anyone can tell me...

[milkyway21]

how good Kevin Durant is? why he commands so much commotion & attention?
Is he from what part of Texas? Is he a better player than Oden?

sorry for posting this on this forum. :reading

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The NBA fined Charlotte Bobcats part-owner Michael Jordan $15,000 for discussing Texas freshman Kevin Durant during an interview last week.

Team coaches and executives are barred from talking about underclassmen who have yet to declare for the NBA draft. But in an interview with The Charlotte Observer last Tuesday, Jordan said he was interested in versatile players and added, "The kid who may present that is the kid in Texas. (He) may have that because he has all the right signs.":angel

A Bobcats spokesman Tuesday confirmed the fine, which is at least the second in a week for an NBA team involving Durant, the 6-foot-10 forward who is expected to be the first or second overall pick if he declares for the draft.

The Boston Celtics were fined $30,000 after general manager Danny Ainge sat next to Durant's mother during the Big 12 tournament.-AP

[SequSpur]

Kevin Durant had one of the best all time individual statistical seasons in the history of college basketball.

Dude is good.

[Kori Ellis]

Milkyway - Yes, he's awesome. He will be the number 1 or number 2 pick in the draft. He attends University of Texas (which is in Austin).

You can read this and learn a little about him:
http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/kevindurant.html

[monosylab1k]

Durant and Oden are two different types of player, but both are going to be superstars IMO.

[Pugglekicker_21]

Happy to help. Well Im not a "expert" like some people on here, but I'll give you my take. well he's like 6'9'', and most noticeably he's good at perimeter shots. To me, he's kinda like T-Mac, except he's more efficient at rebounds. Also he's fast and has good ball handling skills for a big, not TP good, but above average. What I like to compare him to is like a Kevin Garnett that can shoots 3's. Yeah thats better than a T Mac comparision. The only knock against him is I guess his strength, buts he's only 18, and should develop some more. He could use some D help, but he led Texas in blocks and steals.

A sure fire 1-2 top overall pick, and in 2 to 3 years will be the next NBA superstar. As for him being better than Oden, well, Oden put up good numbers at Ohio State, and played for much of the year with a bad right hand. People say one of the hardest things to find nowadays is a good C, and most everyone has called Oden the best big man since like Tim, to have come out of college. Just depends on what you'd like more over the other. Someone told me on here that it'd be better to have a 2nd overall pick, that way you wouldn't have the burden of which one to choose. Oden will be a force, and Durant as well.

Persoannly, I'd take Oden, simply because you could find a guy somewhat like durant elsewhere. Oden is once in a decade. That's all IMO.

[SequSpur]

Kevin Durant had one of the best all time individual statistical seasons in the history of college basketball.

Dude is good.

Durant > Oden X100

[Pugglekicker_21]

Someone told me on here that it'd be better to have a 2nd overall pick, that way you wouldn't have the burden of which one to choose.




Durant and Oden are two different types of player, but both are going to be superstars IMO.




This guy!

[mardigan]

Durant could very possibly change the league, he is that good, and yes, Durant>Oden X10

[SANANTOJAMES]

durant is a mcgrady type player and oden looks like robert parish

[Kori Ellis]

:lol @ people thinking Durant is that much better than Oden

[mardigan]

:lol @ people thinking Durant is that much better than Oden
:lol @ people thinking hes not

[Kori Ellis]

:lol @ people thinking hes not

I can see some people thinking he might be better than Oden.

But 10 x better? 100 x better? Statements like that make people look like idiots.

[milkyway21]

Milkyway - Yes, he's awesome. He will be the number 1 or number 2 pick in the draft. He attends University of Texas (which is in Austin).

You can read this and learn a little about him:
http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/kevindurant.html
thanks much. I'm so clueless about him. All I read all yr is Oden, Oden and Oden. :reading

Anything about Michael Jordan is big news in the Phils. And now that Michael being fined for something bec of Durant makes me wonder about him. And then HE IS from texas.

i think this makes the next draft worth watching for.

