The 2007 NBA Re-Draft: Goodbye, Greg Oden

Missed opportunities like this one are part of the reason I wanted to do this project in the first place.

If you hadn’t heard by now, the Blazers took Greg Oden with the first pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. They were famously down to him and Kevin Durant, but took the Ohio State center, who suffered injury after injury, setting their team back five years and pretty much boosting the Sonics/Thunder franchise to greatness in the process.

This is still such a sad image, representing a potential we’ll never see reached. But guess what? Greg Oden was still worth a first-round pick!

Now, it’s not as if Portland will just get to go in and take Durant now. You must first earn the rights to the first pick! In the real draft lottery that year, the first pick winner (and second, for that matter) came out of nowhere. Portland had the sixth position but jumped all the way to the top.

In the re-do, that spot belongs to…the Jazz! Utah picks first.

The second pick ended up with the Sonics, who that year were sitting fifth in the lottery order. That pick, and a chance at one of the lesser stars in 2007, will now belong to the Pistons.

The third pick was also weird, going to the Hawks even though Atlanta was in the fourth position. In our re-draft, that pick belongs to the Celtics.

In my opinion, there are four franchise players in this draft. So the Kings, who had the top lottery spot, should thank their lucky stars they will pick fourth (the Grizzlies had the top lottery spot and picked fourth in real life).

The Bucks and Blazers, who were second and third for the lottery, will pick fifth and sixth, just missing out on the first tier of players.

As always, let’s go through some trade reminders, so you know which players will be traded before they actually play for the teams who pick them:

• The most notable trade of the draft took place between the Celtics and Sonics. Boston sent their first pick (originally Jeff Green), along with Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West, to Seattle in exchange for Ray Allen and the rights to a second-rounder that would become Glen Davis. So that early Boston pick will end up in Seattle, and Big Baby’s replacement pick will go to Boston.
• The Warriors and Bobcats also pulled a big trade, with Charlotte sending their first pick (Brandan Wright) to Golden State for Jason Richardson and the rights to a second-rounder (Jermareo Davidson). Jason Richardson is part of the re-draft era, which means replacement Joe Johnson is instead headed to Charlotte!
• The Heat sent their late first-rounder (Jason Smith) to the Sixers for their first-rounder (Daequan Cook) and a future pick. Those two will still trade their respective selections.
• The Blazers sent a big bag of money to the Suns for the rights to their late first-round pick (Rudy Fernandez) and James Jones. Jones is now Slavko Vranes, who’s done in the NBA. Who will the pick headed to Portland be?
• The Blazers also sent money and a second-round pick (Derrick Byars) to the Sixers for the very last pick of the first round, who ended up being Petteri Koponen.
• The Rockets took Carl Landry at 31 but traded him to the Sonics.

If you squint, you can kinda-sorta imagine this being a Jazz jersey, like maybe one of those weird green alternates.

The Jazz can pick between Kevin Durant and Marcus Camby, which isn’t a debate. So there’s your first pick. Let’s get the rest of the picks rolling!

Re-Draft Results:

TEAM: New Pick (Original Pick)

Round 1

1. Utah Jazz: SF Kevin Durant, Texas (PG Morris Almond, Rice)
2. Detroit Pistons: PF Al Horford, Florida (SG Rodney Stuckey, Eastern Washington)
3. Boston Celtics: C Marc Gasol, Spain (SF Jeff Green, Georgetown)
4. Sacramento Kings: PG Mike Conley, Ohio State (C Spencer Hawes, Washington)
5. Milwaukee Bucks: C Joakim Noah, Florida (SF Yi Jianlian, China)
6. Portland Trail Blazers: PF Thaddeus Young, Georgia Tech (C Greg Oden, Ohio State)
7. Washington Wizards: SF Jared Dudley, Boston College (SG Nick Young, USC)
8. Philadelphia 76ers: PF Carl Landry, Purdue (Thad Young)
9. Memphis Grizzlies: SG Arron Afflalo, UCLA (Mike Conley)
10. Detroit Pistons: Jeff Green (Arron Afflalo)
11. Atlanta Hawks: Rodney Stuckey (Al Horford)
12. Seattle SuperSonics: PG Ramon Sessions, Nevada (Kevin Durant)
13. Minnesota Timberwolves: C Tiago Splitter, Brazil (SF Corey Brewer, Florida)
14. San Antonio Spurs: C Brandan Wright, North Carolina (Tiago Splitter)
15. Charlotte Bobcats: SF Wilson Chandler, DePaul (Brandan Wright)
16. Atlanta Hawks: SG Marco Belinelli, Italy (PG Acie Law, Texas A&M)
17. Phoenix Suns: Spencer Hawes (SG Rudy Fernandez, Spain)
18. New Orleans Hornets: Corey Brewer (SF Julian Wright, Kansas)
19. Los Angeles Lakers: PG Aaron Brooks, Oregon (PG Javaris Crittenton, Georgia Tech)
20. Houston Rockets: PF Anthony Tolliver, Creighton (Aaron Brooks)
21. Charlotte Bobcats: PF Glen Davis, LSU (Jared Dudley)
22. Miami Heat: PF Josh McRoberts, Duke (PF Jason Smith, Colorado State)
23. Los Angeles Clippers: Nick Young (SF Al Thornton, Florida State)
24. Chicago Bulls: C Joel Anthony, UNLV (Joakim Noah)
25. Philadelphia Sixers: Rudy Fernandez (SG Daequan Cook, Ohio State)
26. Golden State Warriors: Jason Smith (Marco Belinelli)
27. New Jersey Nets: SG Gary Neal, IUPUI (PF Sean Williams, Boston College)
28. Phoenix Suns: PF Mirza Teletovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina (SF Alando Tucker, Wisconsin)
29. New York Knicks: Greg Oden (Wilson Chandler)
30. Philadelphia 76ers: C Aaron Gray, Pittsburgh (SG Petteri Koponen, Finland)

