Kevin Pritchard reveals why he picked Greg Oden over Kevin Durant – NBA Update
A few years back, the Portland Trailblazers won the lottery to get the first overall pick in the NBA draft. The decision turned out to be one of the worst in NBA draft history, although the Cleveland Cavaliers could give it a run
for its money by picking Tristan Thompson as fourth overall this year.
That particular draft featured the now two-time NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant and the sometimes centre Greg Oden.
“Sometimes” because he only plays sometimes. Greg Oden has to be the biggest bust of the NBA Draft since the turn of the millennium. Picked over the scoring monster that is Kevin Durant, Oden has simply failed to play. The undoubtedly
talented big man has been out injured for most of his career so far, and is only expected to return to action in January after his latest bout with knee injury.
However, even back in 2007, Kevin Durant was still considered a favourite by many to land the number one spot. He had, after all, dominated in college basketball all year.
The man who made the decision to instead go for the ill-fated Greg Oden is one Kevin Pritchard - the General Manager of the Portland Trail Blazers at the time and a very good one at that. Kevin brought the Trail Blazers back into
prominence after years spent in obscurity. He was known particularly for his eye for talent and his ability to get the best young players from under the noses of other NBA teams.
Case in point is when he got both LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy on the same draft night. However, Kevin clearly got it wrong in 2007. In a recent interview the now ex-GM of the Portland Trail Blazers gave to a radio station,
he was asked for his thoughts on the whole matter and did he believe the Trail Blazers could have handled it better back then.
And Pritchard said Oden just represented exactly what the Trail Blazers were looking for, a must-win mentality,
“The overwhelming thing that we got from everybody we talked to was (Oden) doesn’t care if he scores or does anything, but he’s about winning. We had been really trying to change our culture for guys who really put the team first,
not care about stats, and really be about winning. We thought he was the pick at the time.”
Pritchard also made it clear that the franchise did scout Kevin Durant extensively too and received good reviews,
“We did the same thing with Durant. They said he’s gonna be the best scorer in the league, he’s going to be an amazing player, and he’s gonna win.”
However in the end they went with Oden because of his greater desire,
“We just felt like Greg was going to be that guy that just doesn’t lose basketball games.”
The fact that Oden’s body will break down really couldn’t have been predicted by anyone back then. Who knows, if he does make a recovery he might still turn out to be a good player for Portland.
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