by Nathan Halfpenny

Created on: June 27, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Every year in late June the NBA is king of the sports world. Shortly after the Finals conclude and a new (sometimes) champion has been crowned, analysts everywhere give their two cents on where in history the new champion ranks in comparison with the great teams of all-time. After this mind-numbing and pointless debate ends, the attention turns to the future of the league in the form of the NBA draft. The best and the best brightest from college, high school and now world basketball associations hope to become one of the lucky 48 players that are selected in the draft. In the same pain-staking fashion that analysts discuss the champion, they all begin debating on the overall number one pick being the savior for whichever franchise has been lucky enough to win the NBA's draft lottery. In the 2007 draft all discussion circled around a young man with his whole future ahead of him, despite the physical appearance of a man that has a wealth of experience. Greg Oden was selected as the #1 overall choice by the Portland Trailblazers in 2007 and was immediately hailed as the one to bring the team to the promised land. Unfortunately, before a single game could even be played, Oden suffered a season ending knee injury and was placed on the back burner of sports journalists everywhere.

Every year the names and teams change, but the story always stays the same. "With the first pick in the NBA draft the fill in the blanks select it doesnt matter. No matter what name finishes that sentence expectations are always the same, a championship. There has been such pressure placed upon these young men to not only perform but to perform up to their highest potential immediately, that anything less is greeted by boo's and announcers harsh words. The fact of the matter is that Greg Oden is an immensely talented basketball player worthy of the first selection in the draft. He is tall, strong, athletic, he plays defense and has a great work ethic. But to say that as a direct result of drafting Oden, the Blazers will suddenly go to and win the NBA finals is a stretch. Sure its entirely possible that with Oden on the team Portland could potentially win the championship someday, but will it be directly and entirely because of him? No. Portland has a wealth of young talent from Brandon Roy to LaMarcus Aldridge to Jarrett Jack. The teams average age is only 24.1 years and they only have one player, Raef LaFrentz, over the age of 30. On a team this young and talented, they have their whole future ahead of them and it is entirely possible that they could win the NBA title someday, it just won't be all because of Greg Oden.

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