Signs Of Tanking?

[Joey]

Also, I think I saw someone ask 'if Dwight Howard were in the Draft with Wiggins, who would go #1?' ... it'd be Dwight. In my opinion anyway.

Big men with that kind of dominating gameplay don't come along very often; certainly less frequently than a freakishly athletic 6'7"/6'8" Guard/Forward.
And Oden was absolutely in that mould.

Noel, Drummond, or even Anthony Davis (even though he did go #1), were never viewed as having that 2-way dominance potential, like Shaq, Dwight and Oden.

[Xixak]

Also, I think I saw someone ask 'if Dwight Howard were in the Draft with Wiggins, who would go #1?' ... it'd be Dwight. In my opinion anyway.

Big men with that kind of dominating gameplay don't come along very often, and Oden was absolutely in that mould.
Noels, Anthony Davis or Drummond were never viewed as having that 2-way dominance potential, like Shaq, Dwight and Oden.

Agree with this. If I were to do a draft with all the #1 picks since 03 based on hype at the time it'd look like this:

1.) LeBron James
2.) Dwight Howard
3.) Greg Oden
4.) Blake Griffin
5.) John Wall
6.) Anthony Davis
7.) Derrick Rose
8.) Kyrie Irving
9.) Andrew Bogut
10.) Andrea Bargnani
11.) Anthony Bennett

[Joey]

Agree with this. If I were to do a draft with all the #1 picks since 03 based on hype at the time it'd look like this:

1.) LeBron James
2.) Dwight Howard
3.) Greg Oden
4.) Blake Griffin
5.) John Wall
6.) Anthony Davis
7.) Derrick Rose
8.) Kyrie Irving
9.) Andrew Bogut
10.) Andrea Bargnani
11.) Anthony Bennett

I'd even say the hype around Oden, at its peak, was more than Dwight.
According to the media, Oden was supposed to win Championships. Not 1. Not 2. Not 3. Not 4.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Agree with this. If I were to do a draft with all the #1 picks since 03 based on hype at the time it'd look like this:

1.) LeBron James
2.) Dwight Howard
3.) Greg Oden
4.) Blake Griffin
5.) John Wall
6.) Anthony Davis
7.) Derrick Rose
8.) Kyrie Irving
9.) Andrew Bogut
10.) Andrea Bargnani
11.) Anthony Bennett

I think you've got Oden way too high. There were lots of people, including media/experts who argued that Durant should be #1 over Oden. I think Griffin, Irving and Wall have come out with about as much hype as anybody, as clear-cut consensus #1 picks. I think they'd fill slots #3-5, follwed by Rose and Davis... going purely on pre-draft hype. Although I'm not sure if there's a point to this, or what all of this has to do with signs of tanking...

[Joey]

Although I'm not sure if there's a point to this, or what all of this has to do with signs of tanking...

HAHAHAHA... shit. Good point.

[Xixak]

I think you've got Oden way too high. There were lots of people, including media/experts who argued that Durant should be #1 over Oden. I think Griffin, Irving and Wall have come out with about as much hype as anybody, as clear-cut consensus #1 picks. I think they'd fill slots #3-5, follwed by Rose and Davis... going purely on pre-draft hype. Although I'm not sure if there's a point to this, or what all of this has to do with signs of tanking...

Really, really disagree on Irving. A lot of people were knocking the Cavs HARD for not taking D-Will and then grabbing Kemba or Knight at #4. There were a lot of questions about Irving because of how many games he missed, and people didn't consider him a lock to become a star. Wall, Griffin, Oden were all on a completely different level of hype from him. To me it's kinda like this in tiers:


Tier 1: LeBron
Tier 2: Howard, Oden
Tier 3: Griffin, Wall, Davis
Tier 4: Rose, Irving
Tier 5: Bogut, Bargnani, Bennett

[Xixak]

HAHAHAHA... shit. Good point.

Lol true... we are quite a ways off topic.

[Joey]

And too bring it back to Matt's original point; if Wiggins doesn't go #1, it will be a true surprise, and a true disappointment. That would be like if Lebron didn't go #1. Very few guys are projected, and expected, to go #1 before they even play in their 'final' year as a amateur. Lebron's the last one I can think of. Maybe my brain is fuzzy though. And I would say Oden fell into that catergory of early expectations.

So in that sense, the comparisons are legit.