With Kevin Durant’s recent stellar play and his career overall, one would expect him to have been the consensus No. 1 pick in his draft class. After all, Durant is an MVP award winner, who has also won two championships. Durant can score on all three levels and can drain contested shots with no issues. However, Kevin Durant was only the No. 2 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.
The No. 1 pick in that draft class was picked by the Portland Trail Blazers. The person they selected was Greg Oden, a center who looked athletically dominant coming out of college. In the NBA though, Greg Oden would end up facing a string of injuries, never living up to his potential. Today, we can look back on that decision, and criticize the Trail Blazers for their choice. But back then, there were reasons that led to the Trail Blazers passing on Kevin Durant.
Greg Oden Had Genuine Potential Out Of College
Greg Oden had genuine potential as a dominant big man out of Ohio State. Oden won a variety of awards in college, and he had some amazing defensive potential. Greg Oden averaged 15.7 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 3.3 BPG. He had the blueprint to be a dominant big man, with solid scoring and elite rim protection. Oden was often able to finish through contact with a thunderous dunk, and his talent inside not in question at the time. This was before the 3PT boom in the league, and thus good centers were definitely wanted by many NBA teams. Greg Oden fit that profile as his size and strength could have made him one of the best on both ends. Oden looked like he’d fit right into the NBA game.
Greg Oden will always be shown as an example of what a bust is, as he was drafted right before one of the greatest players of all-time. His statistics in the NBA don’t do justice to how good he was in the college game: there were times where he’d flash his potential, just to be derailed by yet another injury. No-one will argue that he should have been drafted before Kevin Durant, but the general sentiment was that the Trail Blazers would be selecting a solid prospect who could have become a solid building block at the center position.
The Portland Trail Blazers Needed A Center
At the time Greg Oden was drafted, the Portland Trail Blazers already had two elite prospects in LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, both of whom were showing promise as future franchise cornerstones. What the Portland Trail Blazers were missing was a consistent rebounder and someone who could shore up their defense while providing some scoring to supplement Roy and Aldridge. Greg Oden in theory checked all of those boxes, as he could provide efficient scoring next to the basket and some elite defense due to his athleticism.
This isn’t the first time that the Portland Trail Blazers have picked a center over a future franchise player: Sam Bowie being picked over Michael Jordan comes to mind. But their selection makes more sense given the context: they already had two solid players who occupied the PF and the SG positions, and the C position was fairly important in the era of basketball. Brandon Roy got injured later down the line, and nobody could have foreseen that. The Trail Blazers were robbed of a solid young core by devastating injuries.
Nobody Could Have Predicted The Injuries
At the end of the day, the key factor in Greg Oden’s downfall was the numerous knee injuries that he had. Multiple knee injuries aren’t good for any NBA player, and that issue compounds when you’re a big man like Oden. Oden never had a chance to truly show his full potential, but there were times where he showed flashes of dominating the game. Greg Oden looked like an elite athlete with loads of potential, before being robbed of all of it within a few years. No-one could have predicted such a rapid decline, and we all still wonder how Greg Oden would do had he not been injured.
Credit for Idea: EssentiallySports
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