I remember this day last year, praying that when this day came, it wouldn’t even matter to the success of the New York Knick organization or its legion of fans. (50% of which live in my room apparently)
But I guess its like one of those “Be careful what you wish for” kind of things. Thanks for the lesson, God! But before I go carefully wording my draft day prayer let me talk about this for one second. After all, this is supposed to be a draft for the ages, right?
Well at the top of the draft are two high school studs, fresh victims of the Age Rule. One, Greg Oden, a seven-foot defensive monster, brought to Ohio State the biggest hype we’ve seen this side of LeBron James. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant playing the Carmelo to his Lebron, fresh off his domination in Texas.
Who to choose? This is the question that has plagued fans and journalists alike over the last couple months. This isn’t anything entirely new, however. We’ve been faced with these decisions before with Carmelo and LeBron, Dwight Howard and Emeka Okafor, and even the great Jordan v Bowie debate.
While the jury may be out on the other two, the Bowie draft pick over Michael is one that has plagued the Trailblazer organization to this day. That and a stretch when they were pretty much were the Bengals of the NBA combined causing fans to disappear faster than Clyde Drexler’s hairline.
So, faced with a similar decision again, what is Portland to do? Let’s just hold it for a minute right there. Is this really a draft the caliber of the 1984 draft that produced Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Rick Carlisle? (That’s right, 3rd round, 23rd pick to the Boston Celtics) I don’t think so. I don’t even think it’s on par with the draft that produced LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo and Bosh.
It’s funny that in sports we are always so quick to look for “successors.” God knows how many “Next Jordan’s” and “Next Dirk’s” we’ve had over the years. But let’s really compare these guys to what we have.
What is Greg Oden’s ceiling really? Are we looking at the next David Robinson? The next Patrick Ewing? The next Bill Russell? Let me answer all those three questions with a quick ‘no’ and an even quicker slap for insulting me.
As ‘great’ as Oden was in the championship game, I also saw a very flawed player. While he was an excellent shot-blocker, he looked a step slow on some plays and his offensive repertoire was about as extensive as Philip Seymour Hoffman in Along Came Polly. (Always a favorite of mine.)
How good can he really become? I see him as a bigger Ben Wallace with a slightly better offensive game. Nothing really more. And while he may be an important clog on a championship team, I don’t see him as being the Tim Duncan of a championship team.
Now before you go jumping on the shoulders of Kevin Durant, realize that he probably wouldn’t be able to hold you up. I understand that many players have come to the NBA rail-thin and have succeeded, but how many Next KG’s have to come and fail before we realize that he’s more the exception than the rule. More so, how many teams has Garnett carried to a championship in his tenure? 0.Lack of supporting cast or not, isn’t this what we expect out of a #1 pick?
Durant’s game is said to be more like Carmelo Anthony’s than anything, except Durant rebounds. My question is his heart. Honestly.
As an athlete, I’ve seen many people with that desire to become better and for some reason Durant throws up that red flag. Yeah, he’s really athletic, but seriously, I’m 165 lbs and I could bench press him. And my 100 pound girlfriend could bench 185 lbs. as many times as he can.
Arguments could be made for those the likes of Tayshaun Prince and Reggie Miller, but Tayshaun is a defender first, who isn’t asked to create his own shot, and Reggie never created his own shot with the ball. There’s a reason why there just aren’t that many of these guys.
I see a lot of Adam Morrison in him actually. I think he’s going to struggle to score as easily as he did in college, and as for the 11 RPG, I’d be surprised if he got seven.
Let’s say that that’s the ceiling for these guys. One is a taller Ben Wallace who can’t rebound. The other is a poor man’s Carmelo Anthony who has more of a face-up game than anything else. Now while both players would be excellent additions to veteran teams, neither is ready to take the NBA by storm and dominate like LeBron did. If you asked me, I would trade the pick, then hire Isiah Thomas as a draft day consultant. But then again, I am a Knick fan.
Jason Paderon is a co-founder, columnist, and cartoonist for ChewThemOut.com. Additionally, he was a news reporter for the Staten Island Advance. He can be reached at paderon@chewthemout.com.
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