[mardigan]

I can see some people thinking he might be better than Oden.

But 10 x better? 100 x better? Statements like that make people look like idiots.
Well I get that a lot. I really think that Durant is much, much better, maybe not 10X better, but a lot better. Oden doesnt even look like he will be a Dwight Howard level player, more like a Chandler, where I think that Kevin could eventually be one of the best players in the league.

[milkyway21]

Durant > Oden X100you didn't think you're overrating him him huh, Sequ? 100x? :D

[Kori Ellis]

Well I get that a lot. I really think that Durant is much, much better, maybe not 10X better, but a lot better. Oden doesnt even look like he will be a Dwight Howard level player, more like a Chandler, where I think that Kevin could eventually be one of the best players in the league.

Well Oden played with one hand pretty much this year.
I think Oden is going to be amazing.
Durant too though. But I just think it's funny when people think one of them is 100 times better than the other.

[SRJ]

Oden will be like Dikembe Mutombo, only with a markedly better offensive game.

I'll bet Oden peaks around 22-13.5-3.2, with career averages of 15-12-2.6. He'll also shoot <55% most seasons.

Durant is probably as good as advertised, but I would take Oden ahead of Durant. It's a big man bias I have, I'll admit it.

[milkyway21]

that link by Kori mentioned Durant as one with a laid-back personality. You think he can be a good franchise player?One player a team can start building around like Shaq w/ the Lakers or LeBron w/ the Cavs, Duncan w/ the Spurs in the 2000 era. Is he good enough to carry a team in the future such as MJ's Bobcats? We can see that Howard/Bosh future with their respective teams are shining bright right now.

[atxrocker]

i'd take durant over oden all day. oden'll be good, but durant will rise faster imo. either of them in a sac jersey would be amazing.

[milkyway21]

i'd take durant over oden all day. oden'll be good, but durant will rise faster imo. either of them in a sac jersey would be amazing.
Memphis, Boston, Seattle, Bobcats.....wow:wow lot of competition right there. :smokin

[atxrocker]

agreed. some meaningless wins this season..

[Tigole Bitties]

Durant also has the youth advantage... isn't Greg Oden like 35 years old?

[atxrocker]

isn't Greg Oden like 35 years old?




:lol :lol

[milkyway21]

agreed. some meaningless wins this season..why i have this feeling that Boston might take the #1 or #2 pick this yr's draft?

They failed on Duncan they will make a run on Oden or Durant.

[monosylab1k]

Does everyone realize that Oden has been doing everything left-handed all year long? The key point of this being that, just like Inigo Montoya, Greg Oden is NOT left-handed.

[LEONARD]

Durant >>>>>>>>> Oden

[johngateswhiteley]

Well Oden played with one hand pretty much this year.
I think Oden is going to be amazing.
Durant too though. But I just think it's funny when people think one of them is 100 times better than the other.

1. Oden will be better than Durant in the NBA, imo

2. Durant is good, and deserving of the 2nd pick, but i think people overrate him some...he disappears too much in big games

[monosylab1k]

Oden = Duncan with more strength
Durant = Dirk with more athleticism

Either way, I'll take it.

[boutons_]

Blessing And a Curse

Greg Oden Calls Himself a 'Brainiac,' but No One Else Can Get Past His Body

By Adam Kilgore
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007; E01

INDIANAPOLIS -- Zoe Oden unfolded the crinkled paper, as she had countless times. Her son's birth certificate was tattered from years of being unfolded and refolded on the AAU basketball circuit, its quadrants clinging together by a center strand, like a four-leaf clover.

"I had to pull this out so many times," Zoe said, gently laying the paper out. "I had to make so many copies of this thing and take it with us, especially in sixth grade. Nobody believed he was the right age."

