Oden or Durant??

Pretty much every basketball blogger and major sports site has already weighed in on this topic, but I can't have a Blazers blog without addressing it. Almost everybody is advocating Oden, including the Blazer fan base (by about a 4-1 margin). I find myself in the Oden camp as well, albeit reluctantly.

I grew up in Portland, but I'm also a Longhorn (UT law, class of '04). I watched Texas play at least a dozen times this year. Kevin Durant is the most talented player I've seen in my 15 or so years of following college basketball. He can get his shot off at will, he can put the ball on the floor, and has nice touch around the basket. He also combines freakishly long arms with a nose for the ball, allowing him to snare a ton of rebounds, blocks, and steals. He's not a lockdown defender at this stage, but he has the physical tools (think Andrei Kirilenko before Jerry Sloan destroyed his mind) to be a disruptive force at that end of the court. The oft-maligned Rick Barnes occasionally put Durant at the top of the zone, where he was very effective disrupting passing lanes and challenging shots.

I will go on record with a prediction that Kevin Durant will lead the league in scoring at least once within the next five years. He'll also be a contributor at the defensive end. I won't be disappointed if the Blazers draft Durant.

However, I'm going to fall in line and advocate Oden, just like everybody else. Oden is going to be the best defensive center in the league for the next decade. His shot-blocking is devastating - ask Tennessee(see posted clips). He may never develop into a huge scorer, but he'll get 15-20 a game (on 55+ FG%) just by hanging around the basket and feeding on his teammates' scraps. A highly-efficient 20 ppg is of tremendous value to a team. I get excited every time I think about Oden paired with LaMarcus Aldridge (I'm very high on Aldridge- more on him in a future post).

As Kevin Pritchard likes to say, you have to pick the guy that will bring championships. History shows the most likely path to championships is through a dominant big man. Oden is that big man.