Who would you build your franchise around...?

[bumpyphish1]

So if you had to choose one of these four to build your franchise around, who would it be? How would you rank the 4?

Lebron, Carmelo, Oden, Durant....

I would go:

1. Oden

2. Durant

3. Lebron

4. Carmelo

Not a huge Lebron fan...overrated

[coachx]

1. Oden B/C dominating centers are almost extinct.

2. Lebron - 2nd b/c its more difficult to find an all star big man to be his Robin then a wing to play with Oden. Ilgalskus, though an allstar, is not good enough to get James over the hump.

3. Durant

4. Carmelo

[vdunkndunk]

Hard question. Not Carmelo for sure. Probably it comes down to Lebron or Oden for me.

Lebron has all the buzz and gaurentees fans and national TV exposure, and he's a proven commodity.

Durant is going to be good, but I think Lebron would have dominated college even more than Durant did if he would have gone. And I'm afraid Durant may end up like T-Mac, with some durability issues.

Oden may end up winning more championships than Lebron, and so I'd be tempted to go with him because he's got a chance to be a dominant center on both ends of the court. But he hasn't even played a game in the NBA yet, so it's hard to say.

[Johnnybravo4]

If I am a fan I pick Oden. If I am a GM or an owner I pick Durant because of the marketing possibilities. Centers are never as marketable as wing players are.

[GST]

Agreed JB, Oden gets you more rings, Durant sells more merchandise. I wonder if Durant's marketing potential will figure in to who goes #1?

[CBAreject]

Oden has not played an NBA game yet, as vdunk says. Ditto for Durant. The ceilings of those players are very high, but we should also consider the floors. Neither will be an outright bust, but what if they lose motivation after becoming millionaires? What if their games don't translate quite as well as we imagine. What if Durant is "just" a 22 ppg SF? That's very good, but it's not superstar. What if Oden is just a 12/12 defensive center (3+ bpg)? That's an all-star, but could you take that over LeBron?

Because we know what Lebron already is (and he still has upside), I have to rank him first. Because we already know what Melo is (granted he has upside , too), I have to rank him last.

1. Lebron

2. Oden

3. Durant

4. Melo

If you included Wade, I would likely put him 2nd on that list. After we see 2 years of Oden and Durant, they could very well be #1 and #2. Time will tell. Right now, I couldn't trade LeBron for either one.

BTW, I would slip Bosh between Oden and Durant on this list. Bigs are just too valuable. Howard would go between Durant and Melo.

[Traceman]

How could you pass on a guy who has already proven that he can take a moderately talented team to one of the top 3 records in the EC? He is averaging 28/7/6 at 22 years old and his numbers are DOWN from last year. We would spend endless amounts of time on ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc and Philips Arena would be sold out every night. No other player in the NBA would bring a higher profile to the team than LeBron, including Kobe Bryant, and he has proven to be a winner at the NBA level.

After LeBron, good question. I think Carmelo is a franchise player and I think both Oden and Durant will be. Still, because of Melo's off court issues, I'd place him at #4. Tough call on who to go with between Oden and Durant. If I'm the Hawks, Oden is my pick. If I already have a quality young big man though (BOS, MEM, ORL, CHA), I would definitley consider going with Durant.

[Packfill]

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How could you pass on a guy who has already proven that he can take a moderately talented team to one of the top 3 records in the EC? He is averaging 28/7/6 at 22 years old and his numbers are DOWN from last year. We would spend endless amounts of time on ABC, ESPN, TNT, etc and Philips Arena would be sold out every night. No other player in the NBA would bring a higher profile to the team than LeBron, including Kobe Bryant, and he has proven to be a winner at the NBA level.

After LeBron, good question. I think Carmelo is a franchise player and I think both Oden and Durant will be. Still, because of Melo's off court issues, I'd place him at #4. Tough call on who to go with between Oden and Durant. If I'm the Hawks, Oden is my pick. If I already have a quality young big man though (BOS, MEM, ORL, CHA), I would definitley consider going with Durant.

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Agreed.

[gheorghe]

Lebron is horrible, overrated and doesn't know how to play nasketball, he should dedicate himself to track and field or football. Carmelo is a selfish punk.

Oden has the potential to be an all time great. He has to stay in college, but he will win some rings in the NBA. Durant can be the [censored]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he'll end up being one of the all time greats.

1-Durant

2-Oden

the others are marketing products

[Traceman]

LeBron is #6 in the entire NBA in efficiency rating behind only KG, D Wade, Kobe, Dirk and Carlos Boozer and he is 3 years younger than the youngest of that group (D Wade). He is CLEARLY an elite player. He is averaging 27/7/6 for his CAREEER at 22. All that and he is "horrible?"

