Who's haunted more by the Thunder? Portland or Seattle?

[da_suns_fan]

Interested to hear people's thoughts.

[scanry]

Portland and it ain't even close.

[VBM]

I would think Portland is. If the situation is like most other arena referendums, Seattle fans played a part in the Sonics not getting a new arena. No owner will stick around in a city with a subpar arena. Basically, they asked for it.

Portland went against history (Bowie over Jordan) and the eye-test (everyone knew Durant was going to be a special player on the pro-level, whereas there was nothing to suggest that Oden would be a superstar Dwight-like player). Throw in the fact that Portland's medical staff seems blatantly oblivious to medical warning signs and could have avoided the Oden fiasco by being more thorough with their background checks on him, Portland fan has to feel just as disappointed in their management as Seattle did, if not moreso.

[Findog]

Sorry but it has to be Seattle. Better to have a team that sucks and doesn't always make wise personnel decisions over watching your former team that you didn't deserve to lose go on to make the Finals.

Seattle had already renovated the Key nine years before Schultz started whining about getting a new arena. It's actually a great arena for watching a game. It just doesn't have the footspace for all of the stuff Stern wants in arenas now, like a Chili's or a sports bar. If Schultz had sold to local ownership, they'd still be in Seattle. There was no doubt at all what Bennett was going to do once he had the team in his possession.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Seattle. The problems that Portland has run much deeper than just the Oden pick. Given the recent reports about the Blazers medical staff and possible foul ups there's no guarantee Durant stays healthy. Or even if he does Roy and Aldridge's injury issues would leave them as a one man show like the 06 Lakers or T-Mac's Magic. Flip those picks around and the Blazers faithful are probably only missing out on a few playoff appearances as a one and done team at best.

Meanwhile there's no reason that all the wonderful things OKC has done couldn't have been done in Seattle. Sonics fans got to watch their team suck through the early stages of the rebuilding mode and get none of the payoff. Everything has come up roses for OKC since they left. Even when it looked like Green was shaping up as a bust they traded him for Perkins (a trade that many decried as stupid because Green was young and Perk looked like a TOSB) only for Green to then miss the season with a heart condition.

[timtonymanu]

Definitely Seattle. Portland still has a team and is more concerned about the upcoming draft instead of Durant.

Seattle has to live with OKC holding their only championship banner and their other banners. To make matters worse, the Thunder could really be winning a le soon. Seattle is definitely haunted by that because it could have been them right now as the Sonics.

[da_suns_fan]

I could go either way.

The thing with Portland is that "it" happened AGAIN. They might have passed on the best player in the world TWICE.

I think back to that draft night and the video of the Portland "war room" applauding themselves after they made the pick.

Idiots.

[JoeTait75]

I would think Portland is. If the situation is like most other arena referendums, Seattle fans played a part in the Sonics not getting a new arena. No owner will stick around in a city with a subpar arena. Basically, they asked for it.

They'd just gutted and renovated Seattle Center Coliseum a decade earlier built facilities for both the Seahawks and Mariners. At some point you have to draw the line.

[VBM]

At some point you have to draw the line.

Sure, and they drew that line. It's all supply and demand, and every damn city wants a team and is willing to pay if given the opportunity. It's not right, and I understand the city of Seattle holding its ground, but at least they had a choice as to whether the team stayed or left. Portland fans had no say in the Oden draft pick.

[VBM]

By the way, this would be a great time for Houston Oiler fans to speak up. They had the same situation as Seattle when Tennessee faced STL in the Super Bowl.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

It's revisionist history to call the Blazers stupid for picking Oden. He was the consensus #1 overall pick at the time. Of the 30 teams in the NBA at least 25 would have picked Oden if they had the pick. You can't fault Portland for not seeing what no one else saw.

[BUMP]

Idiots.

Oden was guaranteed to be the #1 pick no matter who got the 1st spot

[BUMP]

big 'ed Lor, beating me to the punch par per etc

[SamoanTD]

Seattle because Portland is used to this type of luck.

[lil_penny]

Well looking back at the choice now its quite easy to say it was dumb picking oden but remember at the time damn near everyone was saying to pick him... I remember thinking he was the obvious choice along with GM's and NBA analysts, sure it sucks seeing him play knowing he could of been ours but what can you do? People forget we also chose Webster over d will and cp3 by swapping our draft picks that one worked out great also! Or that we traded tyrus Thomas for lma and foye for Roy, you win some you lose some.

I would still say Seattle has it worse just for the reason they dont have a team anymore

[VBM]

Well looking back at the choice now its quite easy to say it was dumb picking oden but remember at the time damn near everyone was saying to pick him...

