Blazers: Still Defending the Oden Pick

No word yet on their thoughts about Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan: “Nate McMillan laughs when I approach him about a certain subject. ‘I knew that question was coming,’ he says when asked if he ever has second thoughts about Portland selecting Kevin Durant instead of Greg Oden with the first pick of the 2007 NBA draft. ‘No, because we knew both of those guys were really good,’ the Blazer coach says. ‘Honestly, we did what was right. I still feel it’s right. Kevin is playing great basketball, and it was two good choices we had to pick from. I haven’t had second thoughts about it’ On Tuesday night, Durant displayed his array of talents, shooting the Blazers up for 33 points and 11 rebounds in an 89-77 victory. Meanwhile, Oden is on the mend again. Doesn’t mean the Blazers should have taken Durant, McMillan insists. ‘You look at who you have,’ he says. ‘We had a Durant-like player in Brandon Roy. What we needed was a big. If Brandon’s not here, maybe you look at something different. But with the team we had and what was available, Greg Oden was the right pick.”’