Star of NBA draft pays Sonics just-in-case visit

And if all projections are wrong, if Kevin Durant is not the preordained Sonics savior, then I guess the poor franchise must settle for basketball's next great big man.

Greg Oden, Plan B?

Being No. 2 has never been this wonderful.

Portland, which has the No. 1 pick, gets to make The Decision and with it comes The Pressure. Oden or Durant? Durant or Oden? In five days, the Trail Blazers will make their pick, and the choice will be debated for only the next decade. It's a burden, but since both players have Hall of Fame forecasts, it's a pleasant burden.

Meanwhile, the Sonics are immune to second-guessing. They get to take the franchise player who "falls" to them. It's still better to be the Blazers and have right of refusal. Nevertheless, Seattle will receive a most lucrative consolation prize.

And what if it's Oden?

Plan B is 7 feet and 257 pounds, with a personality as big as his wingspan. If you haven't noticed, the Sonics could use some personality.

Oden visited the Sonics on Friday as a just-in-case gesture. Portland is believed to prefer him, but while Oden interviewed here, Durant was having reportedly the best workout Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard has ever seen.

Smokescreen or truth? We'll find out soon.

Oden isn't worried.

"My competitiveness is about winning," said Oden, when asked about going No. 1 overall. "All that other stuff doesn't matter. You can cut me in line, I don't care. I'm still going to get my food."

He says all the right things and staples humor to his remarks. Oden has the charisma of Shaquille O'Neal, the candor of David Robinson and the practicality of Tim Duncan. And his game has the substance, many say, of Bill Russell.

To look so old, Oden acts every bit of his 19 years. He joked about wanting to skateboard down the hills here. When asked about the difference in predraft hoopla between feverish Portland and laid-back Seattle, Oden mentioned he went to see "Oceans 13" here Thursday night and was asked just once to take a picture.

"I get the feeling it's a bigger city," Oden said of Seattle, "and a lot of things are going on."

Oden was so relaxed. The only thing he needed was a hammock and some iced tea. On this day, his Nike endorsement deal became official. He didn't work out for the Sonics; he just chatted with team officials and had a medical exam.

An SI.com report earlier this week said there are concerns about Oden's back, knees and right wrist, which was surgically repaired last summer. He sat out his first seven games at Ohio State while rehabilitating the wrist. Then he basically played one-handed for most of his freshman season.

When asked about the wrist, Oden twirled it, smiled and declared, "I can do this." He's fine, he said.

During every draft, some supposedly shocking red flag emerges for a highly regarded prospect. In most cases, nothing comes of it.

Oden will stay healthy and dominate. And Durant's inability to lift 185 pounds won't keep him from becoming a dominant scorer. These two are destined to become superstars.

The 1984 draft is often used when talking about Oden and Durant. It's generally used to encourage Portland to defy conventional wisdom and take Durant. In that draft, Portland picked second overall and took Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan because the Blazers already had Clyde Drexler.

But the comparison from that draft should be between Hakeem Olajuwon and Jordan. That's not to say that Oden will turn into Olajuwon and Durant into Jordan.

However, the gap between Oden and Durant figures to be just as small as the gap was between Jordan and Olajuwon.

Jordan was better than Olajuwon because he won four more championships and became a global icon. But was anybody in Houston upset with the two titles Olajuwon brought to Clutch City?

If Oden is better than Durant, it won't be by much.

"Me and him, we're going to be connected for a long time," Oden says. "He's a monster. He came to college and dominated."

But Oden is a monster, too, a more defensive-oriented beast, and he played last season with his dominant hand tied behind his back. We haven't even seen him at his best on a big stage.

If Oden goes No. 1, the Sonics get Durant, the most marketable basketball player since the LeBron James/Dwyane Wade/Carmelo Anthony draft four years ago.

If Durant goes No. 1, the Sonics get Oden, a player who could help them win sooner and with less roster tinkering.

Plan B is just as fruitful as Plan A.

It's good to be the runner-up.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com. For more columns and the Extra Points blog, visit seattletimes.com/sports