But the truth is there, in black and white and strange, reddish discoloration: Gregory Wayne Oden Jr. was born in Buffalo at 4:53 a.m. on Jan. 21, 1988, an honest-to-God 19 years ago. Twenty-four inches long, 8 pounds and 10 ounces.

"I'm going to order another one," Zoe says, shaking her head and laughing.

At 2, Oden wore a size-6 shoe. He was 6 feet tall by middle school and kept sprouting so fast that Zoe started wearing his outgrown sweat pants to exercise. His hardened facial features made some high school classmates believe he was 30 on his first day at Lawrence North High.

But Oden, now 7 feet tall, has grown up fast in other ways, forced to carry so much on his mountainous shoulders. He is key to the national championship hopes of the top-seeded Ohio State basketball team, which plays fifth-seeded Tennessee on Thursday at 9:57 p.m. in the South Region semifinals. A significant portion of his free time is spent granting interviews, avoiding death threats and weighing the legitimacy of autograph requests. And whenever his season is over, he must decide between staying for another year of college or leaving to take the NBA millions earmarked for him since his first high school basketball game.

All of it can be a bit much, even for a 19-year-old who is (almost) as mature as he looks. Sometimes, Zoe said, he wishes himself a normal student, rather than the biggest basketball star remaining in the biggest sporting event in the country.

"I think he always wishes that," Zoe said. "He doesn't like a lot of attention. I think he could have enjoyed it more if he hadn't have been playing basketball. He would have been more relaxed and would have a major."

Oden said he wouldn't change anything about his freshman season, but that came right after he said that if he were 5-9, he probably wouldn't play basketball. "I would be a brainiac," he said. "I'm not really that athletic."

Oden disliked basketball as a kid; he preferred riding bikes with his cousins. He didn't play in an organized league until he turned 9, when he and Zoe moved from Buffalo to Terre Haute, Ind. He started playing at the Boys & Girls Club, but his body couldn't catch up with his gangly limbs. Zoe could see his disappointment after a game, and he would cheer up only after she took him to Wendy's for a Frosty. His high school coach, Jack Keefer, threatened to bench him if he didn't shoot more.

But he loved school. He would come home from kindergarten and brag to Zoe about what he had learned. At Lawrence North, he took calculus as a senior and other college-level math courses for two years and earned a 3.8 grade-point average.

"I was excited to get him in class, because I had heard he was such a good student," said Donna McCord, Oden's high school math teacher. "Boy, I was really going to get him. I was like, 'I'll show you.' And he showed me."

He would finish homework assignments in class before McCord finished the lesson. Oden asked questions constantly, usually a step ahead of McCord; her answers, typically, were, "We'll get to that." On one exam, Oden earned a 49 out of 50, then argued with McCord about the point he missed.

Oden still keeps in contact with McCord. When Oden called her two weeks ago, he talked about how much he liked his History of Rock & Roll class and told her a funny story about one of his friends. They never mentioned basketball.

"If you take basketball away from him, I don't think he's going to lay down and die on us," Keefer said. "He wants to be an accountant."

( 7 foot tall bean counter! :lol )

He tries to be a 19-year-old enjoying college. Someone sent Keefer, in an e-mail, a video of Oden dancing with a girl. ("He didn't look bashful there," Keefer said.) His mother has to plead with him not to stay out until 3 or 4 a.m. when he comes home.

"I enjoy the freedom," Oden said. "That's the main thing. Just being away from my mom, stay up all night. Eat what I want. I'm enjoying the freedom."

But freedom can be difficult to find for a public figure. He changed his phone number after someone claiming to be an Indiana fan called and said, "I hope you die." Once, someone put a flier on his car with an unflattering photo taken off the Internet of him and a girl.

He attended an autograph signing for football players at Ohio State, but fans flocked to him instead. So he left. Oden signs only for kids now, tired of seeing his signature pop up on eBay. He scrunches down in movie theaters so people notice him less, just like he used to duck in the hallways of Lawrence North to hide his height.

