NBA Draft Preview: Greg Oden

Counting up until the draft day of June 28, I will start going over the players who are projected to go in in the draft, giving my two cents to what should be a stellar crop of athletes. The first to be touched on? None other than the manchild himself, Greg Oden.

The 7-0 Ohio St. star is nothing short of spectacular. How, you say? Well, I am glad you asked. (Actually, if you really did ask that question, I'm thinking you are probably on the wrong site). If you look at Oden's numbers throughout his only year for the Buckeyes, you may think, "Eh, they're not that great." This is true--on paper, his averages of nearly 16 per game and almost 10 board is really not earth-shattering. And when you combine the fact that he had another high first-rounder on his team in lifelong teammate Mike Conley Jr., it begs the question--is this guy really all that and a bag of chips?

The answer is--a resounding yes. (Thanks for the chips, although I prefer pretzels). When you look at his numbers on paper, it doesn't say that his points per game could have been much higher if he didn't have to shoot free throws with his non-shooting hand (he still did amazingly at over 60% for that, I'd be lucky to hit the rim), which also affected his ability to snare rebounds. Also, there's no stat for shots affected, and believe me, anyone who traveled into the belly of the beast did not come out with a smile. Even though Florida's Joakim Noah and Al Horford had success as a 1-2 punch against Oden in the title game, many foes have walked away shaking their heads in dismay after Oden had his say.

Many are arguing that Oden shouldn't go before Kevin Durant merely because of the fact that Durant had to carry his team all year and was able to do so, while Oden was able to rely on superb talent at Ohio St. I say--whatever, dude. I'll take Oden on my team and you take Durant. We'll see what happens next. Portland knows they have an absolute steal in being able to get Oden, even so much as trying to shop new superstar Zach Randolph. While Oden has had limited need to develop a post game which will be something he'll have to do in the NBA, nobody's doubting that he can get the job done...and do it with vigor.

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NBA Draft Preview: Greg Oden

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