As for Melo, he is #17 in efficiency rating which puts him ahead of guys like Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, AI, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and our very on JJ. If Durant or Oden get on a list that suggests that they may be better all around players than ANY of those guys, they will be doing something very right.

[exodus]

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Lebron is horrible, overrated and doesn't know how to play nasketball, he should dedicate himself to track and field or football. Carmelo is a selfish punk.

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I would strongly suggest decaf from now on.

[thesheedera]

1) LeBron

2) Oden - close to LeBron though

3) Durant

4) Melo - close to Durant

[AHF]

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1) LeBron

2) Oden - close to LeBron though

3) Durant

4) Melo - close to Durant

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As with several others on this thread, this is how I would rank them today.

[gheorghe]

Lebron is nowhere close to Jordan. He is a great athlete, and by far the best for the "courtside countdown" of the NBA. But he does it all by his incredible athleticism, he doesn't undestand the game, even with those great numbers. Give Lebron the athletic skills of an average NBA player and then you'll see what i mean.

[Lascar78]

Who said anything about Jordan??

Also I don't know how you could take Durant over Melo, one of the top 2 scorers in the league. Durant looked good as a scorer, but has prove nothing. He didn't go far in the tournament. He hasn't played against NBA bodies and is very thin. He could be the truth, or he could bust. I don't see how you could take him over a proven Anthony. Anthony didn't have much more help than Durant and put the team on his shoulders to get an NCAA title as a freshman. ODen might be up there with Lebron / Melo because he achieved a good bit with one hand, got to the finals, and there is such a premium for big men.

Lebron

Oden

Melo

Durant

would probably be it for me. There's just no substitute for a proven track record. It happens all the time that the projections of a player's game from college to pros don't pan out.

[gheorghe]

Lebron and Carmelo: winners in the international competition!!!! 4th place in 2004 Olympics and bronze medal in 2006 WC. Products of the Hype. Oden and Durant CAN become something special, because they seem to be more down to earth than the self proclaimed "global icon" James and the "street fighter" Anthony, greatly suited for a gang fight as he showed in MSG

[Lascar78]

Yeah I guess they're LOSERS like Tim Duncan and Amare and J Kidd. Not to mention Dwayne Wade, who lost not only the last Worlds, but also lost the last olympics. Mark my words, no Dwyane Wade team will ever win an NBA championship, he is clearly a loser. Same goes for Duncan.

On the other hand, Oden and Durant, by never having been invited to team USA, are clearly better.

[AHF]

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Also I don't know how you could take Durant over Melo, one of the top 2 scorers in the league.

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I think Durant has the possibility of being much more complete than Carmelo. Carmelo is basically a scorer and not much else. He is a fabulous scorer so don't take that wrong but if Durant is anywhere close to as good a scorer and a MUCH better rebounder (as I would predict) and possibly a much superior all-around defender than I take a chance on the more complete guy because I think it is more likely he could be the centerpiece of a championship team than a stud scorer.

[gheorghe]

showboats, not necesarily good ball players. Duncan had his ass kicked in the international competition, and Kidd didn't show anything great in those tournaments. The same, take away Wade's physical skills and he is NOTHING. I have to recognize that Timmy is a winner in the NBA, and he has three rings and an MVP to show for, i respect him a lot. Lebron makes a lot of traveling violations, has the benefit of the doubt in every contact situation and makes all the damage based on his incredible physical skills. Great NBA players are Billups, Kobe Bryant (better than James and Anthony combined), Shaq (even at 35)and then Nash, Dirk, Ginobili, Gasol, etc who are inteligent and skilled basketball players who play the game as it should be played. Durant has the chance to become a real bball player, and yes, Melo and Lebron have beautiful stats and spectacular plays to show all the fans who live for the sportscenter highlights. I'm out like Zo's kidney

[thesheedera]

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Also I don't know how you could take Durant over Melo

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I think Durant has shown enough to speculate that he could be as or more talented than Melo, and he's shown an awesome attitude.

Granted, Melo didn't really show any attitude issues until he was fully immersed in the NBA lifestyle, and at times he appears to be really good team player (like for Team USA), but he just seems so damn high and low with it. Is he a malcontent or isn't he? Is he a thug or isn't he? It's hard for me to really decide with all the mixed messages he sends.

I have more confidence in Durant having the right personality to be a franchise foundation than I do with Melo. He's way ahead of where Melo was offensively at the same age, but Melo had more strength and hapened to have won a championship.

It's close, but I'm taking Durant.