Even on the court, pressure mounts. He hates to disappoint, and he feared he would while he was recovering from early-season wrist surgery. The Buckeyes jelled slowly when he did come back, which was tough for Oden to deal with. In high school, he and Mike Conley Jr., Ohio State's freshman point guard and Oden's best friend, won three straight state championships using unrivaled chemistry.

"High school, it was better," Zoe said. "Right now, it's dealing with different personalities. It hasn't quite clicked yet with Ohio State. They're an awesome team when you need to pull together, but I think it could be less stressful if it wasn't so divided. I think it's divided because Greg is not a selfish player. I don't think that the ball goes around enough before the shot is thrown off. If they threw it inside, he'll throw it back out, and then somebody is throwing up a three."

All the pressure builds to the question Oden has been hearing all season: Will it lead him to decide to make his money in the NBA? Or will he enjoy his "freedom" at OSU again next season?

"He gives me mixed emotions," Zoe said. "Half of him will say: 'Mom, I'm really enjoying this. Right now, I don't feel like I'm ready to go on.' But the other half of him says, 'If I have to get beat down like this, I might as well get paid for it.' I really don't know."

When Oden returned to Lawrence North to watch a playoff game this season, he made sure to shake hands with the team's bus driver and ask him how he was; he had built a relationship with him in high school, something none of Keefer's other players had done. McCord once asked him to attend one of her 10-year-old son's basketball games. He showed up and talked with him afterward.

So is Oden a teenager trapped in an adult's body? A center blessed with Hall of Fame potential? An accountant cursed with a seven-foot frame?

"He's one of us," said Q Owens, one his high school teammates. "He don't act different because he's got the name Greg Oden or he's seven foot. He acts like one of us. He's a normal 19-year-old."

[ShoogarBear]

Oden is a class act in the DRob mode.

[mardigan]

1. Oden will be better than Durant in the NBA, imo

2. Durant is good, and deserving of the 2nd pick, but i think people overrate him some...he disappears too much in big games
What big games are you talking about? The USC game where he had 30 but his team didnt do shit? The New Mexico game where he had 27 and 12?
The Kansas game in the tourney where he had 38, 10 and 6 blocks? You obviously dont know what your talking about AT ALL. The only bad games he had all year where against LSU (which they still won and he still had 11 boards and 4 blocks), and the Villanova game which they lost. I watched every game he played in this year and he did nothing but get better. He averaged 26 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, shot 81 percent from the ft line and 40 from the 3. And talk about dissapearing in big games, did you see the last Ohio St. game, they played better after Oden fouled out and he looked lost when he was in there. Why dont you look at the Florida game where he completely dissapeared. I know his wrist was jacked, and we still havent seen him at full strength, but I have seen a bunch of college centers as good as him, probably better. Hopefully he will stay in school one more year cause he needs to, which he even admitted. Dont just throw out shit with out anything to back it up.

[DNS Error]

Whoo! either of these guys will make me happy.








knowing our luck, we'll end up picking 3rd.....

[milkyway21]

Oden is a class act in the DRob mode.I'm thinking of the SAME thing.

& both are 7-footers and love mathematics.


thanks boutons for the article. :reading

[SRJ]

Blessing And a Curse

Greg Oden Calls Himself a 'Brainiac,' but No One Else Can Get Past His Body

By Adam Kilgore
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007; E01

INDIANAPOLIS -- Zoe Oden unfolded the crinkled paper, as she had countless times. Her son's birth certificate was tattered from years of being unfolded and refolded on the AAU basketball circuit, its quadrants clinging together by a center strand, like a four-leaf clover.

"I had to pull this out so many times," Zoe said, gently laying the paper out. "I had to make so many copies of this thing and take it with us, especially in sixth grade. Nobody believed he was the right age."

But the truth is there, in black and white and strange, reddish discoloration: Gregory Wayne Oden Jr. was born in Buffalo at 4:53 a.m. on Jan. 21, 1988, an honest-to-God 19 years ago. Twenty-four inches long, 8 pounds and 10 ounces.

