Who should be the number one draft pick for the Portland Trailblazers: Kevin Durant or Greg Oden

Durant

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by Jack Serapiglia

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I know the arguments, because I have made them before. You win in this league with centers. You can't teach size. You need a dominant big. You need someone to rebound, block shots, intimidate. You always take size. So you gotta take Greg Oden, the most dominant center in a draft since Shaq. Right?

Yet there is something about Kevin Durant. Anyone who watched him play this year, watched him light up Kentucky, watched him carry a decent team shackled with an inept coach all the way to the Big 10 Finals and Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA tournament, anyone who saw any of this knows this kid is special. Real Special. Magic Johnson type special. Michael Jordan type special.

In thinking about this draft I can't help but think back to the 1984 draft. The Bowie over Jordan draft. The thinking was back then you gotta take the size over the kid that may be something special. Same thinking that is going on now. You take the size. You need size to win. Except when that size is in the form of Sam Bowie, and the player you pass up turns out to be the greatest player of all time.

Not saying that Oden is the next Bowie. Far from it. Oden is going to be a very good center for a very long time in this league. But I see more Ewing in his game then Olajuwan. He resembles a more athletic, slightly better offensive version of Ben Wallace. In other words, more of a force on the defensive side of the ball.

If Oden had a great offensive game, then this is no contest. Like choosing between Shaq and Kobe, Duncan and Lebron. Wing players rarely win championships on their own (Jordan is the exception that proved the rule). You take the dominant big and build from there.

But when the dominant big is limited offensively, what really is the advantage of going big? Oden is going to need a dominant type wing player to win anything, the dominant type wing player that the Knicks never could give Ewing.

Oden is going to develop into a good offensive player. But he will not overwhelm like Shaq did. He is not as smooth as Olajuwan. He won't have the great outside shot like Robinson, like Malone. Can't see him scoring more then 20 ppg. Course he will be filling up that stat sheet with 10-11 rpg and 2-3 blocks too.

Durant is a force of nature. He looks like the kind of player who can go off for fifty on ANY given night. He is that good, that quick, that tall. His offensive game is that polished. And he is only a freshman.

Blazers take Durant, they have a potential Finals team in 2-3 years. They roll out Brnadon Roy, Durant, Zach Rnadolph and Lamarcus Aldridge as their starters, with whatever point guard is lucky enough to play along side them. They got rebounding, inside scoring, outside scoring, and defense.

Thing is, Sonics luck out too. They get Oden, pair him up alongside Ray Allen, see what they can get for Rashard Lewis. That gives them a very good base. One or two more moves, they are up there competing with the Blazers in a couple of years.

Instead, you gotta fear this is 1984 all over again. Blazers go for size. Sonics get another wing player. A very good wing player, but a wing player nonetheless. Both teams are improved, but not as good as they could be.

To summarize Bill Simmons, Oden has a chance to be one of the top 5 players in this league. Durant has a chance to be one of the top 5 players of ALL TIME. Seems like an easy choice in that context. Course there were those who thought the Blazers should take Bowie over Jordan. Can't teach size. In the NBA, can't always learn from history either.

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