Oden, Durant at ease about draft
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. - If anyone is worried about which draft position Greg Oden and Kevin Durant will be selected, it's not either one of them.
"I'm just soaking up the whole process," Kevin Durant said Thursday during the NBA's predraft camp. "It's all a dream."
Said Oden, "It'll be nice hearing my name being called, whether it's one or 20 or two."
Oden, a center from Ohio State, and Kevin Durant, a forward from Texas, are the consensus top players in the draft. Kevin Durant swept all the college player of the year awards, while Oden, who played with a broken hand for much of the season, wasn't far behind. Both were first- team All-Americans as freshmen.
The Portland Trail Blazers have the top pick in the June 28 draft, with the Seattle SuperSonics next to select. If both teams stand pat, the Pacific Northwest teams could potentially have a rivalry for years to come.
"The Portland-Seattle rivalry has been pretty much nonexistent for as many years as I can remember," University of Washington center and Seattle native Spencer Hawes said. "It's gonna be fun."
Just don't make it personal, Oden quipped.
"I'm not going out there and guarding Kevin Durant," he said. "It can be a friendly team rivalry, but one-on-one, I'm not going out there. He's a great player and all, and if we switch out to him, I'm fouling him."
Law's view
Ohio State guard Mike Conley Jr. is widely considered the best point guard in the draft, but Texas A&M's Acie Law IV doesn't think so. He has a different player in mind.
"I think I'm the best point guard, cut and dried," said Law, who averaged 18.1 points and 5.0 assists, leading the Aggies to the NCAA Sweet 16 this past season. "Conley's a great player, I'm not taking anything away from him. He led his team to the national championship. ... But I think he had a lot more help than I did. We're going to get the chance to work out against each other, and we'll prove it on the floor."
Hawes' decision
Hawes has still not hired an agent, but is likely going to stay in the draft. He said during his recruitment to the Huskies, "we knew that me being one-and- done was a legit possibility. So the whole time we communicated about it."
Asked what would drive him back to school, Hawes said, "Depending on the feedback that I continue to get, and it still eats at me that we didn't make the NIT."
Going back to possibly become a higher pick in 2008, however, is not an option.
"I think that's something that's enticing, but I think if you make that the reason that you go back, I think that shifts your focus," Hawes said.
"Every day you're wondering: 'Did I hurt myself? Did I increase my stock?' I think that would be the wrong reason to go back."
Footnote
An NBA source said some teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, have called the Nuggets to inquire about center Marcus Camby, although nothing imminent is on the table.
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