hindsight they'll choose durant.

the reasoning was that portlant needed a center so they drafted one.... like 1984

D-31 · Post #51 » by **D-31** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 11:02 am

Ito wrote:
D-31 wrote:You can't say Portland screwed up until Durant makes the playoffs.

Right now Durant is nothing more than a ballhog who can't win anything.

Why the hate? Durant have done everything right so far, and is showing everybody that he is going to be better than we thought... You can't expect a young team like that to make the playoffs in the West right away.. but I think they will make the playoffs sooner than we think...

It's not hate it's the truth. His team plays better without him. Durant has definitely not done everything right, if he did, he'd have a championship. You should at least be able to say a "great" player can keep his team in the playoff race after the first month of the season. Some Durant can't say after 2 seasons.

Durant is comparable to career loser George Gervin, but not as good.

Marc3287 · Post #52 » by **Marc3287** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 12:28 pm

D-31 wrote:Durant has definitely not done everything right, if he did, he'd have a championship.

Can you elaborate on this?

princeofpalace · Post #53 » by **princeofpalace** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 1:04 pm

Yes, they messed up bigtime

They could have taken Durant and then taken a bigman in 2008.

Dagameplaya PnG · Post #54 » by **Dagameplaya PnG** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 1:17 pm

Didn't the Blazers already have a starting sf when they were going into that draft? It's like the 2003 draft, a lot of people expected the Pistons to go with Carmello Anthony, but since they already had Prince, they went with a big. (Although they should have picked Chris Bosh instead of Darko)

CHIMOCHI · Post #55 » by **CHIMOCHI** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 1:19 pm

tone it down a notch with the threads

k

princeofpalace · Post #56 » by **princeofpalace** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 1:34 pm

Derick22333 wrote:Didn't the Blazers already have a starting sf when they were going into that draft? It's like the 2003 draft, a lot of people expected the Pistons to go with Carmello Anthony, but since they already had Prince, they went with a big. (Although they should have picked Chris Bosh instead of Darko)

No. Pistons wen't with Darko because he was the BPA according to EVERYONE and Oden was BPA according to everyone as well. In hindsight, both teams got it wrong.

That being said unless Oden remains perpetually injured (which IMO is possible), Portland passing on Durant won't be nearly as crippling for a franchise as Pistons passing on Anthony, Wade, Bosh.

writerman · Post #57 » by **writerman** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 1:48 pm

Guy986 wrote:Yes because Oden will never catch up to Durant.

No.

And comparing any small to an elite big is stupid. An elite big gives a team so many more things that no small, however good, can match.

Not saying Oden is an elite big, but unless all the scouts were wrong, barring injury the potential is there. If Oden stays healthy and becomes even an considerably above average big, he's more valuable than Durant or any guard or wing currently playing. So the jury is still out on Oden.

Take Kobe for instance. Hate him, but he's a great player. Still, all other things being equal, if you're a GM and have a choice between building your team around a Kobe prime or a Shaq prime, if you take Kobe you're an idiot. Basketball is a vertical game. Every generation produces a lot of really good wings, though maybe not as good as Kobe, Jordan, Baylor, etc. But a Wilt or a Kareem or a Shaq (when his lazy ass is motivated) come along very infrequently, and are worth more than any Kobe, Jordan, or Baylor.

Post #58 » by **Flash3** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 2:05 pm

D-31 wrote:You can't say Portland screwed up until Durant makes the playoffs.

Right now Durant is nothing more than a ballhog who can't win anything.

Well coincidentally what is Oden? He wasn't any factor, or much I should say in his team getting there. He's got a great team around him with an even better coach.

Durant's team in OKC is only now coming together.

hard49 · Post #59 » by **hard49** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 2:10 pm

Still to early to tell. Durant needs to do some team elevating first. Yeah, he put up big numbers but not only was his team crap but they played better when he was hurt. So this will be year three for Durant and his team does not seem likely to win 35 games. At some point he is going to have to put his team on his back and win games.

Can we go throughout NBA history and find the superstar, HOF, top 25 All time type talent that spent their first 3 seasons on sub 40 win,non-playoff teams?

TiMVP · Post #60 » by **TiMVP** » Sun Aug 9, 2009 2:36 pm

It could be said right after David Stern announced his name. Everyone know Durant's a BEAST.

Is it still too early or Can it be said that Portland messed up taking Oden over Durant?