AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 11
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
One down, one to go?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve been discussing it for weeks, all under the general assumption that the June draft would include both Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.
But it wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that we were assured of at least one of them being a part of the process.
Durant’s in. And I think we all agree that he raised the level of this, or any, draft with his presence alone. But now we need the other guy to jump in.
I don’t have any clue, which way Oden is leaning (I know if I was in his camp I’d have encouraged him to declare already and end the foolishness). What is clear is that a draft with one and not both of them is good. A draft with the two of them is one for the ages.
But what happens if Oden decides to go back to Ohio State? That changes the entire situation for every team trying to lose its way to into the top two of the draft.
I’ve honestly never contemplated my second choice if we have one and not the other. It’s always been predicated on the both of them being available, with Oden being the No. 1 player on my board and Durant 1A.
Don’t ask me why this popped into my head on the drive downtown this morning. I just started worrying about it, thinking that Oden’s delay in making a public announcement could mean that he’s perhaps thinking about a return to Columbus or it could just mean the big fella is doing things on his own time table (I wish I knew exactly what was going on).
Along that same path, I’ve continued to read more of the fire and brimstone about Durant (who is a fantastic player, no doubt) being the best offensive player to enter the NBA draft in the past 20 years. Huh? I keep wondering if I’ve watched the same guy.
That’s a humongous statement. Huge. And one I’m not ready to sign off on until I study the last 20 years and remind myself of all the accomplished offensive players that have entered the draft the past two decades.
Seriously, have I missed something in Durant’s game that I should have seen?
Anyway, I think it’s time we started shifting our conversation to the draft and the draft lottery, which at this point constitute the only real intriguing issues relating to the Hawks (with four games left, you just hope they don’t suffer any more serious injuries and that people chill on the mass cuss outs).
