Oden or Durant? Probably Oden

Just 4 days from the NBA Draft and it's still up in the air whether the Blazers will select Kevin Durant or Greg Oden with the number one pick. Or at least it looks that way. ESPN probably waved money at Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard and told him to keep their selection confidential until the NBA Draft, which has been pointlessly stretched from 2 hours long to 4.5 hours long. And while seeing Oden drafted won't entice me to watch a minute of it, it may go down as one of the most important drafts ever.

Forgetting to juxtapose each other's strengths and skills, it looks pretty obvious Oden is going #1. The majority of input from sportswriters is that Greg Oden is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity who could be one of the best modern Centers ever. The vote on the Blazers homepage is 73% in favor of Oden, and I imagine people in the Portland area are honking once more than twice.

Any serious consideration to take Durant is probably less about Durant's potential and more that they have Zach Randolph. Randolph, who posted All-Star caliber numbers last year, is a trouble-ridden malcontent with a gargantuan contract. Moving him will be nearly impossible, and drafting the bigman Oden could make Randolph even more of an irritant. So they may succumb to drafting Durant to better balance their starting five. But not likely.

Not that my opinion matters, but let me be the first to say that I would take Durant if I was the Blazers. He follows in the category of Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony to lead his team deep in the tournament while clearly being their best player. The most gambled position on draft day has always been the Center. Look on every roster and you'll find a 7'3 stickfigure who they thought could be the next Dirk, or the next Shaq. The smaller SG/SF players tend to pan out more. I expect Oden to be good, but who's to say he won't fare better than Ralph Sampson or Pervis Ellison?

In a way, Portland's been in this exact scenario before. In the 84' Draft, no one was opposed to drafting Center Sam Bowie. There wasn't any regret for not selecting Michael Jordan; only until Jordan blossomed and Bowie floundered was it considered a bad pick. Now in 2007 they have the same two choices: the promising bigman or the explosive shooter.