The curse of Red Auerbach

Even though I was at game 2 of the Jazz-Spurs series last night, I feel the need to address the NBA Draft Lottery first. First off, congratulations to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers had a 5.3% chance at winning the lottery; compared to Memphis owning a 25% and Boston owning a 19.9% chance. Seattle gets the second pick, Atlanta the third, Memphis fourth, and Boston got the fifth pick.

Portland has a decision to make, because both Kevin Durant and Greg Oden would fit in their lineup. Obviously, I think you take Greg Oden first no matter what team you are, but Kevin Durant would not be a bad choice at all. The Blazers have the option of taking Durant because they already have Zach Randolf and LeMarcus Aldridge down low. Putting Durant next to those two and Brandon Roy would make for a talented young lineup. I still pick Oden in any case though.

I'm sorry to all the Boston Celtics fans out there. But hey, you guys lost the 1997 lottery and that turned out alright didn't it? You got Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer out of it. Of course Mercer never really amounted to anything and Billups didn't become the player he is until he got to Detroit, but still. Oh and Sports Guy, don't do anything crazy.

I hate to mention karma, because everybody seems to have been talking about it the last couple of days (apparently that's the only way to explain why teams win the lottery; it has nothing to do with chance), but the Blazers really have their karma going. First, they do their best to get rid of the Jail Blazers reputation that had for the last few years by getting rid of most of their problem players and drafting some quality guys. Then they don't try and tank the season like the trio of Memphis, Boston, and Milwaukee did (who, by the way, got the fourth, fifth, and sixth picks respectively). What do they get for their troubles? The first pick, with their option of choosing either Oden or Durant. Congratulations Blazer fans.

I'll post later about last night's game.

Keep It Moving

The Florida Gators are the 2007 National Champions. I predicted Ohio State to win, and I was wrong. Sounds about right.

Greg Oden did have a monster game, which was awesome to see. Or in my case, read about later on that night (stupid work!). Corey Brewer, who always reminded me of Josh Howard (mostly because they're both tall for guards and extremely skinny) and I always thought had the most pro-potential out of that Florida group, played really well throughout the tourney.

So to sum it up, FLA back-to-back. Very impressive.

Greg Oden may not have won a national championship or the MOP, but he's a winner in my book. As you can tell by the pic.

With the college season over the NBA playoffs are coming up. Which means we will have roughly six more months of basketball on our hands before the offseason.

What's that? The playoffs don't last that long? Sure seems like it. Either way, the fun doesn't stop now, it's just the beginning.

Work Sucks

Everybody seems to be picking Florida to win tonight. The game tips off in about fifteen minutes and I still have Ohio State winning. I am expecting big things from the Buckeyes tonight, especially Greg Oden. But anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I always expect big things.

But despite my predictions and what I expect, I won't even be able to watch the game tonight. That's right, I'm stuck at work, trying to keep the bills paid. I can't wait until I get paid to watch basketball and write about it.

My final score prediction is 73-67. That's what my bracket says at least. And speaking of my bracket, I am in first place in both of my brackets. And that means if, I mean when, Ohio State wins tonight, I will have finally dominated a March Madness pool for the first time in my life. I should have wagered some money. Enjoy the game, I wish I could.

Greg Oden > You

The more I think about it, the more convinced I get. Greg Oden is going to be one of the top-5 centers of all-time.

I can't really put my finger exactly on why, but nonetheless the feeling is there. The last player we saw in the college level with his combination of skill, potential, and mentality was Tim Duncan.

He turned out to be a little more than a bust right?

But here comes the scary part about that analogy. Greg Oden is taller than Tim Duncan. Greg Oden is better at a younger age than Tim Duncan was. Greg Oden is more athletic than Tim Duncan was. And last but not least, Greg Oden is meaner than Tim Duncan.

I think that last part says it all right there. Sam Rubenstein from SLAM summed it up best last week when he said, "He is a throwback to when the big man was mean and intimidating."

Tim Duncan isn't mean and intimidating and he turned out alright. Why does Oden need to be then to succeed? Well, he doesn't. He'd be just fine if he didn't.

But can you imagine seeing Tim Duncan with a mean streak? Can you see him going down four or five times in a row and punishing the other team, physically and otherwise?

