It's Oden

More than a month of drama and intrigue has left us with the expected pick. Greg Oden is the No. 1 overall pick by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Something tells me the decision did not take the full five minutes, but - for ESPN's benefit and to the dismay of my impatient colleagues - it was drawn out to that length. ESPN's feed from Portland's Draft Room showed cheering and high fives after the pick was sent to the league office.

The Sonics probably set a record for speed in phoning in their pick after the Blazers made it official.

Portland is on the Clock

Okay, in reality Portland was on the clock on May 22 when the Blazers won the NBA Draft Lottery. Now, however, David Stern has made it official. Five minutes left. The assumption is that it's Greg Oden, but there are no more games to be played. We will know in the next five minutes.

Draft Day is Here

37 days after the right combination of ping-pong balls secured the Sonics the second pick in the NBA Draft, Draft day is here at last. According to the draft clock counting down on the SUPERSONICS.COM homepage, we are a little over seven hours away from Kevin Durant or Greg Oden donning the Green and Gold of your Seattle SuperSonics.

Last night, ESPN reported that Oden was Portland's pick, that his agent (Mike Conley, Sr.) had been informed Oden was the guy.

Conley and Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard both dispute that report, according to a blog entry by Jason Quick on The Oregonian's Web site.

Smokescreen or no, the Blazers will have to make their intentions clear before too long.

Stay with us all day long for updates and as news breaks. Come about 4:00 or so, this will convert into a live blog as I cover the Draft from the media room at The Furtado Center. Ron Matthews will also contribute coverage from the Sonics Draft Party at Fisher Pavilion. Remember that anybody can - and should - come and hang out on the lawn in front of the Pavilion or on top of it.

Thinking Like the Blazers

Apparently, Oregonian columnist John Canzano is amongst the group that sees the renewed Durant talk coming from the Blazers as pure smokescreen.

You know the Blazers are going to pick Greg Oden with the No. 1 selection. So does your spouse. So do your children. So does the family dog. But if you ask the Blazers, they'll tell you they just aren't sure, and that there isn't a consensus. Nevermind that none of us believes them.

One NBA source explained Tuesday that Pritchard and Allen probably don't want to tip their hand because they love the national attention it's garnering them. A second source said the Blazers don't want to announce that they plan to select Oden because they're waiting to see if the Sonics love Durant so much they'd be willing to swap picks and sweeten Portland's fortune. A third source said it's just the Blazers being the Blazers.

Hate to disagree, but at least here in Seattle it doesn't seem like everyone knows the Blazers are going to pick Oden. A bunch of times yesterday, somebody - a co-worker, a friend, my grandfather - said to me, "I just have a feeling that Portland is going to take Durant."

Canzano goes on to link the city of Portland's excitement about the pick to Oden, not Durant, but I'm not sure I totally agree there either. The Oden or Durant poll on Blazers.com once swung almost entirely to Oden, but since Durant's workout last week, it's down to 69-31 in Oden's favor. That means there's been a lot of votes for Durant in the last week.

I made a point of asking Sonics GM Sam Presti during yesterday's availability whether the Sonics front office is trying to read the Blazers.

"It's crossed my mind a couple times," joked Presti, "but we can't spend all our time trying to figure out what they're going to do or what direction they're going to go in. We'll be prepared either way and we feel good about it."

Oden or Durant? I think we all feel pretty good about it.

Hollinger Breaks Down the Draft

When it comes to analyzing the NBA statistically, there is no one better in the media than ESPN Insider's John Hollinger. For many years, Hollinger has resisted doing much with the stats of NCAA prospects, but this year he's debuted a comprehensive rating system for NCAA Division I players (it's part of an Insider free trial, so go check it out).

While Hollinger has plenty of interesting insights, naturally Sonics fans will be most interested in how he answers the Oden/Durant question:

Kevin Durant is the best talent to come out of the college ranks in the last half decade. As we've learned, this doesn't necessarily mean he'll become the best player. But his 870.7 score blows the previous best -- Carmelo Anthony's 781.3 in 2003 -- right out of the water. If there's one thing that makes me reconsider the Oden versus Durant question after I thought it had been settled, this is it. I mean, how can you pass on this guy when his numbers are this overwhelming?

Naturally, Hollinger isn't the only one looking at the Draft through the prism of college stats. Also check out coverage from Hoopsanalyst.com and DraftExpress.com.

Paul Allen Opens Up

As the Portland Trail Blazers try to figure out who to pick with the No. 1 pick on Thursday, Blazers owner Paul Allen has sat down for a couple of chats, one (video) with Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett for Blazers.com and one (print) for The Oregonian with beat writer Jason Quick.

Both interviews are interesting, but we'll quote from the latter as it's easier to work with.

Are you leaning one way?
I'm back and forth. Sometimes I like to play devil's advocate, just to make sure everybody is looking at the other side of the coin. Of course, there are some people, like earlier in the year, Kevin Pritchard was only talking about Durant, he didn't mention Oden at all. So, I kind of kid him about that. We would sit at Blazers games and I would ask him who he is watching, and he would say "Durant. I love Durant." So it's a real interesting decision. I think (Friday's) workout made it even a tougher decision than before.

[. . .]

I have a feeling you have a lot of trust with Kevin Pritchard.
Yeah, if you are the owner of a franchise, you look for somebody who has what I call the "golden gut" -- a sense for talent. I think (Seahawks president of football operations) Tim Ruskell in Seattle has that with football players. We've had past general managers who've had a good sense for talent, but Kevin looks for talent and character at the same time.

Does anything in there change your opinion of which direction Portland is going with the pick?