Portland just drew the #1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Oden or Durant - their choice. No doubt the'll pick Oden. This team will be a force in a few years with all the young talent they've got. In fact, there's a pretty damn good chance they could have the rookie of the year two years running (Brandon Roy won it this year). Yes, I'm very stoked right now.

To make the situation even better, my second favorite team, Seattle, drew the #2 pick.

Eat that shit Celtics fans.

I've been making fun of my friends that are fans of the "jump and put the ball in hole then punch screaming white fan sport" all night. Celtics got screwed!!!

Wow, I can only imagine how much tougher the western conference will be in the upcoming years.

Portland really fell upstairs on this one. Last year they basically traded Telfair for Brandon Roy. Now they've got young guys like Roy, Aldridge, and Webster to go along with Oden. Add Zebo in and you've got a fearsome front line, although from what I've been reading they're likely to trade him and Miles out to remove the last bit of the "Jail Blazers." But Zebo is a stud player, and good enough to bring in a guy like Billups, R. Lewis, etc.

I haven't really cared about the NBA since the great Blazers team from the late 80s early 90s was disbanded, when I was basically a kid, but I'm getting that same old feeling again.

Rip City is back!

I'm actually glad the Celtics fell to 5...Ainge and Rivers don't deserve a decent player to cover up all their mistakes...I was giggling with glee when I saw Tommy Heinsohn's face when the Celts got pulled from the 5th envelope....The Celts will draft another 6'8" swingman with "tremendous upside" and then blame the salary cap for all their problems when they are mired in last place next year...What's that?? I can hear Paul Pierce's agent's cell phone ringing now..."Get me OUT OF HERE!!!"

Seattle's got the easiest pick in the history of the draft.

BTW, why in the hell does the lottery take place during the playoffs?

Yep. I really don't think there's any question that Portland will take Oden. In a way it's a riskier pick, but unless something turns up in interviews or workouts they've got to take the chance. He actually seems like a really good kid that fits the character of the guys they're trying to get now, so I don't think any red flags will come up. And actually Durant fits Seattle's roster better than Oden anyway, so it's win-win in that regard. I'm excited for Rid (Duck in Seattle) to get a chance to play with such a dynamic young player in Durant. Of course, I'm also excited for Fredie (Duck in Portland) to get a chance to play with such a dynamic young player in Oden.

This is weird for me. This is the first time I've been really stoked about the NBA in literally over a freaking decade.

It's coming back.



Rip City.

Meh, he looked better when he was part of Clutch City.

Nah, he was old and slow by then. Plus he just didn't look right in that uniform.

Well, he's from Houston, so he actually didn't look right as a Blazer. Besides, as a Rocket he was able to do this:



because of this:

He came so close to winning one of those in Portland.

Nonetheless, I think he's still my all-time favorite athlete in any sport, simply because I watched him so much during my formative years. By all accounts a great guy, too. To this day the man is absolutely loved in the state of Oregon. He was in Portland a few years back to promote a book or some such thing and he was mobbed.

But this thread is really about the future of the Blazers, which is oh so bright.

Portland would be stupid not to take Durant. Oden couldnt hold durants jock

They won't take Durant. Thay may prove to be a mistake, but I'm sure they'll go with Oden. As I see it Durant is more ready right now, but Oden's upside is far bigger.

I'm hearing the conspiracy theorists on the radio now. Stern thinking: "Hmmm, everyone wants Seattle to move to Oklahoma City. Um, no. How about we give Seattle Oden or Durrant."

I really hope they don't move from Seattle. I can't believe the NBA would be in favor of moving a franchise from a great US city like Seattle to (not to be mean) a crap-heap like Oklahoma City. But I guarantee there's no conspiracy going on.

I did just hear Mike and Mike talking about this, however. Evidently Boston may have thrown the end of their season to try to position themselves to get a 1st or 2nd pick. If that's the case, falling to 5 couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch.

Another big upside of this that occured to me is that Portland is gonna be on TNT and ESPN/ESPN2 a whole lot more next season. So I'll get lots of Blazer games in high def.

Ah, Clyde. Nice guy! A family friend of ours was VP of "Avia" shoes back in the late 80's and early 90's, so I got to meet Clyde once. Remember them? Avia?! You KNEW Clyde was a great athlete since he had crazy leaps and wore the crappiest shoes in the NBA. Best standing vertical in the NBA, right? Anyway, I got Clyde to autograph a 2 year old box of Wheaties. He told me to make sure not to eat them

I still have the Wheaties!

Portland has fans?

Holy shit!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AqBlte6uu_fWV2yl2y1QJIi8vLYF?slug=aw-blazers052407&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Good read. Looks like Portland is actually working on trying to get Conley to go along with Oden. It also says that Oden is relieved to be going to a small market team like Portland as opposed to a pressure cooker like Boston.

*update*

Damn. Looks like Oden's going to miss the entire 07-08 season

exploratory arthroscopic surgery reveals cartilage damage

See they should have taken durant

Dude has now missed half a college season, most of the summer league season and all of the NBA regular season. Guy seems awfully ricketty and fragile for a "young" guy. You can't help but think about Sam Bowie.

Damn, ain't that a bitch.

Fuck.

Well, look at the bright side. They will suck again and then you'll have Oden back AND another lottery pick. BTW, Stoudemire had the same surgery and that really seems to be affecting him.

So did Jason Kidd...

the surgery historically has optimally required about two years to get back to normal... Amare wasn't his best last year, but if the Team USA performance is any indication, Amare shuld be on track for a good year this year with Phoenix.

Like Nismo says, in the long run this may be good for Portland if they can add another quality player in next year's draft...

Then there's that. There have been other players that just weren't the same after it (Chris Weber, Larry Johnson - those are guesses, but I think they went through that). Stoudemire was the only true big man that I could think of. No one knows if this surgery will actually return Oden to the way he was. Guess time will tell.