Anybody Remember Greg Oden??

Who, you say? Oh yeah wait, he was the number one pick in the NBA draft in 2007 from Ohio State. The first year player led his Ohio State Buckeyes to a Big 10 Championship and runner up in The Big Dance.

But shortly before his career took off, he was injured before his rookie season and missed the entire year. Eventually he was cut by the Trailblazers, played briefly for the Heat and ended his career in Japan with the Jiangsu Dragons. He never lived up to the hype, which was no fault of his own. He was a freshman being counted on as being the savior of the Portland Trailblazers. Daunting task indeed, certainly not one for an 18-19 year old kid who after signing his contract had more than $1000 in his checking account -oh wait, he did play for Ohio State-he probably had a bit more than that but still nothing compared to what the NBA's No. 1 overall pick gets paid.

Now enter the Oklahoma City Thunder and their newest bonus baby with the overall No. 2 pick, Chet Holmgren!

This freakin' guy breaks his foot in a Pro-Am while trying to guard LeBron who was driving to the basket. Now let's break this down from a fundamental standpoint real quick.

1. Defense is not something that the NBA really highlights any more. Especially in a Pro-Am event that LeBron is at.

2. LeBron is at a Pro-Am, he's going to want to get big dunks and reactions from the crowd.

3. LeBron is 6'9 and weighs 250.

4. Chet is 7'0 and weighs 190

5. Re-read points 1 and 2 then skim over 3 and 4

Chet, like Mr. Oden, came out after his first year of college. Playing for Gonzaga lately means you will win your conference and get fairly deep in The Dance so his NCAA pedigree probably isn't as impressive as Greg's.

I should have stated at the beginning that I was against this pick for the Thunder for this very reason. He's a stick. A not ready for primetime player. Lamb thrown to the wolves. But let's revisit this whole Pro-Am thing.

Anyone who has attended any sort of Pro-Am events knows that these things are for the fans. The players come out, put on their show, fans clap, take pictures, get autographs, the players are paid well and treated like royalty, everyone goes home happy. $1 will get you $10,000 if you can find ONE PERSON in the crowd that night that said as they were walking in, "Boy, I can't wait to see Chet Holmgren tie up LeBron's ass with some tight defense". Go ahead, look around- I'll wait.

So, in this writer's opinion not only is Chet not ready for the NBA physically but also not ready mentally. Think I'm being harsh? Watch the NBA All-Star game. Tell me how much D is being played there. Poor move on the Thunder. Looks like it's going to be another year of tanking for them. Vegas was already paying out on people who put their win total at under 22.5.

The event was held in Seattle so while there were a lot of people there to see their former resident do well, LeBron had his folks there too though. Grow some brains from this Chet, let Bron be Bron and keep yourself healthy so you can at least play a couple weeks for the team that drafted and is paying you.