Sports > September 20, 2007

By James Burnett | Staff writer

Imagine you are the GM of the Portland Trailblazers on June 28 of 2007 (Kevin Pritchard, if you are reading this, look in the mirror).

Imagine you are the GM of the Portland Trailblazers on June 28 of 2007 (Kevin Pritchard, if you are reading this, look in the mirror).

You have in your possession the No. 1 overall pick in arguably one of the deepest drafts ever. Greg Oden or Kevin Durant? You decide.

Either way, you are on the hook for millions of dollars with nothing but the hope that you can turn your enterprise around. For Portland, the No. 1 pick could potentially be franchise-defining.

The potential here is not analogous to the chance that you may actually enjoy one of the many terrible shows that CBS will be premiering this season (Moonlight, Kid Nation, CSI: Insert Random Location here).

Instead, you have the very real opportunity to draft a superstar who may guide your team to an NBA title, shed the “Jailblazers” title and make your fan base feel safe coming to the Rose Garden.

You are not Kevin Pritchard, who decided to take the risks involved with drafting Greg Oden.

The Trailblazers bet against history in selecting Oden with their No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Remember in 1984 when the Blazers selected Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan (whoops)? I’m sure Pritchard was well aware of the historical implications of this summer’s gamble when Oden took to the court for the first time.

I am also certain he suffered a minor heart attack when it was announced that big Greg needed micro-fracture surgery (a procedure that younger players usually recover from i.e. Amare Stoudamire).

However, if I were in Pritchard’s position, I would have seen less risk in making the decision he made as opposed to the alternative.

Why not pick a potentially dominant center, a position that most will agree plays an incredibly pivotal role in winning NBA titles, perhaps even more so than the prolific scorers such as Kobe or Dwayne Wade (both needed Shaq to win those championships).

Who is to say whether Durant has the Jordan-esque capability to carry a professional team to a title?

Oden will not be asked to bear such a burden when he makes his debut a year from now. As a defensive center with offensive skills, he will be asked to alter games, not to personally win them.

People also tend to overlook that in the 1984 draft, Jordan was the third overall pick.

These same people do not chastise the Houston Rockets for selecting Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon, a two-time NBA champion and finals MVP.

Jordan may have carried a Bulls team to six titles, but Olajuwon was a testament to the efficiency of the “big man” in the NBA. Certainly anomalies such as Jordan (maybe Durant?) come along from time to time, but a dominant low post player is almost a sure bet to win a title. Championship teams were built around the likes of Olajuwon, Shaq, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Kevin Pritchard had the choice to either risk the chance of Oden becoming a great center (not necessarily common) or risk the chance that Durant could become a Michael Jordan-type player (one in a million). The odds are better that Oden will fit into a niche that is more easily filled, than that Durant will effectively provoke a new NBA dynasty.

I applaud Pritchard’s choice, which although not the most attractive, was definitely the less risky of the two. The point is that this surgery should not be viewed as the defining moment of Oden’s, or Pritchard’s career.

Hindsight is 20/20, and although this is not the best possible situation, it is certainly not the worst.