"I'm going to order another one," Zoe says, shaking her head and laughing.

At 2, Oden wore a size-6 shoe. He was 6 feet tall by middle school and kept sprouting so fast that Zoe started wearing his outgrown sweat pants to exercise. His hardened facial features made some high school classmates believe he was 30 on his first day at Lawrence North High.

But Oden, now 7 feet tall, has grown up fast in other ways, forced to carry so much on his mountainous shoulders. He is key to the national championship hopes of the top-seeded Ohio State basketball team, which plays fifth-seeded Tennessee on Thursday at 9:57 p.m. in the South Region semifinals. A significant portion of his free time is spent granting interviews, avoiding death threats and weighing the legitimacy of autograph requests. And whenever his season is over, he must decide between staying for another year of college or leaving to take the NBA millions earmarked for him since his first high school basketball game.

All of it can be a bit much, even for a 19-year-old who is (almost) as mature as he looks. Sometimes, Zoe said, he wishes himself a normal student, rather than the biggest basketball star remaining in the biggest sporting event in the country.

"I think he always wishes that," Zoe said. "He doesn't like a lot of attention. I think he could have enjoyed it more if he hadn't have been playing basketball. He would have been more relaxed and would have a major."

Oden said he wouldn't change anything about his freshman season, but that came right after he said that if he were 5-9, he probably wouldn't play basketball. "I would be a brainiac," he said. "I'm not really that athletic."

Oden disliked basketball as a kid; he preferred riding bikes with his cousins. He didn't play in an organized league until he turned 9, when he and Zoe moved from Buffalo to Terre Haute, Ind. He started playing at the Boys & Girls Club, but his body couldn't catch up with his gangly limbs. Zoe could see his disappointment after a game, and he would cheer up only after she took him to Wendy's for a Frosty. His high school coach, Jack Keefer, threatened to bench him if he didn't shoot more.

But he loved school. He would come home from kindergarten and brag to Zoe about what he had learned. At Lawrence North, he took calculus as a senior and other college-level math courses for two years and earned a 3.8 grade-point average.

"I was excited to get him in class, because I had heard he was such a good student," said Donna McCord, Oden's high school math teacher. "Boy, I was really going to get him. I was like, 'I'll show you.' And he showed me."

He would finish homework assignments in class before McCord finished the lesson. Oden asked questions constantly, usually a step ahead of McCord; her answers, typically, were, "We'll get to that." On one exam, Oden earned a 49 out of 50, then argued with McCord about the point he missed.

Oden still keeps in contact with McCord. When Oden called her two weeks ago, he talked about how much he liked his History of Rock & Roll class and told her a funny story about one of his friends. They never mentioned basketball.

"If you take basketball away from him, I don't think he's going to lay down and die on us," Keefer said. "He wants to be an accountant."

( 7 foot tall bean counter! :lol )

He tries to be a 19-year-old enjoying college. Someone sent Keefer, in an e-mail, a video of Oden dancing with a girl. ("He didn't look bashful there," Keefer said.) His mother has to plead with him not to stay out until 3 or 4 a.m. when he comes home.

"I enjoy the freedom," Oden said. "That's the main thing. Just being away from my mom, stay up all night. Eat what I want. I'm enjoying the freedom."

But freedom can be difficult to find for a public figure. He changed his phone number after someone claiming to be an Indiana fan called and said, "I hope you die." Once, someone put a flier on his car with an unflattering photo taken off the Internet of him and a girl.

He attended an autograph signing for football players at Ohio State, but fans flocked to him instead. So he left. Oden signs only for kids now, tired of seeing his signature pop up on eBay. He scrunches down in movie theaters so people notice him less, just like he used to duck in the hallways of Lawrence North to hide his height.

