[MAS RipCity]

this poll should be Oden/Dwight instead of Oden/Bynum because it is not a contest. Bynum needs to step it up for more than 2 months in his 3rd year before we can say he's here. I'll take Oden on potential alone. I think people are forgetting this kid is the most hyped big since Shaq..he will be a beast.

[ehmunro]

Originally Posted by kflo

i'm going to have to disagree here. ewing was every bit the prospect hakeem was. it was ewing that was supposed to be a bill russell type force in the nba. his hype was from his freshman year on. his sophmore matchup with sampson was one of the biggest regular season games in history.

he was supposed to instantly turn the knicks around.

Bill Russell was the greatest defensive center in NBA history, Ewing didn't get the Russell hype until he hit New York. He was hyped coming out of Cambridge Syringe & Latin (a local joke, sorry), but after Georgetown's meeting with Kentucky the hype machine went into low gear. He was expected to make a big defensive impact, while providing an all-round offensive game (he was sort of the proto-Duncan). But he still wasn't considered as good as Hakeem coming out of college, and Olajuwon had far more hype, doubly remarkable given that Ewing played in a major media market in the New York media college conference and Hakeem was balling in Houston. I didn't know of anyone that considered Ewing the better player, and that's from his one time hometown (Boston/Cambridge). Whether or not he was supposed to turn the Knicks around, at the draft no one considered him better than Olajuwon (except Knicks fans and New York sportswriters after the Knicks won the lottery).

[ehmunro]

Originally Posted by YoYoYoWasup

Ewing was insanely hyped in college and it wasn't about the Knicks at all, although the hype did escalate even further once they did win it. Ewing was billed as the next Bill Russell and everyone thought he'd dominate the game of basketball defensively. While he was a very good defensive big man and had a very good career, he didn't win any championships, which everyone thought was a formality when he was drafted.

Hakeem was hyped, too, no doubt. He was the #1 overall pick after all and everyone who saw him play at Houston knew how good he was, but don't make it out like Ewing wasn't seen as his superior, because most back then said that if Ewing had come out early in the '84 draft, he would of gone first overall.

Yes, at the ripe old age of 28 your memory of events that occurred nearly a quarter century ago are going to be vivid and exact. They didn't change the draft rules for Sampson, they changed them because of Hakeem (because it was seen as unfair that Houston got Hakeem after having drafted Sampson the year before). Hakeem was so highly regarded that he was seen as the consensus #1 and an easy selection over UNC's ultra-hyped shooting guard (who was considered a sure #2 pick before Portland mystifyingly drafted a medical school experiment with the second selection). Ewing's ascension into deity occurred when New York got the first pick and the media machine went into overdrive. New York sportswriters were certain that Ewing would have gone first had he declared for the draft the year before, but they were the only ones.

Ewing was never the athlete Olajuwon was. It wasn't even remotely close. Ewing was a highly skilled big man with an all-round game, and he was a great great player. People seem to have completely forgot how great he was. It wasn't his fault that he entered the NBA when two hall of fame laden clubs were dominating the NBA and that when he reached his prime the salary cap made building dynastic teams tough. But, seriously, outside New York everyone knew Akeem (sic) was better.

[jman23]

Originally Posted by Somebody Call My Mama

That's all nice and dandy, but least ye forget Oden was outplayed by Roy Hibbert just a week earlier.

Oh, and why Greg Oden was in college "dominating" those future megastars Al Horford and Joakim Noah, Andrew Bynum was in the big boys league DOMINATING a kid named Kevin Garnett. 6-9, 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks in 29 minutes. Oh, and Bynum's team actually won.



Based....



On....



What....



Exactly?

Media Hype. Nothing more. Because there's nothing more to go on.

There was a guy named Patrick Ewing. He was hyped to the moon and back as being the next dominate NBA center; a future multi-time NBA champion, multi-time MVP. Yet, just a year prior, there was another center drafted #1 overall but without 1/2 the hype. His name was Hakeem Olajuwon, and he ended up being Patrick Ewing's daddy.

Greg Oden is to Patrick Ewing as Andrew Bynum is to Hakeem Olajuwon.

Bynum = the steak
Oden = the sizzle



And your hype for Oden despite the fact that he's yet to have played a single game in the NBA suggests that you're just another brainless sheep that will buy into any hype thrown your way because it hurts when you try and think. I bet you still have your Harold Minor jersey.



No chance. Bynum's low post game is light years ahead of Oden's due to working with a guy named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Oden may be big, but there are many bigger in the NBA, including Mr. Bynum himself. He can't rely on physicality like he did in dominating those grueling 6'7" Big Ten centers. He's gonna have to actually develop some low-post skills.

oden and hibbert didn't hardly play each other do to foul trouble and everyody i asked said oden dominated hibbert and thats what gave them the win,so you must have not watched that game after all .