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Caught in a cold draft

The Baltimore Sun

It was the fun question of the spring for basketball fans - Greg Oden or Kevin Durant?

The shot-blocking center from Ohio State and the silky scorer from Texas were two of the most dynamic freshmen that college basketball had seen in a long time.

Both would surely enter the NBA draft, but which would be selected first? The next great center or the next 30-points-a-game scorer?

The Portland Trail Blazers went with common wisdom and took the center.

A few months later, they announced he would miss his entire rookie season because of microfracture surgery on his right knee. Some observers wondered if Portland had ignored red flags.

Durant, meanwhile, is averaging 20 points a game but shooting and rebounding inconsistently for the Seattle SuperSonics.

If the Blazers got to choose again, would Durant be their man?

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