I think it's more that they picked him, and then a month later or so a problem was discovered in his knee (i don't think it was a fresh injury, but you might have a better memory on that than I do). Oden, if healthy, could have been damn good. The knock on Portland is that, had they done their due diligence, they would have discovered he had a healthy issue that could linger.

[JoeTait75]

IIRC, Oden's health issue as a freshman at Ohio State was in his wrist, not his knee. The knee didn't become an issue until after he was drafted.

[lil_penny]

IIRC, Oden's health issue as a freshman at Ohio State was in his wrist, not his knee. The knee didn't become an issue until after he was drafted.

Yea and from his interview a few months back he had said he punched a wall or something when he broke it, dude has just had horrible luck with his health. Not sure if its him, our medical staff or the curse

[Killakobe81]

I think it's more that they picked him, and then a month later or so a problem was discovered in his knee (i don't think it was a fresh injury, but you might have a better memory on that than I do). Oden, if healthy, could have been damn good. The knock on Portland is that, had they done their due diligence, they would have discovered he had a healthy issue that could linger.

Count me in the Oden doubters camp. I could not put my finger on it but Simmons wrote a great article that said the same. He said, even though Oden had "star" personality/charisma (more so than durant the media felt he would be a great interview) but that he lacked the grace and poise of Durant on teh court, some would call it "swag". He saw a hitch in his gait and could tell one leg was shorter than the other. None of these are definitive signs of a bust, and If I had the #2 pick I would of taken ODen, without hesitation. But when a MJ, Kobe type scorer/star is avaialble you go for that star centers bust far too often to pss up a "special" kid like Durant.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

People are also glorifying pre-draft Durant. There was tons of talk about how he couldn't bench 185 and that he was too weak for the NBA. It's easy to pretend this was always the case, but Durant wasn't considered a 1000x safer pick than Oden the way people pretend he was. Oden was considered a 7 foot talent you see once every 5 years. No one was comparing KD to Jordan/Kobe in 2007, especially after he was upset by USC in the tourney while Oden dominated the tournament and every big man he faced taking his team to the championship.

[lefty]

lol Pacific Northwest

[djohn2oo8]

People are also glorifying pre-draft Durant. There was tons of talk about how he couldn't bench 185 and that he was too weak for the NBA. It's easy to pretend this was always the case, but Durant wasn't considered a 1000x safer pick than Oden the way people pretend he was. Oden was considered a 7 foot talent you see once every 5 years. No one was comparing KD to Jordan/Kobe in 2007, especially after he was upset by USC in the tourney while Oden dominated the tournament and every big man he faced taking his team to the championship.

To be fair, Rick Barnes is a coach, tbh.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

To be fair, Rick Barnes is a coach, tbh.

Proves my point more tbh.

Rick Barnes is an expert at taking talent and making it look like .

[Killakobe81]

People are also glorifying pre-draft Durant. There was tons of talk about how he couldn't bench 185 and that he was too weak for the NBA. It's easy to pretend this was always the case, but Durant wasn't considered a 1000x safer pick than Oden the way people pretend he was. Oden was considered a 7 foot talent you see once every 5 years. No one was comparing KD to Jordan/Kobe in 2007, especially after he was upset by USC in the tourney while Oden dominated the tournament and every big man he faced taking his team to the championship.

Maybe because I live in Texas (Dallas area) the perception i had was different. I think being in Big 12 country seeing so many of his games may have given me more chances to see how special he was. Yes, I do remember folks talking about his bench press but I remember Kenny Smith and other folks talking about how a ball does not weigh so much and he how he was a great natural scorer. Did I think Durant would be a 3x scoring champ already? No. But I distinctly recall defending his skinny frame to Jamstone and others who worried about his durability. IIRC, I said he struck me as the type to be skinny strong and durable a la Reggie Miller.

[VBM]

People are also glorifying pre-draft Durant. There was tons of talk about how he couldn't bench 185 and that he was too weak for the NBA. It's easy to pretend this was always the case, but Durant wasn't considered a 1000x safer pick than Oden the way people pretend he was. Oden was considered a 7 foot talent you see once every 5 years. No one was comparing KD to Jordan/Kobe in 2007, especially after he was upset by USC in the tourney while Oden dominated the tournament and every big man he faced taking his team to the championship.

Oden was viewed as the more "ready" of the two players. That's not at issue. However, Durant had a much higher ceiling than Oden coming out of college. Also, Killa was right about the Simmons article pointing out that Oden's legs aren't symmetrical. That wouldn't bug me in the mid-to-late first round, but you're talking about a franchise player with the #1 overall pick. If Durant's strength was an issue, you put him in an NBA strength and conditioning program. I also can't imagine Oden was checked out by many team's doctors, so I'm sure most squads assumed he was fully healthy (not including the wrist) coming out of college.