Round 2

1. MIA: Al Thornton (C Stanko Barac, Croatia)
2. SAS: C Gustavo Ayon, Mexico (SF Marcus Williams, Arizona)
3. POR: Daequan Cook (Josh McRoberts)
4. BOS: PF Ivan Johnson, Oregon (PG Gabe Pruitt, USC)
5. DET: SF Dominic McGuire, Fresno State (SG Sammy Mejia, DePaul)
6. UTA: Julian Wright (PF Herbert Hill, Providence)
7. WAS: SF Cartier Martin, Kansas State (Dominic McGuire)
8. MIN: Yi Jianlian (PF Chris Richard, Florida)
9. SEA: Sean Williams (Carl Landry)
10. ORL: Acie Law (SF Reyshawn Terry, North Carolina)
11. DAL: SG Mario West, Georgia Tech (PF Nick Fazekas, Nevada)
12. SEA: C Kyrylo Fesenko, Ukraine (Glen Davis)
13. GSW: Nick Fazekas (PF Jermareo Davidson, Alabama)
14. SAS: Chris Richard (PF Giorgis Printezis, Greece)
15. LAL: Alando Tucker (SF Sun Yue, China)
16. POR: Gabe Pruitt (SG Derrick Byars, Vanderbilt)
17. HOU: PF Stephane Lasme, UMass (SF Brad Newley, Australia)
18. NOH: Javaris Crittenton (SG Adam Haluska, Iowa)
19. LAL: Derrick Byars (Marc Gasol)
20. MIL: C Eric Dawson, Midwestern State (Ramon Sessions)
21. POR: Morris Almond (PG Taurean Green, Florida)
22. DAL: Jermareo Davidson (SG Renaldas Seibutis, Lithuania)
23. LAC: SG JamesOn Curry, Oklahoma State (PG Jared Jordan, Marist)
24. PHI: SG Trey Johnson, Jackson State (Kyrylo Fesenko)
25. DAL: SG Coby Karl, Boise State (C Milovan Rakovic, Serbia)
26. CHI: C Courtney Sims, Michigan (Aaron Gray)
27. GSW: Marcus Williams (Stephane Lasme)
28. PHX: Sun Yue (PG D.J. Strawberry, Maryland)
29. POR: Taurean Green (SF Demetris Nichols, Syracuse)
30. CHI: SF Zabian Dowdell, Virginia Tech (JamesOn Curry)

Biggest winner: Utah Jazz

The Jazz originally took Morris Almond with the 25th pick after a very good year. In our world, they had a very bad year, then won the lottery, then took Kevin Durant, a top-2 player in the league. So Almond —> Durant. That…that feels like a big win.

I should congratulate two teams who plummeted into this lottery for their big wins, the Pistons and Kings. Detroit originally took Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, a VERY GOOD pairing for a team picking where they did (15 and 27). But they got even better, taking Al Horford and Jeff Green instead.

The Kings were actually already in the lottery, but turned Spencer Hawes into Mike Conley. That’s another big win.

It’s hard to argue against the new return for the Blazers, although they didn’t turn Oden into Durant (every Portland fan’s real dream). Their first-round haul turned from Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Koponen into Thad Young, Spencer Hawes and Aaron Gray. Nothing amazing, but better.

Let’s also give some love to the Sonics, who lost the face of a franchise in Kevin Durant (replacing him with Ramon Sessions), but turned Jeff Green into a new face of a franchise in Marc Gasol. Then, instead of trading away Carl Landry and Glen Davis, two solid contributors down low, they traded away the newly-picked Sean Williams and Kyrylo Fesenko. That feels like progress!

Biggest loser: Memphis Grizzlies

Congrats to future Laker (and Grizzly) Derrick Byars, known forever in re-draft land as NOT MARC.

Here’s an example of how to set your franchise back a bajillion years. The Grizzlies lucked into the fourth pick and Mike Conley the first time around, and then thanks to the Lakers getting Marc Gasol at 48, they eventually got Marc in the Pau Gasol trade. Those two are arguably the two best players in Grizz history, and now neither will end up there. Instead, the Lakers will send DERRICK BYARS to Memphis next offseason, and the Grizz’s original first-rounder becomes Arron Afflalo. From a franchise center and point guard to a three-and-D wing and a nothing player.

There aren’t a ton of big losers after that, but we have to mention the Bulls, who lost Joakim Noah and ended up with Joel Anthony. And only the Spurs could go from picking 28th to picking 14th and actually end up with a less valuable player (Tiago Splitter to Brandan Wright, literally one spot lower in the rankings).

Let’s also shout out to the Hawks, who lost Al Horford and got Rodney Stuckey instead, but also replaced Acie Law with Marco Belinelli. That’s probably one step forward and 2 1/2 steps back.