Even on the court, pressure mounts. He hates to disappoint, and he feared he would while he was recovering from early-season wrist surgery. The Buckeyes jelled slowly when he did come back, which was tough for Oden to deal with. In high school, he and Mike Conley Jr., Ohio State's freshman point guard and Oden's best friend, won three straight state championships using unrivaled chemistry.

"High school, it was better," Zoe said. "Right now, it's dealing with different personalities. It hasn't quite clicked yet with Ohio State. They're an awesome team when you need to pull together, but I think it could be less stressful if it wasn't so divided. I think it's divided because Greg is not a selfish player. I don't think that the ball goes around enough before the shot is thrown off. If they threw it inside, he'll throw it back out, and then somebody is throwing up a three."

All the pressure builds to the question Oden has been hearing all season: Will it lead him to decide to make his money in the NBA? Or will he enjoy his "freedom" at OSU again next season?

"He gives me mixed emotions," Zoe said. "Half of him will say: 'Mom, I'm really enjoying this. Right now, I don't feel like I'm ready to go on.' But the other half of him says, 'If I have to get beat down like this, I might as well get paid for it.' I really don't know."

When Oden returned to Lawrence North to watch a playoff game this season, he made sure to shake hands with the team's bus driver and ask him how he was; he had built a relationship with him in high school, something none of Keefer's other players had done. McCord once asked him to attend one of her 10-year-old son's basketball games. He showed up and talked with him afterward.

So is Oden a teenager trapped in an adult's body? A center blessed with Hall of Fame potential? An accountant cursed with a seven-foot frame?

"He's one of us," said Q Owens, one his high school teammates. "He don't act different because he's got the name Greg Oden or he's seven foot. He acts like one of us. He's a normal 19-year-old."

Great article. I've read other such articles and seen TV segments discussing his persona, and he seems like a good kid. I hope if it's true, he can keep his character strong - the NBA life can be a corrupting influence, although many have stayed above it.

[RC's Boss]

Well Oden played with one hand pretty much this year.
I think Oden is going to be amazing.
Durant too though. But I just think it's funny when people think one of them is 100 times better than the other.
Oden has good d but his offense is still raw IMO. He just over powers other NCAA players. Power and size doesn't always equal unstoppable in the NBA. Sure you have Shaq, but you also have Dampier (sorry Mavs fans). Durant IMO has easily been the BEST NCAA player this decade so far. He is a lot better than Carmelo was during his freshman year. With that said, I think they should both stay one more season. Durant needs to work on scoring against smaller pesky type defenders and his D (sucks like Carmelo's). And Oden looks like Rasho w/ muscle in the post sometimes. I also question how MUCH better will Oden actually get. I don't have that same question for Durant. Looking back on the previous drafts, he may be the best all-around player to come out of the NCAA since the "Quiet Storm" (my nickname for Tim). I did say NCAA not Europe (Dirk) or high school (Lebron).

[milkyway21]

Oden has good d but his offense is still raw IMO. He just over powers other NCAA players. Power and size doesn't always equal unstoppable in the NBA. Sure you have Shaq, but you also have Dampier (sorry Mavs fans). Durant IMO has easily been the BEST NCAA player this decade so far. He is a lot better than Carmelo was during his freshman year. With that said, I think they should both stay one more season. Durant needs to work on scoring against smaller pesky type defenders and his D (sucks like Carmelo's). And Oden looks like Rasho w/ muscle in the post sometimes. I also question how MUCH better will Oden actually get. I don't have that same question for Durant. Looking back on the previous drafts, he may be the best all-around player to come out of the NCAA since the "Quiet Storm" (my nickname for Tim). I did say NCAA not Europe (Dirk) or high school (Lebron).
interesting article I found which suggests these two young men are now ready for the NBA.
http://www.sportsline.com/spin/story/10080734

As Ohio State works its way through the NC2A tournament, breaking the hearts of Xavier Musketeers in the process, its players must cope with a variety of responsibilities, not the least of which is keeping up on their studies. For Greg Oden, that means grueling hours with his iPod, in the hopes of completing work for his History of Rock 'n' Roll class, one of the two (he's also taking Sociology 101) courses he is taking this term in Columbus.


http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/img10080754.jpg
Future millionaire No. 1: Ohio State's Greg Oden.

