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Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan
or
Greg Oden over Kevin Durant
Now I'm not asking you to compare Jordan & Durant; I'm asking you to consider the context of the situation. Bowie was at the very least a serviceable center during his career; Oden barely stayed on the court.
I don't know about Bowie, but Oden was a great prospect. I though he would become a great defensive anchor while being good offensively, like 17ppg on good efficiency.
In retrospect? Probably still Bowie over Jordan.
Durant has obviously been fantastic but with Jordan you're getting the GOAT...
No one expected Oden to turn out the way he did, we all thought that he and Bynum were the bigmen of the future. Crazy. I still remember that Florida vs Ohio game in the final, Oden had 25/12 that game vs Noah and Horford.
Neither were bad picks. Both the right picks.
Bowie was a great center coming out of college and went on to have a solid career once he got past his injury woes. And the Blazers had arguably the best SG in the NBA in Clyde Drexler so there is no way they draft Jordan. They needed a center. Correct pick.
Oden ran the fastest times at the combine. Faster than the guards. Was super athletic. Dominated college with his off-hand. Blazers had Brandon Roy & LaMarcus Aldridge and saw Oden as the big man to get them to the chip. Durant wouldn't have fit in or have been able to step in and be the guy. Oden was the right pick.
Bowie was considered a great prospect before the knee injury problem he had in college. Portland badly needed bigs since they already had future Hall of Famer in Drexler. If they had a 20/10 guy in Bowie with great defense, that 1992 finals could have gone in their favor. That team was actually really well rounded IMO. Great guards but average bigs.
Non-draft decision...gotta be
T-Mac forcing his way out of Orlando when they had that 1-21 season. Orlando took Dwight at #1 the following season.
T-Mac & DH12 2005-09 against the East. Not saying championship material but they would have made the East way more competitive.
vs. Pistons
vs. Wade & Shaq
vs. Boston Big 3
Around the same time..well, a year earlier. Detroit taking Darko over Melo was another bad decision.
They could have used Melo in 2005 against the Spurs for sure. Then years later against LeBron. Maybe the Piston could have competed in the East beyond 2008.
[QUOTE=DMV2]Non-draft decision...gotta be
T-Mac forcing his way out of Orlando when they had that 1-21 season. Orlando took Dwight at #1 the following season.
T-Mac & DH12 2005-09 against the East. Not saying championship material but they would have made the East way more competitive.
vs. Pistons
vs. Wade & Shaq
vs. Boston Big 3
Around the same time..well, a year earlier. Detroit taking Darko over Melo was another bad decision.
They could have used Melo in 2005 against the Spurs for sure. Then years later against LeBron. Maybe the Piston could have competed in the East beyond 2008.[/QUOTE]
Would be very fascinating to see this. Although, I personally felt if anyone fit the best on that Pistons team, it would be Wade and have Rip be your 6th man off the bench. Get Rasheed during that trade and you got a team that is still relevant IMO until 2007-2008. Pistons had a great run from about 2002-2007, I don't think people really remember that 2002/2003 Pistons were the only East teams who legitimately gave Nets trouble in those two years.
I don't think they stay relevant after 2008 unless they landed great trades. The Pistons will be relevant again in a few years and I always liked that team's style of hard nose defense/rough around the edges. Represents Detroit well. Friend grew up in Detroit and said when they were good in the early 2000s to about 2007 said the Auburn Palace used to be filled up on a nightly basis :bowdown:.
Even if T Mac stays, I don't see that team doing much damage in 2005-2009 in the playoffs. T Mac legitimately had NO help on that team. Even if Grant Hill was healthy when he first signed with the team, it's probably a 4-5th seed team back then when the East was ultra weak. T Mac put himself in a horrible situation when he signed with Magic even though at the time, it seemed like a potentially great decision. I'm still pretty upset that we got T Mac on the Knicks when he got to the point where he was "done" with being an All Star. He would have been sick to have if somehow he signed with us after Toronto but unlikely. I'm curious if Miami ever offered him a contract that offseason since he wanted to play in Florida it seems. T Mac signing with Orlando pretty much ruined his career even though it made sense at the time. Talk about tough luck and having no team around you for years.
Although I personally loved watching T Mac in a Houston jersey in 2004-2005. Besides his inefficiency in scoring, he was so fun to watch on the Rockets more so than the Magic for me.
^ oh ,shit! I forgot Darko was the #2 pick. They could have grabbed both Melo or Wade. However, Wade was under the radar at time while Melo came off a national championship run. That's why people usually mention Melo instead of Wade.
If McGrady stayed in ORL and they got Dwight, his workload would be lessened and maybe he'd be a lot healthier in his career. I don't think signing with Orlando was a bad decision though, he needed to become a #1 option type player...not sure if he would be able to do that had he stayed in Toronto with Carter.