You never will, because it's not in his game; it's not in his personality. But it's in Oden's. I can see it. And with that, I can see almost unlimited potential.

I am a little biased towards the big man. I myself played in the post when I played. I grew up idolizing Hakeem Olajuwan, David Robinson, and Tim Duncan. The player I respect the most in NBA history (well, second to David Robinson that is) is Bill Russell.

Because of those things I want to see Oden succeed. I want Ohio State to win the national title on Monday and Oden to get the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. I hope that he leaves after this year and enters the NBA.

Call me boring, but I want to see him get drafted by the Boston Celtics. In my opinion the Celtics have the best jerseys in all of sports and seeing Oden in a Celtics uniform will conjure up classic images of Bill Russell.

Will the titles Russell won come with those images? Probably not. But Oden is a surefire franchise player and multiple titles are not out of the question. New rules aside, winning titles begins and ends with a dominant big man and Greg Oden is the next great one.

Now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind seeing him jump ship to play for the Spurs when his rookie deal expires.

I'm Never Really Asleep Cuz Only One Eye's Closed

I haven't posted in a while, and frankly, I haven't had time. Well, that's a lie. I have had time but I've been really busy and I just haven't had the motivation to post. I have been taking care of somethings that might really enhance this blog, so keep your fingers crossed on that.

I am delighted to tell you that my NCAA tournament bracket is healthy. I was planning on taking a picture of me lighting my bracket on fire and posting it up here, but my bracket looks good. I picked three out of four of the final four teams with only UCLA not there and both of my national championship teams are alive.

Speaking of sports contests that I'm in and get no real benefit from winning, I'm dominating my NBA.com fantasy league and in second place in my Yahoo! fantasy league with a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Who's beating me in my Yahoo! league you ask? Amazingly, my dad. I'm as shocked as you are.

Back to the Final Four though. The more I think about it, the more excited I am. For some reason this Final Four seems amazingly strong. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about; maybe I've been reading too much Bill Simmons; I don't know, but I'm excited.

My pick is still the Ohio State over Florida in the final. Greg Oden for MOP just because if Ohio State wins the NCAA will feel compelled to give it to him. I won't argue.

I haven't watched a lot of NBA this past week, my guess is I'm subconsciously saving my energy for the playoffs, or LeBron-Jamesing it, because I know I will be watching a ton of basketball when playoffs come around.

Speaking of LeBron, how about his new house? I'm thinking of faxing my résumé over there so maybe I can get a better paying job. Somebody has to work in his bowling alley, right?

That's about all for me tonight. I need more sleep these days.

Madness

I'm on spring break right now, so things have finally died down. I actually have free time that I'm not spending asleep. I was able to watch a ton of college basketball this weekend but not much NBA. In my opinion, as far as basketball goes, this is probably the best time of the year. The conference tournaments and NCAA tournament in the college ranks and the stretch run before the playoffs in the NBA. It doesn't get much better than that.

I watched a lot of the Big 12 tournament mostly just to watch Kevin Durant play. The more I watch of him, the more impressed by him I am. He can score in pretty much any way. If he gets a look at the rim, chances are good that the shot is going in. He has a little trouble getting the ball sometimes, I think that's partly due to his lack of strength, but that's his main offensive weakness. That and his ability to set-up his teammates. I know he's not a point guard, but I haven't seen him make many plays for his teammates.

I got to watch some of Greg Oden this weekend also. Though he's not as spectacular to watch as Durant, I think if I was starting a team, I would go with Oden over Durant. I think it's better to build a team around a player like Oden than it is a player like Durant.

But what it really comes down to in the draft this year, assuming both leave college for the NBA, is the team you have right now. If the Celtics get the first pick, they should take a Durant. They've got a good low post presence with Al Jefferson. But if Memphis gets the first pick, I believe they should take Oden. They don't have a strong low post presence and pairing Oden with Pau Gasol would automatically give Memphis one of the best front courts in the league.

It all comes down to who you have on your team, how long you're going to have those guys around, and what style of play you are going to play as to who you draft first, Oden or Durant. But number don't lie, and dominant centers win more NBA championships than dominant swingmen, unless your name is Michael Jordan.