While it's easy (and fun!) to make sport of Oden's spring academic roster and OSU's rather laissez-faire approach to educating athletes (10 percent graduation rate for those entering between '96-99), no one should care a bit about whether he's taking History of Rock 'n' Roll or Statistical Thermodynamics of Complex Liquids. Greg Oden didn't go to Ohio State to become an astrophysicist or a bond trader -- not that there's anything wrong with that. He went because his future employer, the National Basketball Association, mandated that he spend at least one year in the collegiate ranks before turning professional, not because he was looking to get a degree.

By all accounts, Oden is a thoughtful young man who plays team-first ball but isn't afraid to deliver a WWE-caliber forearm shiver when the situation calls for it. Not that anyone could consider such a move a flagrant foul. Never. Were he 6-1 and unable to make grown basketball executives drool like Ted Washington at a donut convention, he would likely spend four years in college, emerge with a degree and find a job.

That's how it goes for a lot of people. They need the sheepskin to find quality work. Oden doesn't. Neither does Texas forward Kevin Durant. Both will find high-paying gigs without so much as a passing grade in History of Rock 'n' Roll, Electromagnetic Theory or Advanced Fire Watching. And anybody who is trying to say that they should remain in school one hour longer than the NBA says they must is pushing an agenda that has nothing to do with the welfare of the two young men.

Would it be nice if every professional basketball prospect spent four years in school, graduated and then moved on fame and riches? Of course it would. Being an educated person is a goal to which everybody should aspire. This country could certainly use some more critical thinkers out on the streets and (especially) in Hollywood, where more finely tuned analytical skills might prevent disasters like Norbit. As Emil Faber said, "Knowledge is good." There is no disputing that.

But in the world of professional sports, timing is more important than knowledge. Oden's and Durant's stocks will be at their apexes come June. Is it possible to go higher in the draft than No. 1? Didn't think so. And though this year's second pick could well improve his position one place by returning next season, he could also fall back. (See Noah, Joakim.)

There are rumors out there that shoe companies have offers ranging from $30 million-$50 million waiting for Durant. Oden's deal will be in that neighborhood, too, and just think of all the endorsement opportunities for him, from anti-aging creams to facial-hair trimmers. The cash register is ringing, and these two would be foolish not to answer the bell.

Have they taken anything from college? Damn right they have. Each has improved his earning potential exponentially by spending a season in the NBA minor leagues. These days, that's what college is all about. Tweedy professors would like to believe their students are sitting through their tedious lectures in order to train their young minds, but many colleges are marketing themselves as sites for professional development. "Come to State U. and get the skills you need in the business world."

http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/img10080755.jpg

Future millionaire No.2 : Texas' Kevin Durant.

Why else would schools trumpet the average salaries of graduates? They want kids to know that going there helps them get good jobs. Well, Durant and Oden can serve as advertisements for Texas and Ohio State. "Kevin Durant spent one year at Texas and signed a $50 million shoe deal. Imagine what you can do in four years!"

These days, both players are saying all the Right Things about their professional futures. "Right now, all I'm thinking about is Ohio State/Texas," they say. Good work. Why anger teammates, coaches and fans, especially at a time when college basketball has taken center stage? Once the tournament is over, and baseball and the NFL Draft have stepped forward, they'll be able to think about themselves.

There shouldn't be a lot of thought required. Go. Get out. It's time to make a living. And what a living! Oden and Durant need to be in the NBA next year, because it's time to get there. And shame on anybody who tries to stop them. It's bad enough they were denied a chance to go to work in their field of choice after high school. Don't keep them away now :smokin .

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so, are they ready?